Definition: Policy of detaining persons suspected of having infringed visas, of having entered illegally or of having entered without authorisation, and of having been deported and expelled, until the immigration authorities decide to issue a visa and release them to the Community or return them to their country of origin.

Note: Data are from the Asylum Information Database (AIDA) - a database containing information on asylum procedures, reception conditions and detention across 16 European Union (EU) Member States (Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Germany, France, Greece, Croatia, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Sweden, United Kingdom) and two non-EU countries (Switzerland, Turkey)