Within the EU, the free movement of persons, asylum and immigration applies. However, it is stipulated that people moving to another country should also have the means to pay for their own living.

Since 2004, EU member countries have the right to refuse certain citizens if these should pose "an unreasonable burden" on the country's social security system.

In Belgium, it goes like this: when an EU citizen has been receiving financial support from the social services of the OCMW for three months, the Immigration Department looks into the situation. If it turns out that the person in question abuses the system, the Belgian state can ask them to leave the country. In a year's time, there have been over 2,000 of these cases. Counting from 1 January, there have been 1,224 new cases so far.

It's mostly immigrants from Romania who are asked to leave the country. The Romanians are followed by citizens from Bulgaria, Spain, Slovakia and the Netherlands.