From January until June 2015, a total of 1,376 persons returned voluntarily to their country of origin. That is approximately 400 persons less than during the same period last year. The decline is especially apparent in voluntary returns among asylum seekers, and has been going on since 2014.Approximately two thirds of the applications are made by persons who are staying in Belgium illegally. These are people who never initiated a procedure to obtain a residence permit. 60% of them are Romanian, Ukrainian or Brazilian nationals.A third of the returnees are persons who did apply for asylum in Belgium, either persons whose application was rejected, or persons whose asylum procedure is still ongoing. They are mainly from Russia (especially Chechnya), Iraq, Kosovo and the Caucasian countries.To apply for a voluntary return, most persons contact a return partner (50%), or the return office in Brussels (28%).