Belgium has emerged as a new departure point for migrants trying to reach Britain by small boat, as people-smuggling gangs shift their operations away from an increasingly policed French coast.
More than 400 people have been intercepted attempting to cross the English Channel from Belgian beaches so far in 2026, compared with none recorded throughout 2025, according to government figures.
The change marked a notable break in a crisis that for almost a decade had centred on the French coastline between Calais and Dunkirk. The European Union’s border agency Frontex attributed the displacement chiefly to tighter French coastal patrols.
For years Belgium had served only as a staging area for boats later launched in France, deterred as a departure point by strong offshore currents and the greater distance. Local officials described a clear displacement effect, with the mayor of Middelkerke, Jean-Marie Dedecker, blaming tougher enforcement on the French side.
Smugglers have adopted so-called “taxi boats”, which set off from quiet Belgian beaches before hugging the coast to collect more passengers and then attempting the crossing. Migrants pay about €2,000 ($2,300) for a place, often without any guarantee of boarding.
The route is far more perilous than the established one. Some 100 kilometres separate the Belgian coast from Dover, southern England, compared with about 45 kilometres from Calais, leaving the flimsy vessels much longer at sea.
Belgian Migration Minister Anneleen Van Bossuyt described the numbers as small but worrying. “Every boat that departs is one too many,” she said.
The Belgian Government installed concrete blocks on the coast to stop trailers carrying dinghies reaching the dunes and stepped up patrols using night-vision and thermal equipment, supported by Frontex aircraft. The British Government provided £1.3 million (€1.5 million) to help Belgian authorities deter the launches.
Local leaders argued that enforcement alone would not be enough. West Flanders governor Carl Decaluwé called for tighter controls on the border with France, saying migrants were being bussed to the frontier before heading to beaches such as De Panne, Koksijde and Nieuwpoort.
The figures remain dwarfed by the main route. About 41,500 people crossed the Channel from France in 2025, at least 29 died at sea, and a record 710 arrived in a single day on June 15.
The pressure has tested the right-wing Belgian Government led by Bart de Wever, which took office in 2025 promising the country’s strictest migration policy. Ministers fear the Flemish coast could come to resemble the migrant camps of northern France.
