About five routes have been identified as channels of illegal crossings: The Central Mediterranean route (CMR), the Western Mediterranean route (WMR), the Eastern Mediterranean route (EMR), the West African route, and the Western Balkan route.

The CMR is the most dangerous and, at the same time, commonly used route to transit into Europe with Italy and Malta as the first countries of entry. It is estimated that 1 in 10 migrants who attempt crossing via the CMR is likely to die or go missing. Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco and Libya were departure countries for irregular migration to Europe via the CMR.

The WMR connects Morocco to Spain and the two Spanish enclaves of Melilla and Ceuta. Nationals from Morocco, Guinea, Mali and Algeria were more detected on the WMR. The West African route is used by irregular West African migrants to transit to Canary Islands (an autonomous community of Spain). Cities of Goa (Mali) and Agadez (Niger) are used as main hub of irregular migration to link the WMR and the CMR respectively.

The EMR is used by unauthorized migrants to travel into the EU through Turkey with Greece as the first country of entry. It was the “migration and refugee crisis” along this route in 2015 that put the whole of Europe under alert. However, irregular migration along the EMR has substantially declined.