German Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt expects an agreement to be reached with a non-EU country by the end of the year on the establishment of a first return hub, where migrants due to be deported are to be taken.
"I expect that by the end of this year we will have an agreement in place that we can then implement," the minister told broadcaster ZDF on Friday, as a major reform to the European Union's asylum system came into force after years of negotiations.
Dobdrindt did not specify which countries are under consideration as possible locations for return hubs, but he said the process would take a considerable amount of time.
Return hubs are detention facilities intended to accommodate migrants who, although they have no right to remain in the EU, cannot be repatriated because their home countries are not cooperating.
The centres are to be established outside the EU, with the legal basis for the policy having been created under the reform of the Common European Asylum System (CEAS) that came into effect on Friday.
The policy has received criticism from international organizations such as Amnesty International and the International Rescue Committee over concerns the hubs could enable human rights violations.
In a joint statement last year, they accused the EU of "seeking to further shift responsibility for refugee protection onto countries outside its borders and sidestep legal obligations under the Refugee Convention and EU law."
Previous attempts by European countries to establish detention facilities abroad have faced significant legal hurdles, including Italy's effort to set up hubs in Albania and the United Kingdom's ill-fated deal with Rwanda.
