Migration Policy Institute
Tackling Brain Waste among Immigrant Professionals: Initiatives to Improve the Recognition of Foreign Qualifications
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Nikki Cicerani, President & CEO, Upwardly Global
Constantinos Fotakis, Former Advisor, Employment and Social Analysis, Directorate General of Employment and Social Affairs, European Commission
Demetrios G. Papademetriou, President, Migration Policy Institute
Madeleine Sumption, Senior Policy Analyst and Assistant Director for Research, International Program, MPI
Éric Théroux, Assistant Deputy Minister for Policy, Francophone, and Multilateral Affairs, Quebec Ministry of International Relations, La Francophonie, and External Trade
Johan E. Uvin, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Policy and Strategic Initiatives, Office of Vocational and Adult Education, U.S. Department of Education
Immigration and the circulation of skilled professionals has become a major source of human capital in the United States and across the advanced industrialized world. Despite this reality, internationally mobile workers are often unable to put their skills and experience obtained abroad to good use. The resulting waste of human capital represents a loss to employers, destination economies, and immigrants themselves.
This event brought together experts and policymakers from both sides of the Atlantic to discuss what governments can do to improve the recognition of foreign credentials — particularly in regulated occupations where time-consuming and expensive licensing processes can substantially delay access to skilled employment. The discussion will highlight promising practices from abroad, asking what U.S. policymakers can learn from European innovations in qualifications recognition and how international cooperation can help — both across the Atlantic and further afield.
The event concluded a two-year research initiative at the Migration Policy Institute on the recognition of foreign qualifications in the United States and Europe, funded by the Delegation of the European Union in the United States. It was also the launch the project’s final report, which focuses on international cooperation for the mutual recognition of foreign credentials.