Legalization/Regularization

Explore all research, analysis, data, and commentary on regularization and legalization, the terms used in different parts of the world to describe the provision of temporary or permanent legal status to migrants resident in the country who lack legal status.

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Showing 181–190 of 190 results

The "Regularization" Option in Managing Illegal Migration More Effectively: A Comparative Perspective

Regularization programs alone cannot solve unauthorized migration, but "earned" legalization paired with enforcement and expanded legal channels can play a meaningful role.

Regularizing Immigrants in Spain: A New Approach

Spain's 2005 regularization drew nearly 700,000 applications, making it the broadest yet.

Solving the Unauthorized Migrant Problem: Proposed Legislation in the U.S.

Four bills before the 109th Congress sought to tackle unauthorized immigration through mixes of enforcement, legalization, and guest worker provisions.

Why Countries Continue to Consider Regularization

From 1980 to 2005, the United States and eight EU countries have run 22 one-shot regularization programs, with mixed results on integration, wages, and curbing irregular migration.

Lessons From The Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986

While the 1986 Immigration Reform and Control Act was a landmark effort to achieve comprehensive immigration reform, its key design and implementation failures offer lasting lessons.

Backlogs in Immigration Processing Persist

U.S. immigration processing backlogs grew more than 1,000 percent between 1990 and 2003, driven by rising naturalization applications and post-9/11 screening requirements.

Legal Immigration to U.S. Still Declining

The number of people granted U.S. legal permanent residence in fiscal year 2003 dropped 34 percent, with processing slowdowns attributed to new background check requirements and NSEERS.

Observations on Regularization and the Labor Market Performance of Unauthorized and Regularized Immigrants

Regularization can raise wages and boost formal employment, but success hinges on program design and whether host-country labor markets can absorb newly legal workers.

Legislation Introduced to Legalize Undocumented Workers

U.S. House Democrats proposed legalizing undocumented workers in October 2002.

Citizenship Policies for an Age of Migration

This book offers concrete recommendations on how to effectively structure national citizenship laws, in part to foster immigrant inclusion and integration.