As Migration Diplomacy Grows More Transactional, New Report Charts a Path toward More Durable Partnerships

WASHINGTON, DC — As geopolitical pressures intensify amid conflict, displacement and a fracturing multilateral system, migration cooperation has become more essential yet harder to achieve. Governments are increasingly using tools such as visa restrictions, sanctions, tariffs and other trade measures to secure cooperation on migration from partner countries. But these more transactional approaches, though capable of delivering quick results, are not always well suited to building the durable partnerships governments need, a new report from the Migration Policy Institute’s Transatlantic Council on Migration notes.

In Migration Diplomacy in an Age of Transactionalism, analysts Lawrence Huang, Kate Hooper and Meghan Benton examine how a changing geopolitical risk environment is reshaping migration diplomacy. The report traces how fragility and conflict are complicating cooperation and safe returns, while growing authoritarianism in some key countries of origin and transit is making migration agreements harder to implement. At the same time, humanitarian and development funding cuts and a broader retreat from multilateralism are straining the institutions and partnerships on which migration cooperation has long relied.

Faced with these constraints, destination-country governments are turning more often to bilateral dealmaking and tools that sit outside migration policy's traditional remit, using foreign aid, tariffs, visa policy and sanctions to bring partner countries to the table. The report finds that these tools have produced some short-term victories, but their record is mixed. Coercive measures can unlock cooperation quickly, yet they can also damage working relationships over time. 

"Without common goals for cooperation or a commitment to shared benefits… the historical record shows that migration partnerships can quickly become brittle and ineffective," the authors write.

More durable partnerships, the authors argue, depend on shared interests and visible successes for both sides. Growing labor shortages and demographic asymmetries may create opportunities to use incentives such as improved visa access, skills investments and additional legal labor-mobility paths to meet partner-country priorities while responding to destination-country workforce needs.

Building on these findings, the report argues that governments should avoid allowing immediate political pressures to undermine the longer-term partnerships needed to respond to future migration challenges. Its recommendations include:

• Ensuring migration diplomacy delivers wins for both sides. Even where governments use coercive tools, addressing partner-country needs and offering incentives such as improved visa processing or additional labor-mobility opportunities can support more durable cooperation.
• Embedding migration in foreign policy while preparing for geopolitical risks. Governments should use foresight and scenario planning to assess how conflict, worsening authoritarian crackdowns and even war could disrupt migration partnerships, while diversifying partnerships to help withstand shifting priorities.
• Building stronger relationships with nonstate actors. Airlines, employers, social media companies and other private-sector actors can play important roles in tackling smuggling operations, while governments must also respond to increasingly adaptive criminal networks that operate across borders.
• Balancing short- and long-term objectives. Existing partnerships can give governments options when unexpected migration challenges arise. The United States, for example, drew on its relationship with Mexico when arrivals from South America increased during the Biden administration, while Australia turned to its existing partnership with Nauru following a high court ruling that created a new group of migrants with criminal convictions who could not be detained or returned.

"Identifying shared interests and opportunities for visible wins on both sides can help build a durable foundation for cooperation that can withstand changing political winds," the analysts conclude. 

Read the report here: www.migrationpolicy.org/publication/migration-diplomacy-transactionalism.

For more work from the Transatlantic Council on Migration, visit: www.migrationpolicy.org/initiative/transatlantic-council-migration.