Global Program
The Global Program acts as a policy laboratory for innovative, evidence-based, and politically feasible solutions to migration policy challenges. From direct policy advice to deep comparative research, its work interrogates policy design and effectiveness, helps countries newer to immigration learn from innovation and evidence in other regions, and anticipates how demographic, economic, and technological shifts will reshape migration in the years ahead. It supports governments in responding to crises with greater coordination and foresight, and provides a trusted off-the-record space for engaging with sensitive topics. Its main geographical focus is Europe, the Americas, and Australia, but it increasingly works with governments and other partners worldwide, including in East Africa and Asia. For more on the Global Program, click here.
Featured
How Europe Was Transformed by the 2015-16 Migration and Refugee Crisis
Ten years after the 2015-16 migration and refugee crisis, the European Union has reshaped its process for dividing up asylum claims and controlling…
The Shifting Financing of Responses to Venezuelan Displacement
Financing for Latin American responses to Venezuelan displacement has changed over the years, and new approaches are needed in light of foreign aid…
Migration Diplomacy in an Age of Transactionalism
As international cooperation frays, balanced diplomacy—rather than coercive dealmaking—promises the most effective approach to emerging migration…
More Featured Work
Key Statistics
International migrants comprise 3.7 percent of the global population. Learn more about them
304 million
The number of migrants globally in 2024
50.6 million
The number who as of 2025 were refugees or asylum seekers
94 million
The number of international migrants in Europe—the top destination globally
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'Donkey Flights:' Illegal Immigration from the Punjab to the United Kingdom
Punjab's visa agents and criminal networks exploit every UK and Schengen loophole with greater speed and creativity than government bureaucracy can match.
Human Smuggling and Trafficking into Europe: A Comparative Perspective
Human smuggling and trafficking into Europe persist because weak borders, corruption, and unmet labor demand make them highly profitable and low-risk criminal enterprises.
Curbing the Influence of "Bad Actors" in International Migration (Transatlantic Council Statement)
Irregular migration persists despite massive enforcement investments because market demand drives illegality and bad actors consistently outpace government controls.
Securing Borders: The Intended, Unintended, and Perverse Consequences
Border enforcement consistently generates perverse consequences, and strong borders require strong institutions and rule of law as much as physical controls.
Spheres of Exploitation: Thwarting Actors Who Profit from Illegal Labor, Domestic Servitude, and Sex Work
Migrant exploitation is sustained by high profits and low risk for bad actors, and enforcement tools across labor, care, and sex markets each carry serious unintended consequences.
A Strategic Framework for Creating Legality and Order in Immigration
Immigration enforcement lags other regulatory fields by failing to apply evidence-based, proportionate, and strategically prioritized responses to immigration harms.
Trade-Offs in Immigration Enforcement
Return-only enforcement globally is costly and incomplete, making regularization an indispensable complement to deportation in any credible migration enforcement regime.
Tackling Brain Waste among Immigrant Professionals: Initiatives to Improve the Recognition of Foreign Qualifications
This event marked the release of MPI's final project report on international cooperation for the mutual recognition of foreign credentials. Report authors were joined by government professionals and the CEO of Upwardly Global.
Skilled Immigrants in the Global Economy: Prospects for International Cooperation on Recognition of Foreign Qualifications
Mutual recognition agreements reduce credential barriers for skilled immigrants, but professional autonomy and political fragmentation limit their scope and reach.
Managing Borders in an Increasingly Borderless World
Securing borders demands an elusive mix of policies tailored to each context, with strong state institutions as the one common prerequisite across all regions, as this edited volume reveals.
