Europe
Recent Activity
The European Union's recent proposal aims to attract highly skilled migrants by granting them access to all EU labor markets—but with some important limitations. Elizabeth Collett of the European Policy Centre explains the basics of the Blue Card proposal, the questions it raises, and national-level reactions.
Countries continue to adopt technological means of supporting border and immigration officials' decisions about what travelers pose risks or are barred by law, making biometrics the norm and not the exception.
The language of migration and development—remittances, diaspora, brain drain, circular migration—has become standard among researchers and NGOs interested in development issues. In 2007, that language formally became part of the migration policy agenda, particularly in Europe.
All the nuanced meanings of "belonging" describe integration trends in industrialized countries in 2007, including the United States, Switzerland, the Netherlands, and Germany.
While the countries that make a point of competing for the world's best and brightest tweaked their entry systems in 2007, the European Commission took a bold leap in late October: it formally proposed a European Union "Blue Card" scheme for admitting highly qualified non-EU workers who already have a work contract in a Member State and professional qualifications.
How do migrant sending and receiving countries both get more of what they want—without the receiving countries committing to a new stream of permanent migration? The European Union thinks it may have found an answer in the concept of "mobility partnerships."
Immigration and the 2008 elections, migration and climate change, visa waiver programs, more.
This Fact Sheet outlines the common rules and policies of Schengen Member States that have abolished controls at internal borders, the regulations for EU and third-country nationals who wish to enter and reside in the Schengen Area, and the function and mechanism of the “Schengen visa.”