E.g., 02/28/2021
E.g., 02/28/2021

Europe

Europe

European Union

Europe faces an interesting set of immigration challenges and opportunities: Demographic pressures as many European societies age, a lively and at times tense policy and political debate over questions of identity and immigrant integration, and a unique policy environment that has knit many European countries together with regards to free movement, the management of outer borders, asylum, and other immigration-related topics. MPI has long conducted research and analysis of European policy on topics ranging from labor mobility and border security to immigrant integration, citizenship, and foreign qualifications recognition, which can be found below.

A woman looks out over tents being used by migrants and asylum seekers on the Greek island of Lesvos
Articles

Greece Struggles to Balance Competing Migration Demands

When he was elected prime minister in 2019, Kyriakos Mitsotakis promised what he called “strict but fair” reforms to secure Greece's borders and speed up transfers of asylum seekers crowding Aegean islands. Yet domestic and geopolitical tensions continued to roil the islands, later joined by a global pandemic, culminating in a fire that destroyed most of Lesvos's Moria refugee camp. This article examines Greece's efforts to strike a delicate balance on migration in a complex era.

Castle Square in Warsaw, Poland
Reports

Driving Migrant Inclusion through Social Innovation: Lessons for Cities in a Pandemic

Since COVID-19 hit cities across Europe, many have struggled with how to sustain support for migrant inclusion in a time of social-distancing orders and likely budget cuts. This report explores how municipalities and their partners used social innovation to meet the challenges of the 2015–16 spike in arrivals of asylum seekers and migrants, and how those experiences can help localities weather the pandemic and put communities at the center of recovery efforts.

Recent Activity

Policy Briefs
September 2013
What We Know: Regulating the Recruitment of Migrant Workers
By  Dovelyn Rannveig Mendoza
Policy Briefs
September 2013
What We Know About Circular Migration and Enhanced Mobility
By  Graeme Hugo
Policy Briefs
September 2013
What Do We Know About Skilled Migration and Development?
By  Michael Clemens
Reports
July 2013
Skills, Professional Regulation, and International Mobility in the Engineering Workforce
By  Matthew Dixon
Reports
July 2013
Recognizing Foreign Qualifications: Emerging Global Trends
By  Lesleyanne Hawthorne
Reports
July 2013
Tackling Brain Waste: Strategies to Improve the Recognition of Immigrants’ Foreign Qualifications
By  Madeleine Sumption
Books
July 2013
How Can Talent Abroad Induce Development at Home? Towards a Pragmatic Diaspora Agenda
Articles
June 28, 2013
Diasporas and Development in Post-Communist Eurasia
By Tim Heleniak

Pages

Profile
March 1, 2003
Austria: A Country of Immigration?
Recent policies — some more restrictive, some more liberal — reflect Austria's continuing ambivalence about immigration.
Feature
March 1, 2003
Gender, Religion, and Secularism Meet in Germany's Headscarf Battle
A German court has restored the job of a Muslim nursery school teacher dismissed from her post for wearing a symbol of her faith, the headscarf.
Profile
February 1, 2003
España: Hacia una nueva política migratoria

En la última mitad de la década de los 90, la inmigración llegó a ser un tema de vital importancia para los políticos y el público español.

Profile
February 1, 2003
Spain: Forging an Immigration Policy
In the mid-1990s, immigration became a matter of vital importance to Spain's political elites and in the eyes of the public.
Feature
February 1, 2003
Germany's High Court Strikes Down Planned Immigration Law
The German Constitutional Court has blocked a landmark immigration law scheduled to take effect at the beginning of 2003, temporarily ending a running dispute between the ruling and opposition parties.

Pages

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Recent Activity

Policy Briefs
September 2013

What We Know: Regulating the Recruitment of Migrant Workers

Private recruitment agencies orchestrate much of the migration process, from predeparture to return. They provide information, assistance, and even financial support to migrants; facilitate transit to and from the destination; and in some cases employ migrants directly. While recruitment agencies protect migrants, sometimes removing them from abusive workplaces or even organizing repatriation, migrants’ dependence on them for so many services also creates many opportunities for exploitation and abuse. This brief assesses the forms of regulation that are being proposed and enacted to oversee recruitment agencies and identifies several areas for further improvement.
Policy Briefs
September 2013

What We Know About Diasporas and Economic Development

Diasporas can play an important role in the economic development of their countries of origin or ancestry. Beyond their well-known role as senders of remittances, diasporas also can promote trade and foreign direct investment, create businesses, spur entrepreneurship, and transfer new knowledge and skills. Policymakers increasingly recognize that an engaged diaspora can be an asset — or even a counterweight to the emigration of skilled and talented migrants.

Policy Briefs
September 2013

What Do We Know About Skilled Migration and Development?

Skilled migration is often thought to have overwhelmingly negative effects on countries of migrant origin. Yet recent research and policy experience challenge this assumption and offer a more nuanced picture, as this brief explains. Countries of origin and destination can in fact benefit from skilled migration when it is correctly structured, and efforts to restrict skilled nationals’ ability to leave their countries of origin may have unintended costs, in addition to being ethically problematic.
Books
July, 2013

How Can Talent Abroad Induce Development at Home? Towards a Pragmatic Diaspora Agenda

This edited volume develops a pragmatic approach to the engagement of highly skilled members of the diaspora for the benefit of their countries of origin. The book, edited by a World Bank senior economist, is based on empirical work in middle-income and high-income economies.

Reports
July 2013

Tackling Brain Waste: Strategies to Improve the Recognition of Immigrants’ Foreign Qualifications

Immigrant-receiving countries have introduced a range of policies to improve the recognition of foreign qualifications. This report explores strategies for ensuring that qualified immigrants can contribute their training and talent to the labor force.
Reports
July 2013

Recognizing Foreign Qualifications: Emerging Global Trends

This report provides an overview of the global trends in the recognition of foreign credentials, and describes new and flexible ways that governments can recognize the qualifications of immigrants.

Reports
July 2013

Skills, Professional Regulation, and International Mobility in the Engineering Workforce

This report explains the basic structure of the engineering workforce, and the elements that influence the ability of engineers to move across borders. It examines recent efforts to address national differences in education and accreditation, and also considers how serious the barriers to international migration for engineers are in practice.

Articles
June 28, 2013

Diasporas and Development in Post-Communist Eurasia

The region encompassing Central and Eastern Europe as well as the former Soviet Union is the source of a sizeable share of international migrants today, yet many of these countries' development efforts do not benefit from strong diaspora ties.

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