E.g., 06/11/2024
E.g., 06/11/2024
International Program

International Program

Image of female worker at the Boqueria market in Barcelona making a crepe
Marcel Crozet/ILO

Spain and the United States both receive their greatest number of immigrants from Latin America, and have worked collaboratively together on displacement crises and other migration issues. As shared immigration challenges dominate debate on both sides of the Atlantic, Spain can serve as a vital bridge in the policy conversation, this commentary notes.

Volunteer hands out food to migrant workers returning to their hometowns in Vietnam
IOM/Red Cross Vietnam

The COVID-19 pandemic both shocked the global mobility system and reaffirmed the centrality and resiliency of human mobility. Four years on, public and political attention to COVID-19’s unprecedented consequences for cross-border movement has waned. Yet if countries are to manage mobility more effectively in future public-health crises, this is an important moment for reflection and learning, as this issue brief explores.

A woman in Nigeria smiles while using her mobile phone
iStock.com/Wirestock

Remittances are a vital lifeline for migrants’ families around the world and an important source of revenue for many low- and middle-income countries, especially in times of crisis. As more people turn to digital financial technologies for these money transfers, this shift holds the potential to shake up the rigid remittance industry and boost development benefits. But it also brings new challenges, as this report explores.

Three refugee students at airport security check
© UNHCR/Alessandro Penso

Travel documents are critical facilitators of mobility. But for refugees, who cannot safely use a passport issued by their origin country, the lack of a usable travel document can shut them out of work, study, or other opportunities beyond their first country of asylum. This policy brief examines alternative documents that can facilitate refugees’ movement, key barriers to acquiring them, and strategies for overcoming these challenges.

Ukrainian adults and children arrive at a train station in Hungary
IOM/Muse Mohammed

The massive and rapid displacement of Syrians, Venezuelans, and Ukrainians presented neighboring countries with an impossible task: providing legal status and assistance, even though their asylum systems lacked the capacity to handle such a large influx. This report examines the costs and benefits of the flexible approaches taken to providing status in these three cases, identifying lessons for future crises.

A migrant worker cuts through a metal rod at a construction site in Qatar
Apex Image/ILO

With more people moving abroad for work and events such as the 2022 World Cup in Qatar highlighting the risks migrant workers can face, questions about how international recruitment occurs have received increased scrutiny. This policy brief explores the notable progress that has been made in establishing fair and ethical recruitment standards, and identifies key areas for future attention by governments, employers, and recruiters.

Recent Activity

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Reports
September 2005
By  Philippa Strum and David Biette
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Reports
July 2004
By  Demetrios G. Papademetriou, Kevin O'Neil and Maia Jachimowicz
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Policy Briefs
December 2003
By  Gregor Noll and Joanne van Selm
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Fact Sheets
November 2003
By  Deborah W. Meyers and Maia Jachimowicz

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Recent Activity

Fact Sheets
October 2005

This report examines the trilateral relationship between the United States, Canada, and Mexico in the decade since the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and provides facts and figures relating to trade and migration among the three countries.

Reports
September 2005

This volume of essays looks at the education and immigrant integration efforts in both the United States and Canada.

Policy Briefs
September 2005

This policy brief explores the often neglected migration management potential of “regularization” or “legalization” programs, arguing that properly conceived and carefully executed “earned” regularization programs can not only prevent the number and flow of unauthorized migrants from building to unacceptable levels, but can also set the stage for smarter use of enforcement resources and improvements in labor market and social policy development.

Reports
July 2005

This report looks at what, over time, has determined the various departmental or ministerial locations of migration policy decision-making in different states.

Reports
July 2004

The regularization, or legalization, of unauthorized immigrants has become a central, if controversial, policy tool in many developed countries’ struggle to manage irregular immigration. Because of the sheer size of irregular immigration in the advanced industrial world, regularization programs have become a significant source of legal workers and, in many instances, of prospective citizens.

Policy Briefs
May 2004

This policy brief explores two key policy issues at the center of the May 2004 enlargement of the European Union: the potential for migration from the new Member States to the existing ones; and the need to develop a coherent immigration, asylum, and border control policy for the European Union.

 

Policy Briefs
December 2003

Recognizing the particular challenges to refugee protection faced on both sides of the Atlantic, this report questions whether strengthening resettlement programs in the U.S. and Europe can help to address ongoing concerns over security, the volume and diversity of migrants, the rise of right-wing parties and the role of the welfare state.

Fact Sheets
November 2003

Canada and Mexico’s importance to the United States is more than simply a border-state phenomenon. The trading relationship between United States and Canada represents the largest bilateral flow of income, goods, and services in the world. Meanwhile, Mexico is the United States’ second largest trading partner.

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