E.g., 06/13/2024
E.g., 06/13/2024
Asylum Seekers

Asylum Seekers

SyrianRefugees inIraq

Asylum seekers ask for protection after arriving in the host country, unlike refugees who are granted protected status outside of the host country. While the definition of asylum seeker varies from nation to nation, in most places, the difference between refugee and asylee is the place where the individual asks for protection. The research here examines the particular issues surrounding asylum seekers, who may or may not fulfill the strict criteria laid down by the 1951 Refugee Convention.

Recent Activity

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Articles
September 25, 2020
Greece Struggles to Balance Competing Migration Demands
By Joel Hernàndez
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Reports
September 2020
Driving Migrant Inclusion through Social Innovation: Lessons for Cities in a Pandemic
By  Liam Patuzzi
MPIEurope MoriaCommentary UNHCR Flickr
Commentaries
September 2020
Greece’s Moria Tragedy: The Crash Test for the EU Pact on Migration and Asylum
By  Hanne Beirens
An Indian internal migrant walks with her children in Delhi
Articles
September 10, 2020
Gaps in India’s Treatment of Refugees and Vulnerable Internal Migrants Are Exposed by the Pandemic
By Hamsa Vijayaraghavan
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Fact Sheets
August 2020
Un perfil regional de los migrantes y refugiados venezolanos en América Latina y el Caribe
By  Diego Chaves-González and Carlos Echeverría-Estrada
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Fact Sheets
August 2020
Venezuelan Migrants and Refugees in Latin America and the Caribbean: A Regional Profile
By  Diego Chaves-González and Carlos Echeverría-Estrada
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Articles
August 19, 2020
Haiti’s Painful Evolution from Promised Land to Migrant-Sending Nation
By Georges E. Fouron
Migrants aboard a rubber vessel are rescued in the Mediterranean
Articles
August 6, 2020
Once a Destination for Migrants, Post-Gaddafi Libya Has Gone from Transit Route to Containment
By Katie Kuschminder

Pages

Refugees attend a job training fair
Feature
February 27, 2018
Newcomers in the North: Labor Market Integration of Refugees in Northern Europe

After receiving more than 2 million asylum seekers in 2015-16, European countries are turning to the task of integrating the newcomers, including getting refugees into work. This article explores labor market integration of refugees in five Northern European countries—Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, and Sweden—drawing key lessons for today from the experiences of earlier groups of humanitarian arrivals.

Chinese lanterns
Profile
February 15, 2018
Australia: A Welcoming Destination for Some

Immigration has driven economic and social development in Australia for more than two centuries. Even as more than one-fourth of the country’s population is foreign born and Australia ranks third among top refugee resettlement countries worldwide, controversy surrounding its hardline treatment of asylum seekers arriving by boat has cast a shadow on its reputation as a welcoming country, as this article explores.

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Spotlight
February 8, 2018
Frequently Requested Statistics on Immigrants and Immigration in the United States

The United States is by far the world's top migration destination, home to roughly one-fifth of all global migrants. In 2016, nearly 44 million immigrants lived in the United States, comprising 13.5 percent of the country's population. Get the most sought-after data available on immigrants and immigration trends, including top countries of origin, legal immigration pathways, enforcement actions, health-care coverage, and much more.

Woman in refugee camp
Feature
January 30, 2018
Life After Trauma: The Mental-Health Needs of Asylum Seekers in Europe

The mental health of asylum seekers has emerged as an important issue following the 2015-16 European migration and refugee crisis. Many asylum seekers suffer from depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, and similar conditions—with implications not only for their well-being but also potentially for the outcomes of their claims and the integrity of the asylum system as a whole, as this article explores.

EgyptianWoman BenPiven Flickr
Spotlight
January 10, 2018
Middle Eastern and North African Immigrants in the United States

In 2016, nearly 1.2 million immigrants from the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region lived in the United States. MENA immigration has picked up in recent decades, owing to war and worsening economic prospects. This article offers the latest data on the MENA population in the United States, which is more likely to come via humanitarian routes and less likely via family reunification than the foreign-born population overall.

 

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Recent Activity

Articles
September 25, 2020

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.

Reports
September 2020

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.

Commentaries
September 2020

Greece’s Moria Tragedy: The Crash Test for the EU Pact on Migration and Asylum

The fires that devastated the Moria refugee camp on the Greek island of Lesbos have further raised the stakes for the soon-to-be unveiled EU Pact on Migration and Asylum. If Moria persists as a concept—with asylum seekers prevented from onward movement elsewhere in Europe—this becomes an integral pillar of future EU asylum practice, whatever is written on paper, as this commentary explores.

Articles
September 10, 2020

Gaps in India’s Treatment of Refugees and Vulnerable Internal Migrants Are Exposed by the Pandemic

India has no refugee law and has not signed the 1951 Refugee Convention, leaving many of its estimated 250,000 recognized refugees in a legal gray area. Meanwhile, more than 450 million internal migrants form the foundation of the country's economy, yet often have trouble accessing government benefits, identity cards, and other services. The COVID-19 pandemic has brought these shared vulnerabilities into stark relief.

Fact Sheets
August 2020

Un perfil regional de los migrantes y refugiados venezolanos en América Latina y el Caribe

Los países de América Latina y del Caribe se están enfrentando a un desafío doble. Por un lado, deben manejar un flujo masivo de venezolanos entrando a sus países, mientras que, al mismo tiempo, deben enfocar sus esfuerzos en controlar el virus del COVID-19. Esta ficha técnica presenta un perfil regional de los migrantes y refugiados venezolanos que viajaron a través de 11 países.

Fact Sheets
August 2020

Venezuelan Migrants and Refugees in Latin America and the Caribbean: A Regional Profile

As Latin American and Caribbean countries face a dual challenge—managing large-scale Venezuelan arrivals alongside the COVID-19 pandemic—reliable data on the characteristics of newcomers are essential to policymaking. This MPI-IOM fact sheet offers a profile of refugees and migrants in 11 countries in the region, including their demographics, labor market participation, remittance sending, access to health care, trip details, and intention to return to Venezuela.

Articles
August 19, 2020

Haiti’s Painful Evolution from Promised Land to Migrant-Sending Nation

For more than a century, Haiti was considered a prime destination for migrants from the United States and around the world. In the wake of the Haitian Revolution, Haiti marketed itself to freed slaves and others as an island haven where they could break free from the strictures of the United States and a global system of slavery. That changed in the 20th century. Now, there are roughly 1.6 million Haitians living in other countries.

Articles
August 6, 2020

Once a Destination for Migrants, Post-Gaddafi Libya Has Gone from Transit Route to Containment

Libya was once a prized destination for workers from around the world. But after Muammar Gaddafi’s overthrow in 2011, the country became the transit point for hundreds of thousands of Europe-bound asylum seekers and other migrants. Following Libya's 2017 deal with Italy to detain and return migrants caught at sea—which was renewed in February 2020—migrants became trapped in an unstable country, facing harrowing realities, as this article explores.

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