Publication date: 01 August 2023

New research carried out in the context of the Equality Law Clinic at the Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB) focuses on the EU Single Permit Directive and shares concerns regarding the complexity and efficiency of the application (and renewal) procedure, the exclusion of certain categories of migrants from the scope of the Directive and the lack of protection of migrant workers from exploitation.
Main theme: Economic migration
Publication Type: Study
Keywords: single permit directive

Publication date: 23 January 2023

This report maps out the existing uses of new technologies across European immigration and asylum systems both at the national and the EU level. It is the first outcome of the Algorithmic Fairness and Asylum Seekers and Refugees (AFAR) Project, funded by the Volkswagen Foundation.
Main theme: Cross-sectional
Publication Type: Report
Keywords: technologies, automation

Publication date: 22 December 2022

How do medium-sized cities deal with the newcomers, the “international talent”? This book focuses on “incoming” internationalization driven by the attraction, facilitation, and integration of skilled migrants in urban settings, taking a policy perspective.
Main theme: Integration
Publication Type: Study
Keywords: cities, mentoring, skilled migrants

Publication date: 18 November 2022

This discussion paper stands against the immigration detention of minors, even used as a measure of last resort, and calls for implementing meaningful alternatives to detention during return procedures. It also recommends mandating the collection of data on this matter.

Publication date: 01 May 2019

This MPI Europe report explores the various forms of predeparture orientation programs offered by resettlement countries. It focuses on important design questions and identifies a set of features shared by effective programs.
Main theme: Integration, International Protection
Publication Type: Report
Keywords: resettlement, assimilation

Publication date: 15 April 2019

A new report published by the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung shows how attitudes across Europe have changed before and after the 2015 migration ‘crisis’ and tries to explain what has driven those changes. Using data from the European Social Survey, the report’s authors find that, overall, perceptions of migration have remained both neutral and stable before and after the ‘crisis’. But there are a few countries that have become significantly more positive about migrants, as well as a few that have become significantly more negative.
Main theme: Integration
Publication Type: Report
Keywords: attitude towards migration

Publication date: 08 November 2018

This research, commissioned for the eighteenth plenary meeting of the Transatlantic Council of Migration, an initiative of the Migration Policy Institute (MPI), examines the entanglement of immigration with broader concerns about the economic, social and cultural effects of globalization, as well as the public’s growing lack of confidence in government to manage issues such as immigration.

Publication date: 31 August 2018

This paper, which is entitled 'The EU’s New Migration Partnership with Mali: Shifting towards a Risky Security-Migration-Development Nexus', seeks to understand why and how the EU has been redefining its migration strategy regarding Mali.
Main theme: External Dimension
Publication Type: Report
Keywords: Migration Partnership

Publication date: 17 May 2018

This new policy brief offers a critical analysis of the reignited trend of externalised EU migration policies that appear to be moving towards a model of offshore processing, as used by Australia. By looking at the proposed CEAS reform, it lays out the fundamental concerns connected with the use of such a model and notes the flaws in the economic and “migration management” justifications for offshoring.
Main theme: External Dimension
Publication Type: Study
Keywords: externalised EU migration policies

Publication date: 30 September 2017

This report points to the need for reform in the European asylum system. There is a need for a more balanced distribution of asylum seekers between the Member States and more uniform decision-making on asylum within the EU. The authors argue that a person seeking asylum should have the same chance of being granted asylum irrespective of the country in which the application is made. 
Main theme: Asylum, International Protection
Publication Type: Report
Keywords: CEAS

Publication date: 19 May 2017

In the wake of the refugee crisis and in reaction to terrorist attacks, European governments are seeking tighter control over the whereabouts of migrants and refugees. This policy paper sheds light on EU rules regulating the detention of applicants for international protection, how they are currently implemented by Member States, and the ongoing reform process.
Main theme: Asylum
Publication Type: Report
Keywords: detention

Publication date: 02 May 2017

How to stimulate unaccompanied young adult refugees’ inclusion in society? This report discusses cohousing and case management for unaccompanied young adult refugees in Antwerp (CURANT), a social policy intervention combining intensive individualized guidance, cohabitation with a local flatmate, training and therapy with the aim of supporting social integration. The stakeholders’ underlying assumptions are untangled, and the intervention’s core ideas are connected with academic literature.
Main theme: Integration
Publication Type: Report
Keywords: inclusion, social assistance, Social cohesion, Training

Publication date: 17 March 2017

This policy brief examines how the unprecedented influx of asylum seekers has led to the fragmentation of the Dublin system. The flaws of the Dublin system are analysed, and the Commission’s proposal for the recast of the Dublin system is looked into.
Main theme: Asylum
Publication Type: Opinion
Keywords: Dublin Regulation

Publication date: 01 March 2017

This report identifies concrete actions that could be taken to better leverage European Union soft law, funding, and knowledge exchange mechanisms to support cities’ activities when it comes to labour market integration.
Main theme: Integration
Publication Type: Report
Keywords: labour market integration

Publication date: 14 February 2017

Eritrea has during the last decade become among the largest producers of refugees and asylum seekers in the world. The dominant narrative explaining this trend refers to the combination of a highly authoritarian and militarized state structure, an infinite and abusive national service program, and gross, widespread, and systematic human rights violations. This dominant narrative has however in recent years become increasingly challenged by those who argue that migration from Eritrea predominantly is driven by economic aspirations and that Eritreans really are fleeing a stagnant economy which deprives the citizens of a viable future. This report, by Andreas Holm Røsberg and Kjetil Tronvoll, seeks to provide some clarity to this issue.  
Main theme: Migration
Publication Type: Report
Keywords: economic migration

Publication date: 01 December 2016

A surge of refugees and asylum seekers has strained the continent. The McKinsey Global Institute (MGI) argues that managing the asylum procedure and integrating those refugees well, could not only mitigate risks but also benefit the economy.
Main theme: Integration
Publication Type: Study
Keywords: employment

Publication date: 20 July 2016

This report by MPI explores the factors that can set the stage for public anxiety about immigration, and proposes a series of strategies to respond to these concerns.
Main theme: Migration
Publication Type: Report
Keywords: MPI, public anxiety, public perception

Publication date: 10 May 2016

What image do irregular migrants and their representatives have of voluntary return? Is voluntary return well-known? These topics are the focus of a study carried out by the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven (KUL).
Main theme: Irregular Migration, Return & Readmission
Publication Type: Study
Keywords: voluntary return

Publication date: 19 August 2015

This report focuses on Belgium’s admission policy for third country nationals, more particularly regarding family reunification, labour migration, and student migration. It also compares Belgium’s conditions of entry with those of other EU Member States.
Main theme: Migration
Publication Type: Report
Keywords: third-country nationals, admission

Publication date: 05 May 2015

This Policy Brief from the Institute for European Studies examines whether Belgium’s complex federal state structure can help explain the country’s poor performance regarding labour market participation of people with an immigrant background.
Main theme: Integration
Publication Type: Study
Keywords: labour market integration

Publication date: 08 April 2015

This Report makes the case of the complexity of the drivers favoring displacements as refugees, making protection based on a strict definition of persecution increasingly problematic and challenging to implement.

Publication date: 19 March 2015

This policy brief of the Migration Policy Insitute (MPI) addresses the underlying mechanisms of policymaking around migration and asylum at the EU level and identifies areas in which the EU institutions must reform to have the desired effect on the ground.
Main theme: International Protection
Publication Type: Opinion
Keywords: European Agenda on Migration

Publication date: 13 March 2015

In this new policy brief of the Migration Policy Centre (MPC), Luigi Achilli describes the situation of Syrian refugees registered with UNHCR in Jordan, the European approach and the changing attitude of the government of Jordan.
Main theme: External Dimension, International Protection
Publication Type: Report
Keywords: Jordan, resettlement, Syria, UNHCR

Publication date: 05 March 2015

In this dissertation to obtain the degree of Doctor at Maastricht University, Marieke van Houte shows that the expectations on which migration and development policies are based only apply to a small minority of returnees, who are not the group that is targeted by these policies.

Publication date: 19 February 2015

An Analysis of the Labour Market Careers of Asylum Seekers and Refugees in Belgium
Main theme: Asylum, Integration, Data & Statistics
Publication Type: Study
Keywords: employment, labour market integration