The EMN and the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) have launched a collaboration that will result in a series of 5 Informs on the impact of COVID-19 in different areas of migration in the EU Members States (including Belgium), Norway and the UK.

The first Inform has now been published. It focuses on responses to managing residence permits and migrant unemployment.

The findings indicate that vulnerable communities including third-country nationals are being especially affected by the impacts of the pandemic. Many countries have introduced temporary measures with regard to the processing of applications for, and issuance and renewal of, residence permits to prevent legally staying migrants from falling into an irregular situation, and for those who have lost their jobs as a result of the pandemic.

The Inform and the working document that supports and provides supplementary information to the joint EMN / OECD Inform can be found above. 

On 30 July 2020 a webinar was organised about this Inform, which was livestreamed on YouTube. If you have missed the webinar, you can still watch a video of it below.

This Inform is the first of 5 Informs on the impact of COVID-19. Future Informs will cover the COVID-19 impact on:

• international students;
• maintaining key legal migration flows;
• reduction or loss of remittances;
• and return issues.

Their publication is foreseen from August to November 2020. About each or most of these Informs, a webinar will be organised.