The governance of integration of immigrants in EU Member States is a complex process involving actors across multiple policy areas at national, local, and supranational levels of administration. In addition, origin-country actors are now increasingly involved in immigrant integration, mostly through engaging their diasporas in destination countries. This report explores these trends.

In the past two decades, origin countries have widened their understanding of the diaspora’s contribution to development in the homeland, and acknowledged that development gains tend to be greater the more successfully integrated diaspora members are in their destination countries.

The report shows that in addition to the ministries and ministerial departments devoted to diaspora and emigration affairs, many other offices under various governmental portfolios also participate in the process, either directly or through liaison offices, embassies, and consular networks in receiving countries. The ‘mainstreaming’ of diaspora engagement policymaking across various general policy areas is similar to EU destination countries’ efforts in the horizontal governance of immigrant integration.

Table of Contents

I. Introduction
II. The Governance of Immigrant Integration in EU Member States
III. Origin-Country Involvement in the Governance oF Immigrant Integration: A Mapping of Actors
IV. International Cooperation on Immigrant Integration
V. Conclusions and Recommendations

This report is part of the INTERACT research project, led by the Migration Policy Centre at the European University Institute. INTERACT is implemented by a consortium built by the Centre for Ethnic and Migration Studies, the Universitat Pompeu Fabra, and the Migration Policy Institute Europe.