How Free is Free Movement? Dynamics and Drivers of Mobility Within the European Union

This MPI Europe report provides a detailed assessment of free movement, motivations for migration, and challenges countries may need to address as intra-EU mobility enters its next phase

COVID-19 and the state of Global Mobility in 2020

The year 2020 was a landmark for human mobility, with dramatically reduced cross-border movements of all kinds. The COVID-19 pandemic decimated tourism and business travel; severely curtailed labour migration; and dampened movement of all stripes, from that of international students to family reunification. The International Organization for Migration (IOM) has been tracking the surge in travel restrictions, border closures and health-related travel requirements imposed by governments since the onset of the pandemic. This report, produced through collaboration between the IOM and the Migration Policy Institute (MPI), marks the first comprehensive analysis of these data to understand how the pandemic has reshaped border management and human mobility – and what the lasting ramifications may be throughout 2021 and beyond

Mainstreaming 2.0: How Europes Education Systems Can Boost Migrant Inclusion

This report examines the steps European education systems are taking (or might take) to give all students an equitable shot at academic and future labor-market success. It also considers the role schools are increasingly playing in efforts to support the integration of new and longstanding immigrant communities. From ensuring that all school staff are equipped to support diverse classrooms to improving governance structures to prepare for future demographic and social changes, the authors highlight key lessons learned in the education and adjacent policy fields

COVID-19 and the State of Global Mobility in 2020

The year 2020 marked a sudden break in mobility across international borders. The COVID-19 pandemic decimated tourism and business travel; cut the lion’s share of seasonal and temporary labor migration; temporarily ground refugee resettlement efforts to a halt; and held up the processing of visas of all kinds, from those for international students to family reunification. Yet even as the overall picture of human mobility in 2020 is of movement dramatically curtailed, the details of this picture varied over the course of the year and across regions. This report, which results from collaboration between the International Organization for Migration and the Migration Policy Institute, is a first-of-its-kind comprehensive analysis of the travel measures and border closures that governments worldwide implemented during 2020. This patchwork of fast-changing policies includes restrictions on the entry or transit of travelers through certain countries or regions, health measures (such as quarantine and testing requirements or medical certificates), and changes to visa regimes. At their peak in mid-December, these travel measures exceeded 111,000 in place at one time. In addition to presenting data on how the types and number of travel restrictions and border closures changed over the course of 2020 and varied by region, the report examines the human impact of these policies for different groups of travelers and migrants. It also considers whether the evidence supports travel restrictions as effective tools for managing pandemics, analyzes the main policy levers that have increasingly replaced blanket travel bans, and examines how these measures may be seeding a new cross-border infrastructure built around public health. And it looks ahead to the lingering effects of these policies on mobility in 2021 and beyond

Next Steps: Implementing a Brexit Deal for UK Citizens Living in the EU-27

The period since the 2016 Brexit referendum has been a tumultuous one for UK citizens living in another EU Member State (the EU-27), as well as for EU nationals living in the United Kingdom. Preliminary agreements reached in late 2017 and early 2018 have shed some light on the status and rights these populations may have after the United Kingdom leaves the European Union, but much remains uncertain. For most Britons in the EU-27, the subject of this report, securing the right to stay in their current country of residence has been the top priority, but many have much more at stake as they lose their EU citizenship. This report by MPI Europe and Goldsmiths, University of London assesses the progress that has been made in rapidly evolving EU-UK negotiations, then turns to examine the challenges national and local governments across the European Union are likely to face in implementing a Brexit deal on citizens’ rights. It draws on interviews with Member State officials to explore what planning—if any—is already underway, and on interviews with British residents of the EU-27, many of whom have been unsettled by the negotiations and received limited or conflicting advice from authorities. A particularly large question mark hangs over what systems and processes EU-27 countries may put in place to adjust the legal status of their British residents from that of mobile EU citizens to a new, to-be-decided status. Whatever form these systems may take, the authors write, they should aim to balance inclusiveness with fraud prevention, and to employ smart and ongoing outreach to British communities, including before a final agreement is reached