Migration and local authorities - Impact on jobs and working conditions

Just as there has been tension between EU migration policies and national level policies, there is growing evidence that local authorities are taking a more proactive position to define local policies for third country nationals. In some countries, these complement stronger positive national policies, in other countries, where there is an absence of national migration policies, local authorities are playing an important role in supporting the integration of third country nationals within society and the local economy. They do this through social cohesion activities, language education and wider education and life-long learning services. The position of third country nationals in the labour force is often weak, especially women and those with low levels of education. There is a need for more focused strategies to make the recognition of existing qualifications easier and quicker. Austerity policies have had an impact on third country nationals because they have resulted in cuts to services, e.g. social cohesion, which were specially targeted at third country nationals. Public sector workers responsible for services for third country nationals have experienced cuts in budgets, more difficult working conditions and a lack of training, which has made it more difficult to deliver adequate public services

Family reunification of third-country nationals in Germany

FAMILY REUNIFICATION OF THIRD-COUNTRY NATIONALS IN GERMANY Family reunification of third-country nationals in Germany / Grote, Janne (Rights reserved) ( -

The legitimacy of the European Union through legal rationality: Free movement of third country nationals

Third country nationals (TCNs) play an important part in the economy of the European Union, reflected in the rights granted to them under European Union Law. Political expediency is however shaped by world, regional and domestic influences that in turn determine policy towards third country nationals and their legal rights to freedom of movement.This book examines the concept of political legitimacy within the European Union through the principles of legal rationality, focusing in particular on the European Union’s policy towards third country nationals. Richard Ball argues that for legal doctrine to be rational it must display the requirements of formal, instrumental and substantive rationality, each mutually exclusive and essential.In taking this position of legal rationality, the book focuses on free movement rights of TCNs within EU treaties and implementing legislation, the Area of Freedom Security and Justice, and Association Agreements. Ball concludes that the stance of European Union Law towards third country nationals lacks legitimacy, and suggests possible new directions that EU policy should take in the future

Challenges of Policy Coordination for Third-Country Nationals

[Excerpt] Migration is a major policy concern for EU Member States and the issue is generally dealt with at both national and European level. While Member States have put in place specific regulations such as entry conditions or programmes for categories of workers, the overall architecture of migration-related policies presents a huge challenge for policymakers. In recent months, the significant inflow of refugees from third countries has profoundly changed the situation in Europe. Most EU countries are facing the arrival of an unprecedented number of refugees and have been grappling with how to respond in a comprehensive and coordinated way to the immediate needs of asylum seekers and the longer-term issues of integration. Furthermore, the challenges of labour shortages and demographic change in Europe call for comprehensive policies that will take into account the effects of immigration on host countries and on the refugees and migrants themselves. This report examines how policies in the areas of migration, the labour market and integration are coordinated within Member States, with a specific focus on the role of the social partners and local-level initiatives

Citizenship Rights for the Third Country Nationals-European Citizenship or the Liberalization of European Citizenship Regimes

This thesis is an attempt to discuss the proposals to improve the statuses and rights of the legally resident third country nationals living in the European Union. As denizens, third country nationals have full civil and social rights but they do not have any political rights. This is believed to denote an anomaly, which can be corrected through the grant of political rights. However, political rights are reserved only for the political community's full members, who are citizens. As the citizenship regimes of most of the member states have been based on the principle of jus sanguinis, which denotes an ethno-cultural and as a result an exclusive citizenship regime, the introduction of European citizenship was celebrated by the migrants? representatives, political activists and academics. The findings of this study show that despite the high hopes, European citizenship can not provide anything for the third country nationals. On the contrary, it seems that it operates as legal and social exclusion mechanisms for them. In line with the developments that have taken place in the European citizenship regimes in the last decade, it seems that only liberalized national citizenship regimes can improve the statuses of the third country nationals

Migrant workers and the digital transformation in the EU

The aim of this report is to provide insights on the implications that structural changes in the labour market related to the Digital Transformation (DT) could have on the integration of EU mobile citizens and third country nationals working in the EU. A comprehensive analysis of the changing nature of the EU labour markets and the effects of DT is provided in the upcoming European Commission’s 2018 Employment and Social Developments in Europe (ESDE) review. Building upon these general findings, this report contributes to the debate from a migration-specific point of view by providing evidence on the extent to which migrants are employed in occupations that are potentially prone to automation and therefore may disappear in future. The analysis is based on data drawn from EU LFS 2015-2016 and PIAAC 2012 surveys. The results show that: • Third country nationals tend to be more concentrated in occupations characterized by high routine intensity and thus more prone to automation (e.g. elementary occupations), followed by EU mobile citizens and by natives. • Both EU mobile citizens and third country nationals have a higher likelihood of being employed in jobs with high automation potential than nationals, even when socio-demographic characteristics are taken into account. However, the likelihood decreases as educational attainment increases, for all but more so for migrants. • Major differences between EU mobile citizens and third country nationals appear when considering their length of residence. The results show that among EU mobile citizens, recent migrants have higher odds of being employed in a job with high automation potential compared to long-term migrants. On the contrary, in the case of third country nationals, long term migrants report higher odds of working in a job with high automation potential than recent migrants. • Both EU mobile citizens and third country nationals are less likely to receive professional training in comparison to nationals. This lower investment in the human capital of migrants can hamper migrants’ opportunities to transition to other jobs once they would lose their jobs due to the DT. • Both EU mobile citizens and third country nationals are more likely to be on fixed-term contracts with a shorter horizon compared to natives, with risk of non-renewal of contract in case of economic and technological shocks. • In summary, the vulnerability of migrants in the labour market is furthermore reinforced by the fact that they tend to be concentrated in jobs with high automation potential which, in turn, are associated to lower training and more widespread use of fixed-term contracts.JRC.E.6-Demography, Migration and Governanc

Constructing Fortress Europe: Third Country Nationals As Unwelcome Guests

Ever since the introduction of the EU’s four freedoms, EU citizens have been promised the freedom to move freely within the confines of the EU. As the EU’s population expanded through enlargement, in conjunction with growing pressure on labor market, wages and employment, European public attitudes toward immigration seem to become more polarized. Thus, immigration, especially that of the admittance of non-EU third-country nationals, may be rendered as a highly contested issue within Europe’s two-level systems. However, what is happening inside the EU, in terms of intra-EU immigration, is rarely considered within such contestation. This paper plans to address this issue by using a historical institutionalist approach in analyzing scholarly claims regarding the securitization of immigration vis-à-vis the development of EU immigration policies and approaches, as well as the role that citizenship plays on immigration. This way, a fuller understanding of Europe’s overall unfavorable attitude toward immigration could be achieved