Europe

Europe faces an interesting set of immigration challenges and opportunities: Demographic pressures as many European societies age, a lively and at times tense policy and political debate over questions of identity and immigrant integration, and a unique policy environment that has knit many European countries together with regards to free movement, the management of outer borders, asylum, and other immigration-related topics. MPI has long conducted research and analysis of European policy on topics ranging from labor mobility and border security to immigrant integration, citizenship, and foreign qualifications recognition, which can be found below.

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Reports

Building Refugee-Inclusive Labor Mobility Pathways: A Visa Evaluation Framework

When refugees can access mainstream work visas, this offers opportunities to find safety while also helping destination countries meet pressing labor needs. Yet the design of many work visas puts them out of reach for well-qualified refugees. This visa evaluation framework and scorecard highlight how different characteristics can make a visa more or less accessible, transparent, and predictable.

Reports

Best Practices for Designing and Managing Labor Migration Corridors to Europe

Labor and skills shortages threaten the European Union’s economic growth. Attracting workers with sought-after skills from abroad will be an important means of addressing these challenges. This report examines best practices for designing and managing labor migration corridors between EU and non-EU countries, with the aim of benefiting countries of destination and origin, employers, and migrant workers alike.

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Policy Briefs

Migration Governance in Unsettled Times: How Policymakers Can Plan for Population Change

Even as advanced economies with aging populations are increasingly reliant on immigrant workers, concerns have grown about how immigration could affect the cost of living and public infrastructure, causing support for even lawful immigration to wane. This issue brief explores why long-term planning is so challenging—yet essential—in the migration policy sphere, and identifies ways to create room for this strategic thinking.

Recent Activity

Reports May 2026 Creating Inclusive Urban Economies for Migrants and Refugees By Kate Hooper, María Jesús Mora, Abigail Goldfarb and Natalia Banulescu-Bogdan	Articles May 7, 2026 Central Asian Migrants Look Beyond Russia, Yet New Destinations Carry Challenges Too By Nodira Kholmatova and Nodira Abdulloeva
Reports April 2026 From Exile to Return: Rebuilding Lives and States after Conflict By Samuel Davidoff-Gore and Susan Fratzke	Articles April 24, 2026 Chasing Public Opinion, UK Immigration Policy Has Swung Cyclically By Alexander Kustov and Caitlyn Yates
Articles April 2, 2026 What Do Changes in Turkey and Syria Spell for Kurds Seeking Protection Abroad? By Nadin Z. Tanriverdi	Multimedia February 26, 2026 Meeting Labor Skill Needs While Expanding Refugee Protection
Reports February 2026 Building Refugee-Inclusive Labor Mobility Pathways: A Visa Evaluation Framework By María Belén Zanzuchi, Kate Hooper and Abigail Goldfarb	Articles February 12, 2026 Ukrainian Immigrants in the United States By Emilie Folsom and Jeanne Batalova

Reports May 2026 Creating Inclusive Urban Economies for Migrants and Refugees By Kate Hooper, María Jesús Mora, Abigail Goldfarb and Natalia Banulescu-Bogdan	Reports April 2026 From Exile to Return: Rebuilding Lives and States after Conflict By Samuel Davidoff-Gore and Susan Fratzke
Reports February 2026 Building Refugee-Inclusive Labor Mobility Pathways: A Visa Evaluation Framework By María Belén Zanzuchi, Kate Hooper and Abigail Goldfarb	Reports December 2025 To Leave or Stay? Examining the Role of Counseling and Reintegration Assistance in the Return Decision-Making of Migrants Ordered to Leave the Netherlands By Ravenna Sohst, Camille Le Coz and Hanne Beirens
Reports December 2025 Best Practices for Designing and Managing Labor Migration Corridors to Europe By Kate Hooper, María Belén Zanzuchi, Abigail Goldfarb, Ravenna Sohst and Bertrand Steiner	Policy Briefs October 2025 Reframing Return and Reintegration: Origin-Country Priorities and Strategies for Cooperation By Bertrand Steiner, Adèle Appriou, Ravenna Sohst and Camille Le Coz
Reports June 2025 How Can Labor Migration Policies Help Tackle Europe’s Looming Skills Crisis? By Kate Hooper, Tesseltje de Lange and Jasmijn Slootjes	Policy Briefs June 2025 Small Boats, Big Stakes: Options for a UK-EU Deal on Migration and Asylum By Meghan Benton, Susan Fratzke and Nurbanu Hayır

Feature

May 7, 2026

Central Asian Migrants Look Beyond Russia, Yet New Destinations Carry Challenges Too

Patterns of migration from Central Asia are changing amid deteriorating conditions in Russia following its 2022 invasion of Ukraine and a 2024 terrorist attack in Moscow blamed on Tajik nationals. Some labor migrants from Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan are looking to new destinations in Europe and beyond, bringing its own set of challenges.

People walk in front of Tower Bridge in London.

Feature

April 24, 2026

Chasing Public Opinion, UK Immigration Policy Has Swung Cyclically

UK immigration policy has often followed public mood on the issue. While attitudes have remained generally steady, the issue’s salience—how important people feel it to be—has risen and fallen, often in response to major news coverage or periods of highly visible migration. This article describes how UK labor migration policies have followed public attitude since 2010.

A farmer in the Kurdistan region of Iraq.

Feature

April 2, 2026

What Do Changes in Turkey and Syria Spell for Kurds Seeking Protection Abroad?

Significant shares of Syrians and Turks who have sought asylum in the European Union are of Kurdish background. How will migration be affected by the overthrow of Bashar al-Assad’s regime in Syria and Turkey’s 2025 ceasefire with PKK militants? This article examines the history and context of migration dynamics involving the Kurds, and prospects for change.

Spotlight

February 12, 2026

Ukrainian Immigrants in the United States

The Ukrainian immigrant population in the United States grew significantly in the immediate aftermath of Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine. Compared to the overall immigrant population, Ukrainians are more likely to be U.S. citizens and have higher levels of education. This article provides wide-ranging statistics on the size, U.S. settlement, and socioeconomic characteristics of this group.

People of Albanian heritage at a parade in New York City.

Feature

February 5, 2026

Diaspora as Diplomacy in Albania

Albania's diaspora has been an asset for the government's ambitions to join the European Union, grow its economy, and increase its international standing. As the government has sought to build closer ties with Albanians living abroad and others with ancestral ties to the homeland, it has seen the diaspora as a tool for public diplomacy, the advancement of cultural traditions, and more.

Short Reads

December 2025

Europe’s Talent Race Starts at the Visa Counter

By Kate Hooper, Nurbanu Hayır and María Belén Zanzuchi

Equipment for a USAID project in Indonesia

Short Reads

April 2025

Can Innovation Help Blunt the Impact of Foreign Aid Cuts on Migration Management Programs?

By Lawrence Huang, Samuel Davidoff-Gore and Susan Fratzke

Short Reads

February 2025

Policy Paradox: How Robust Host-Country Support for Ukrainian Refugees Can Foster Integration and Return

By Ravenna Sohst and Jasmijn Slootjes

Migrants and community members at a local clinic in Panama

Short Reads

December 2024

Legal Pathways and Enforcement: What the U.S. Safe Mobility Strategy Can Teach Europe about Migration Management

By Susan Fratzke, Meghan Benton and Andrew Selee

Short Reads

December 2024

The Complicated Reality of Syrians’ Return

By Samuel Davidoff-Gore and Susan Fratzke

Short Reads

September 2024

Germany, and Maybe the European Union, Are at a Migration Crossroads

By Hanne Beirens, Susan Fratzke and Camille Le Coz

Short Reads

July 2024

The Door Opens for a New Chapter in European Cooperation on Migration

By Camille Le Coz and Meghan Benton

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak at a press conference

Short Reads

June 2024

Rocking the (Small) Boat: Novel Options to Tackle Irregular Migration to the United Kingdom

By Meghan Benton and Susan Fratzke

Image of female worker at the Boqueria market in Barcelona making a crepe

Short Reads

March 2024

As Europe and the United States Face Similar Migration Challenges, Spain Can Act as a Bridge

By Anna Terrón Cusí and Andrew Selee

Image of EU and Member State flags flapping in wind

Short Reads

December 2023

One Phase Closes for the New Pact on Migration and Asylum. Now Another Begins

By Hanne Beirens and Camille Le Coz

Video, Audio

February 26, 2026

Meeting Labor Skill Needs While Expanding Refugee Protection

This webinar explored labor migration pathways as a potential avenue for qualified refugees to access protection in Europe while helping meet destination countries’ skill needs. Speakers examined ways to make work visas more accessible to qualified refugees and how to remove barriers that prevent refugees from entering via the labor pathway.

Video, Audio

January 13, 2026

The Role of Counselling & Reintegration Support in Shaping Migrants’ Return Decisions

Featuring a study on the role that counselling and reintegration programs can play in shaping migrants' return decisions, this webinar examines how timing of such interventions, counselling approaches, and collaboration with trusted origin-country partners can help make these programs more effective.

Video, Audio

December 11, 2025

Achieving the "Quadruple Win": Labor Migration Strategies for Europe to Meet its Skill Needs

Featuring discussion of a study that examines best practices for designing and managing labor migration corridors between EU Member States and partner countries, this webinar offers insights on how to connect employers and workers, promote skills development, protect migrant workers, and maximize benefits for both countries of origin and

Video

September 10, 2025

Immigration and Democracy: Rebuilding Trust in a Changing Europe

This discussion, held in Berlin in collaboration with the Robert Bosch Stiftung, examines the relationship between migration policy, integration approaches, public trust, and democratic resilience in Europe and beyond.

Nigerian migrants arrive home through charter flights

Video, Audio

June 25, 2025

Making Migrant Return and Reintegration Sustainable: Lessons from Two Continents

This conversation explores emerging models, policy shifts, and lessons learned from the European and Latin American approaches to reintegration and support for returning migrants.

Recent Activity

Reports

May 2026

Creating Inclusive Urban Economies for Migrants and Refugees

Migrants and refugees make up notable shares of the workforce in many cities. By creating an environment in which they can find work, apply their skills, and thrive, urban areas can set themselves up to weather current and future economic changes, including the green and digital transitions. Drawing on a scan of city practices on four continents, this report examines the experiences and policy approaches of cities around the world.

Articles

May 7, 2026

Central Asian Migrants Look Beyond Russia, Yet New Destinations Carry Challenges Too

Reports

April 2026

From Exile to Return: Rebuilding Lives and States after Conflict

The fall of Syria’s Assad regime has raised questions in high-income countries about when displaced Syrians will return home. Similar conversations are underway about the nearly 7 million displaced Ukrainians. This report examines the complexity of facilitating returns without imperiling reconstruction, fueling additional displacement, and uprooting well-integrated workers and members of host societies.

Articles

April 24, 2026

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Europe

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