
Source: https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/eu-visa-application-approved-document-applying-2118956066
By Amy Weatherburn
Labour migration in the EU: legislative developments
The most recent legislative developments under the auspices of the European Skills Agenda have focused upon developing sustainable EU policy on legal migration by simplifying migration procedures and improving migrant workers’ rights. Two main pieces of EU legislation that set out the framework for procedures and rights of legally residing third-country nationals have been put under the spotlight: the Long-Term Residents Directive 2003/109/EC and the Single Permit Directive 2011/98/EU (hereinafter the Single Permit Directive). In this post, we will discuss the legislative journey (to date) of the recast Single Permit Directive with a view to determining to what extent it offers migrant workers a simplified, rights-based procedure that grants fair and equal access to the EU labour market - also addressed here in an op-ed by the Platform for Undocumented Migrants (PICUM).More...
The EU Migration and Asylum Pact’s muted position on protecting low-skilled migrants in the labour market
By Amy Weatherburn
The European Union’s priorities are clearly laid out in the new Asylum and Immigration Pact with a focus on externalisation, return and the fight against migrant smuggling. The emphasis on the fight against migrant smuggling is linked to the “[exposure] of those staying illegally to precarious conditions and exploitation by criminal networks’ and one proposed solution is the development of legal pathways as a means of “reducing irregular migration.”
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Blog series: EU New Pact on Migration and Asylum
Introductory blog
By Lynn Hillary

Credits: By EmDee - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0
Dear reader of Human Rights Here,
In September 2020, the European Commission unveiled the New Pact on Migration and Asylum, a series of long-awaited measures to reform the EU migration regime. On November 23rd the Migration & Borders Working Group of the NNHRR gathered with migration scholars of Tilburg University to discuss several aspects of the EU New Pact.
The pact aims to ‘rebuild trust between Member States and to restore citizens' confidence in our capacity to manage migration as a Union.’ Commission President von der Leyen also stressed that ‘[i]t is now time to rise to the challenge to manage migration jointly, with the right balance between solidarity and responsibility.’
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