After three years of successful implementation, the 'Women as Financially Independent Rural Actors' (WAFIRA) project, one of the flagship projects under the MPF’s labour migration portfolio, officially wrapped up activities with a closing ceremony in Rabat, Morocco, on 24 January 2025.

The Migration Partnership Facility makes available a detailed mapping of labour migration pathways across the 27 European Union member states to the wider public. Following an initial presentation at the third annual conference of the Labour Migration Practitioners’ Network earlier in November, the mapping is offered now available to all audiences, with labour migration practitioners, researchers, and policymakers particularly in mind.

The 2024 edition of Labour Migration Practitioners’ Network (LMPN) In-person conference brought 100 European practitioners in labour migration, skills recognition and employment to Brussels, Belgium for a two-day conference under the theme of “Moving Talents: Scaling up Action in Key Sectors”. After two days of lively discussions and in anticipation of the conference report, here are six take-aways from the conference.

All over the EU, labour shortages and increasing demographic pressures are pushing EU MS governments to consider attracting third country nationals for labour migration purposes. However, data and knowledge on existing legal frameworks that would allow for effective talent attraction from outside the EU is scarce.

The legal migration landscape in the EU is very uneven too, with different national frameworks and initiatives, as well as different needs in line with the national economic, labour, employment and political context of the respective EU member states.

Mapping Labour Migration Pathways in the EU 2023 -2024

MPF commissioned the European Centre for Development Policy Management (ECDPM) to map labour migration pathways across the 27 EU member states, providing a snapshot of the state of affairs in late 2023-2024. The interactive tool below helps to visualise the 290-odd pathways that were active at the time of the research and updated to February 2024. A downloadable version of the research is available as summaries and infographics for every EU member state in the MPF Resources library.

How can I use this tool?

By selecting filters on the left hand menu it is possible to visualise pathways for individual member states or filter the selection across several member states according to common requirements such as language, labour market quota and income.  This tool is meant as a visual aide to the research conducted by ECPDM and local partners and does not replace official government information.  Entry regulations for the labour migration pathways included in the overview can change frequently. Please obtain information from the official authorities in each EU member state for the most accurate and up to date requirements and procedures related to visas and permits.

There are also case studies, summaries and infographics available from the first edition in 2022 that mapped Estonia, the Netherlands, Poland and Portugal.  

A Nigerian delegation with representatitves from the Nigerian President's office, the Nigerian Diaspora Commission, and the Federal Ministry of Labour and Employment  completed an exchange visit to Brussels, Belgium and Szczecin, Poland in late October 2024.

As Europe grapples with growing labour shortages, particularly in specialised fields like ICT, energy, and renewables, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are facing an uphill battle in attracting and retaining international talent. At a recent expert panel held during ICMPD’sVienna Migration Conference, moderated by Jennifer Tangney, Senior Project Manager, Migration Partnership Facility, speakers discussed the current state of labour migration and the private sector’s role in shaping a more efficient, inclusive system.

The Mediterranean Network for Training to Regular migration (MENTOR II) project wrapped up activities on 12 October 2024 with an event in Tangier, Morocco. The event convened around 100 participants, project partners from Morocco and Tunisia, the EU Delegation to Morocco and Moroccan and Tunisian trainees with testimonies of their entrepreneurial and professional projects.

The PEM-WECCO project concluded 30 months of activities with a two-day event in Dakar on 10-11 September 2024. This article summarises the project’s main achievements.

Updated‘Call for Proposals - Migration Partnerships’ (AMIF funds) and MPF Call for Proposals 2023 – Borders & Security (ISF and BMVI funds) have been published on the MPF website in July 2024.

EU LMPN In-Person Conference

19-20 November 2024

Moving Talents: Scaling up Action in Key Sectors

The EU Labour Mobility Practitioner’s Network hosted its third in-person conference in Brussels on 19-20 November 2023. The MPF Labour Mobility Practitioners’ Network gathers over 220 members from EU and national authorities, the private sector, International Organisations, NGOs and think tanks/academia with extensive experience researching, designing, and implementing labour mobility initiatives. The network has been operational since 2022 and organises events in different formats on topics such as green skills mobility, talent attraction and retention, capacity building in migrants' countries of origin, and ethical recruitment. The event aimed to contribute to the effective design and implementation of the Talent Partnership policy framework by offering an opportunity for LMPN members and relevant stakeholders to come together, exchange, learn and ultimately improve the implementation of labour migration initiatives to the EU around the theme “Moving talents: Scaling up action in key sectors”. 

Documents

• Agenda
• Concept note
• Presentations
• Report

Photo Gallery

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What are the impacts of labour migration on those who stay and those who leave? This question was the red thread for the rationale behind the EU-funded MPF project Children Left Behind by Labour Migration (given the moniker, CASTLE), which has recently wrapped up activities.

New study commissioned by the Migration Partnership Facility highlights the current challenges and opportunities regarding talent attraction and retention policies in the EU and beyond. Featuring examples of national strategies and practices from all over Europe, the research piece provides a comparative snapshot along with 10 action-driven recommendations.

On 5^th September 2023, the International Centre for Migration Policy Development (ICMPD) and Members of the European Parliament Daiman Boeselager and Javier Moreno Sanchez co-hosted the Event “The Power of Labour Mobility Pilot Projects to Support EU Legal Migration Reform” at the European Parliament. More than 60 participants joined in-person – among them representatives of EU member states and EU institutions, research, and international and non-governmental organisations.

The headlines are filled with news of labour shortages, as employers report needs in nearly all industries and at various skill levels. The global ‘race for talent’ is set to heat up, with employers and countries increasingly vying for international workers as one way to meet labour needs. Why not include refugees in the search for needed talent?

 This is the premise of an EU-funded MPF project that launched earlier this year, Making refugee talent visible and accessible to EU labour markets – tapping into the potential of skills-based complementary pathways. Complementary pathways provide an opportunity for displaced persons to utilise their skills through migration channels for work, matching the skills of displaced persons with the needs of employers in other countries. This project is examining how complementary labour pathways can be expanded, for the benefit of displaced persons, EU labour markets, and host countries alike – a ‘triple win’.

Background

Engaging the private sector is crucial for labour mobility projects. Companies not only create demand for labour mobility by providing employment and training opportunities, but also financially contribute to mobility schemes by means of wages or investment in the country of origin. At the same time, numerous policy briefs and research highlight the difficulty of engaging companies in such schemes. When asked how to engage them, many often reiterate the need to involve them from the very outset of a project. This sounds good in theory but the practice remains elusive – what does it actually mean to involve them and how?

To understand this “how”, it is important to go back to the “why”: why do practitioners struggle to engage the private sector? What are the day-to-day challenges that practitioners face to on-board companies? For the companies, what are the different reasons not to join the scheme? How can these challenges be addressed? What kinds of solutions have been used and tested by practitioners?

Under the LMPN’s theme of Stakeholder Engagement in mobility schemes, the Network will open its first Thematic Meeting by focusing on the Private Sector. In order to understand how to better engage this key stakeholder, the meeting will uncover the actual challenges that are in place when engaging the companies. This will serve as a starting point to identify what the private sector seeks through mobility schemes, which will then lead to successful solutions and strategies that have been used and tested to effectively involve companies in schemes. This meeting will focus on a practical and granular level on the experience of labour mobility practitioners and further explore the potential that the labour mobility practitioners’ community has to offer.

Presenting Members:

• Raffaella Greco Tonegutti, Lead expert – Migration and Development, Enabel

• Mante Makauskaite, Co-Founder and Managing Director, Afriko

• Heinz Rittmann, Deputy CEO, Building Association of North Rhine-Westphalia (BAUVERBÄNDE NRW)

• Gayatri Kanth, Project Manager, International Organisation of Employers

• Marius Tollenaere, Partner, Fragomen

Documents

• Presentations (Digital Explorers, PALIM)
• Recording
• Key Discussion Points

Projects on Labour Migration and Mobility

Since 2018, MPF labour migration and mobility projects establish ideal conditions for scalable and sustainable legal migration pathways through robust international partnerships.

Funded through the European Union’s Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund, past projects have helped to identify gaps in skills and educational recognition, misalignments in training curricula, missing competencies in national public administrations, and policy incoherence.

Since 2022, new projects have allowed for match-testing between EU Member States and partner countries, laying the groundwork for potential long-term labour mobility schemes in aligned to the EU Talent Partnerships, described in the EU’s New Pact on Migration and Asylum. You can find out more about each project, which European member states and partner countries are involved and the planned activities through the interactive map below.

Community of Practice

MPF hosts the EU-wide Labour Migration Practitioner’s Network that counts over 220 active members. The Network is platform to promote deeper, more insightful and sustained engagement on labour migration and mobility by a set group of experts and practitioners. Whether by hosting member-only events or publishing studies, the Network has built an ecosystem where the exchange of ideas, lessons learned, and research findings between practitioners, researchers and policymakers thrives.

To determine your eligibility and request a profile in the members-only area, visit the corresponding webpage.

Knowledge and resources

MPF promotes a learning environment and aims to increase the knowledge base on all thematic areas covered. For this, the programme gathers lessons learned from projects and commissions research to analyse important developments in Europe and beyond.

Given the importance of the labour migration and mobility portfolio, MPF has commissioned a vast library of resources, from practical guides to policy briefs to in-depth research studies that bridge the gap between research, practice, and policy.

For lessons learned, publications and guides on labour migration and mobility projects, visit the Resources webpage.

"Digital Talents for Moldova – Slovakia for Talents (DIGI TALENTS)" is a Slovak-Moldovan labour mobility and career development programme designed for young Moldovan professionals working in the ICT sector. Its main goal is to help Moldovan talents strengthen their professional skills and acquire new knowledge in a stimulating environment of ICT companies in Slovakia, thus improving their employment or business prospects.

An enabling environment in the context of legal and labour migration refers to broad social systems that govern multi-stakeholder engagement in labour mobility. These can be rules, laws, policies, social norms, or institutional frameworks in migration.

In February, the ICMPD and the Directorate-General Migration and Home Affairs (DG HOME) co-hosted the workshop “From Pilot Projects to Talent Partnerships – Exploring the future of legal migration to the European Union (EU)” bringing together EU actors, member state and partner country representatives, and labour mobility project practitioners. The workshop was organised to share and reflect on stakeholders’ hands-on experience of implementing pilot projects on labour migration as the EU is gearing up to launch a new policy framework for cooperation on legal migration.

The launch of this new capacity building initiative was recently formalised through a grant contract signed by ICMPD, through the MPF, and the University of Maastricht in September 2020. The action is funded with a total budget of € 723,740.50 (94.60% from AMIF).

The MMDP aims to create a shared understanding of multifaceted migration issues and contribute to more comprehensive and better informed migration policies among partner countries and EU Member States, by implementing a training programme for partner country-government officials.

The Digital Explorers project team has started sharing their reflections and learnings on the first round of mobility in a series of online discussions that took place in October 2020.

This article highlights key insights shared in the context of these webinars. Recordings of all sessions are cross-referenced and available here.

One of the innovative tools proposed by the EU’s New Pact on Migration and Asylum (published on 23 September 2020) is the Talent Partnerships conceived as a single framework aiming to “offer cooperation with partner countries and help boost mutually-beneficial international mobility”.

ICMPD today launches a series of blog articles on how the Talent Partnerships could be shaped, put in motion and brought to fruition by sharing experience, research findings and practices.

The new MPF policy brief explores the preliminary lessons learnt from 18 months of implementation of projects that exemplify important approaches and principles at the heart of the proposed Talent Partnerships. While form and scope of mobility, and targeted stakeholders differ from one Pilot Project to another, all of them have sought to test different methodologies addressing the forming of partnerships, skills and labour market research, candidate search and selection, matching between candidates and employment or educational offers, as well as the organisation of placements and reintegration activities.

On June 8^th 2020, the Mobility Partnership Facility (MPF) hosted a knowledge exchange session “Pilot Projects on Legal Migration in an Era of Changing Mobility”, bringing together representatives of the European Commission with practitioners working on the first EU-funded pilot projects on legal migration (hereafter pilot projects).

On November 13, 2019, the 1st Knowledge Exchange Session of the Pilot Projects on Legal Migration took place at the premises of the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Migration and Home Affairs (DG HOME) in Brussels. Approximately 50 participants (including representatives from DG HOME and the Directorate-General for Neighbourhood and Enlargement Negotiations (DG NEAR), the MPF pilot project coordinators, European Union (EU) Member States (MS), as well as IOM Belgium, GIZ and ILO, and actors interested in launching pilot projects, engaged in dynamic discussions to share past and current experiences and knowledge building for future opportunities.