Europe’s Legal Peripheries: Migration, Asylum and the European Labour Market

Abstract

The participation of foreign nationals in European labour markets is an effective tool that facilitates those migrants enjoying a more fulfilling life, while at the same time contributing to Europe’s wealth and economic and social development. However, many norms that regulate migration and labour migration undermine this spirit by limiting, both directly and indirectly, non-EU nationals’ access to European labour markets.

A level playing field for migrant entrepreneurs? The legal and policy landscape across EU and OECD countries

“…Asylum seekers often have to wait at least six months to be able to start a business. The kinds of migrants that are allowed to enter the labour market as self‐employed workers without limitations or additional requirements also suggest the implicit hierarchies (by legal status) that policymakers apply when it comes to migrant integration (De Lange, 2018; De Lange et al, 2020; Federico & Baglioni, 2021; Garcés‐Mascareñas, 2020).…”

Regulation of migrant entrepreneurship: The strained conjunction of laws, policies and practices

“…on their legal status). The other few studies on this topic show there is an implicit hierarchy (by legal status) that is applied when it comes to migrant‐related policymaking (De Lange, 2018; De Lange et al, 2020; Federico & Baglioni, 2021). Furthermore, the migrant group is increasingly heterogenous and policymakers need to face the challenges posed by a super‐diverse society (Vertovec, 2007).…”

Migrants and Refugees in Europe

“…Legal statuses, in fact, are not on the same level, but rather organised in a hierarchy in terms of number and wideness of rights (Federico and Baglioni, 2021). At the top, in all countries, there are refugees, beneficiaries of subsidiary protection; at the bottom, asylum seekers and short-term economic migrants, whose uncertain (for the former) and extremely temporary (for the latter) relation with the state and the community heavily impacts on the set of rights and duties coupled with their status: their family reunification rights are very limited (for asylum seekers) or totally denied (for short-term economic migrants), they rarely fully benefit from unemployment allocation (Italy and Switzerland are the two countries that are more generous towards those categories of TCNs) and tend to be excluded from education and vocational training (that are even more limited for short-term economic migrants).…”

“…First, simplifying and reducing the number of statuses, making each of them more comprehensive and also more easily knowable and applicable by both migrants themselves (building on TCNs' agency in determining the legal status they strive for) and migration governance actors in EU member states. Navigating the complexity of migration laws and authorities is already a challenge (Federico and Pannia, 2021;Pannia, 2021); evidence shows that adding the intricacy and involution of legal statuses creates more barriers than enablers (Federico and Baglioni, 2021).…”