Our latest report, Regularisation mechanisms and programmes: why they matter and how to design them, focuses on regularisation as a policy tool to improve the lives of undocumented migrants. For an undocumented person, regularisation means obtaining a residence permit from a public authority, but what that looks like depends on the country they live in, the grounds they (can) invoke, their past statuses, and how the procedure is designed.

In this report, we discuss the benefits of regularisation for undocumented people and for society, and identify ten key elements that help ensure regularisation procedures are fair, effective and humane. We sampled more than 80 practices from around the world, showing how regularisation is and can be done.

The full report is available in English, French and Spanish. An executive summary is available in English, French, German, Italian, and Spanish.

The Italian government adopted a decree that requires captains of rescue ships to request a port to Italian authorities immediately after a rescue, and head to it rather than continuing at sea and assisting with multiple distress calls. This measure drastically reduces the number of operations that search and rescue NGOs would be able to carry out. If they do not comply, ship captains risk a fine of 50,000 euros, and having their vessels impounded.

The European Commission released a policy document outlining four priorities for an upcoming “operational strategy” to increase returns of irregular migrants. The priorities are: responding to immediate needs and obstacles to returns; accelerating the process and closing loopholes; promoting return counselling and reintegration; and digitalising return management and improving data analysis. The EU Return Coordinator and the High-Level Network for Returns will finalise the operational strategy, ensure its implementation and regularly report on it.

Last December, the European Commission launched two “Team Europe Initiatives”, EU-North Africa partnerships to cooperate on migration management in the Western and Central Mediterranean regions. Such cooperation rests on five pillars: “prevention of irregular migration”, “legal migration”, protection, returns, and development cooperation. These pillars mirror the five priority areas of the Cadiz Action Plan for 2023-2027, a migration cooperation programme between EU and African countries that was adopted at the 6th Ministerial Conference of the Euro-African Dialogue on Migration and Development in December.

In December 2022, Spain’s prosecution services closed the investigation on the June 2022 Melilla massacre, where at least 23 people died trying to cross from Morocco into the Spanish territory of Melilla, claiming that there was no evidence of misconduct by the Spanish Guardia Civil. The Spanish Minister of Interior also claimed that the Guardia Civil response was proportionate and that no one had died in Spanish territory, which was later contradicted in reports by Lighthouse Reports. More than 150 human rights groups since released a statement demanding an independent investigation and mechanisms to ensure justice and redress.

On 13 January, a Greek appeals court dropped espionage charges against 24 activists who had helped asylum-seekers from Syria land safely in Lesbos in 2018, citing procedural errors and “overly vague charges”. The 24 aid workers still face an investigation into charges of people smuggling, fraud, membership of a criminal organisation, and money laundering; if condemned, they would risk up to 25 years in prison. Some of the defendants had already spent more than 100 days in pre-trial detention in 2018.

In a leaked document recently obtained by Statewatch, dated April 2022, the European Commission encourages its EU delegations abroad to prioritise readmission “arrangements” that are informal, non-binding deals between the EU and third countries, that can be kept confidential and would face “less cumbersome approval procedures in the third country”. According to the document, the Commission prefers these type of deals when a formal readmission agreement may be difficult to reach in a timely way.

The Swedish Presidency of the EU Council, which runs from January to June 2023, indicated in their programme that it intends to increase cooperation with third countries in the field of migration, highlighting that “returns are a central part of this”. The programme further indicates that the Presidency will advance current negotiations on the EU Pact on Migration and Asylum.

A new law has recently come into force in Finland that expands health care for undocumented migrants living in the country. Under this law, undocumented people can now access necessary care, including conditions that, if left untreated, would constitute a risk to the person’s health and increase the likelihood of urgent care in the future, such as diabetes or asthma. The law also allows undocumented women full access to maternity care and undocumented children full access to paediatric care. Read more in our blog.

In December 2022, the German parliament adopted a law to facilitate access to residence permits for people who have been living in Germany for at least five years with a suspension of deportation (Duldung status). Under the new law, people with such status can get on an 18-month pathway to get a secure residence permit that would allow broader access to the labour market and public services.

The French government finalised a draft law that would create residence and work permits for sectors experiencing workforce shortages, including in health care. These permits would be granted for one year to non-EU nationals who have been living in France for at least three years and can produce eight pay slips showing that they are employed in a labour shortage sector. At the same time, the text foresees measures to step up deportations. The draft law is expected to be debated by the French parliament from February 2023 onwards.

The 2022 Irish regularisation programme has resulted in 4,796 positive decisions to grant a residence permit, that is 97% of the 4,857 applications that have been processed so far. The authorities received 6,548 applications from 8,311 persons, including 1,108 children, meaning that around 1,700 more cases need to be processed. Most applications came from citizens of Brazil, Pakistan and China.

On 10 January, the European Commission held the first meeting of the Labour Migration Platform, a new space that brings together member states and social partners to address labour shortages across the Union through non-EU workforce. The Platform will also discuss the operationalisation of initiatives included in the Skills and Talent Package. The Commission reports that relevant experts and organisations, including those working on migrants’ rights, will be asked to join depending on the topic discussed in future meetings.

Since November 2022, Romania requires non-EU workers to secure the consent of their employer to change jobs during the first year of their contract. The change is included in a decree adopted on 28 October, following calls from Romanian employers. Local NGOs have denounced this as a violation of workers' rights as it increases their dependency on their employers, also if they experience abuse.

In December 2022, the Swiss Parliament adopted a motion to facilitate undocumented migrants’ access to vocational training. Since 2013, undocumented migrants can obtain a residence permit for the purpose and duration of a vocational training. However, due to the demanding eligibility requirements, coupled with the high risk of expulsion of the applicant and their family if the request is denied, only 61 people were able to benefit from it between 2013 and 2020. The Swiss federal government has two years to act on the motion.