By Bali Process RSO and MMC

Highlights

85% of respondents did not consider regular migration, primarily because regular pathways were not accessible to them.

The Rohingya face specific problems: their statelessness effectively bar them from regular pathways. 92% of Rohingya respondents—the highest among all respondents— reported that they did not consider regular migration pathways. 91% reported encountering protection incidents, compared to 47% of other Myanmar ethnic groups.

Overall, a notable portion of respondents indicated that they did not actively seek information before migrating. A higher proportion of women (41%) reported not actively seeking any information before migration, compared to men (29%).

Despite the presence of various formal awareness programs, only 4% of respondents received information from a formal programme before their journey. There appears to be a large disconnect between formal information channels and the informal networks that refugees and migrants actually rely on for advice.

Decision-Making Patterns: Awareness of risks doesn’t always deter irregular migration—98% of Indonesian respondents would still choose the same pathway, even though 45% recognize its negative aspects.

Bangkok, Regional Support Office of the Bali Process : Geneva, Mixed Migration Centre, 2025. 67p.

By Katerina Glyniadaki, Nora Ratzmann, Julia Stier

International organizations and foreign-funded NGOs run campaigns in Senegal to raise awareness of the perils of irregular migration. To increase their effectiveness, these organizations often enlist local migrant returnees to share their personal migration experiences and transmit an anti-irregular migration message to their compatriots. This article examines whether policymakers' assumptions regarding the representativeness of migrant returnees operating as (anti-)migration messengers in terms of shared identities corresponds to reality at the street level. It draws from theories of street-level bureaucracy and representative bureaucracy and is based on 31 qualitative interviews with migrant returnees and experts. The study shows that migrant returnees engaged in migration information campaigns are not as representative of the local population as envisaged by policymakers, potentially impacting policy outcomes. They stand out from their compatriots in terms of skillsets and social status – partly because of the selection mechanism employed by organizations and partly because of the training and capacity-building efforts directed at migrant returnees.

International Migration. 2025;63:e13382.

By Jasmijn Slootjes and Ravenna Sohst

Across Europe, concerns about irregular migration have dominated media headlines and shaped recent elections. Discussions of and policymaking related to irregular migration are often a numbers game, fueled by the latest estimates of changing migration trends and migrant populations. Data on irregular migration also influence decision-making, advocacy, and strategic and operational planning of a wide range of governmental and nongovernmental actors.

But despite playing such important roles, data on irregular migration are often inadequate—either lacking altogether, uneven, or difficult to access. This has consequences for policymakers, service providers, and other stakeholders that would benefit from better access to reliable data.

This MPI Europe policy brief explores obstacles that hinder the effective collection and use of irregular migration data, how this affects policymakers and other actors, and potential avenues for strengthening the evidence base. This study, which is part of the Measuring Irregular Migration and Related Policies (MIrreM) project, draws on insights shared in workshops and interviews by policymakers, subject matter experts, NGO representatives, and other stakeholders.

Brussels: Migration Policy Institute - Europe, 2024. 18p.

By Kevin Fredy Hinterberger

Combatting’ irregular migration is one of the key challenges to migration management at EU level. The present book addresses one of the most pressing structural problems regarding the EU’s return policy: the low return rate of irregularly staying migrants. In this regard the EU Return Directive obliges Member States to issue a return decision, yet only 40% of such decisions are enforced annually. Moreover, despite the political and legal efforts, the EU is not making any significant progress in enforcing the rules it has laid down in the Return Directive. The legislation of EU Member States may, however, serve as a source for possible solutions to ‘combat’ the problem of irregularly staying migrants. This is why the book compares the system of regularisations in Austria, Germany and Spain. Regularisations constitute an effective alternative to returns because they terminate the irregular residence of migrants, not through deportation, but rather by granting a right of residence. Regularisation is therefore understood as each legal decision that awards legal residency to irregularly staying migrants. As is shown by the examination and comparison of regularisations in Austria, Germany and Spain, differentiated systems of regularisation exist at national level. However, EU regularisations supplementing the present return policy would be more effective at ‘combatting’ irregular migration at EU level.

London: New York: Nomos/Hart, 398p

By: Reinhard Schweitzer

This open access book provides an analysis of the functioning, consequences and inherent limitations of internalised immigration control. By adopting the perspective of irregular residents as well as local service providers, the book sheds new light on the intricate mechanisms that either help or hinder the diffusion of immigration control into concrete institutional settings, like schools or hospitals. A simple and innovative analytical framework enables the systematic comparison of three different spheres of service provision across two distinct local as well as also national contexts. This is necessary to understand the complex interplay between formal law and policy, the intrinsic rules and logics operating within institutions, and the ethical or practical obligations and constraints attached to particular roles and professions. Based on empirical findings and rigorous analysis, the book argues that internalised control is part of the problem that irregular migration poses for society, rather than constituting a potential solution to it.

Cham: Springer Nature, 2023. 154p.