Regional

The Employer Sanctions Directive sets out rules to target employers who employ irregular migrants. For example, employers hiring undeclared workers would face sanctions, including fines and paying back wages to their workers. In some cases – such as repeated or conscious hiring of undocumented migrants, or hiring of children or victims of human trafficking – the employers could be punished under criminal law. Furthermore, the legislation includes protection measures in favour of non-EU workers, especially those exploited by unscrupulous employers.

The Seasonal Workers Directive, which was agreed upon in 2014, should ensure that seasonal workers will enjoy equal treatment with EU nationals in terms of employment, including the minimum working age and working conditions, including pay and dismissal, working hours, leave and holidays, as well as health and safety requirements at the workplace. To this end, it should help prevent exploitation and protect the health and safety of non-EU seasonal workers.

The EU Immigration Portal serves as a first point of entry to reliable, practical and up-to-date information on immigration issues. It provides useful basic information written in user-friendly language and gives rapid and direct access to relevant external websites for further information. In concrete terms, the portal helps potential migrants to:

- Better understand the EU admission rules and procedures;

- Identify job and study opportunities;

- Find information on the rights of non-EU citizens who are in the EU;

ASEAN Members States (AMS) aim to realize the free flow of skilled labour within ASEAN by 2015 as embodied in the Economic Blueprint, one of the three blueprints adopted for the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC). 

Thus far, a Mutual Recognition Arrangements (MRAs) Framework has been formalized among AMS for the mutual recognition of education and experiences obtained in seven priority sectors

Members of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), have an Agreement on Social Security (CASS) that protects pension rights for workers moving between CARICOM member states.

The Africa Migration Project was undertaken to improve our understanding of migration and remittances in Sub-Saharan Africa, including their magnitude, causes, and impacts on poverty reduction, with a view to generating informed policy recommendations. 

Thailand aims at addressing the socio-economic disparities that are seen to be one of the main causes of migration in the sub-region. For this reason its capacity building efforts in the sub-region involve a range of economic development projects along border areas with neighboring countries, notably (but not limited to) under the ACMECS framework.

The Multilateral Social Security Agreement is an instrument for coordinating the Social Security legislation on pensions of the different Ibero-American countries. The Ibero-American Multilateral Agreement on Social Security is a pioneering experiment with the objective of guaranteeing the rights of Ibero-American migrant  workers and their families to a contributory old-age, disability or survivors’ pension within a common area, the Ibero-American Community, formed by 22 countries of Latin America and the Caribbean and the European Union.

Egypt, Jordan, Morocco, Qatar, Syria, Tunisia, UAE and Yemen signed an agreement to start electronic money transfers using technology that has been developed by the Universal Postal Union (UPU).

According to the Universal Postal Union (UPU), the agreement will now allow the eight countries to exchange money orders on a multilateral basis. This is particularly valuable in countries such as the United Arab Emirates, where more than 80% of the population are foreigners, and millions of dollars are sent to home countries through remittances. 

The Governments of India, the Philippines and the United Arab Emirates launched a pilot project to test and identify best practices in managing the temporary contractual employment cycle. The lessons learned from the pilot project will form the basis for developing a comprehensive regional framework that can be carried out on a much larger scale.