Pathways for Regular Migration

The Safe Mobility Initiative, launched in June 2023, is part of the U.S. government’s holistic approach to promote safe, orderly, and humane migration management. The Safe Mobility Offices (SMOs) help individuals find support and access a wide range of services in Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, and Guatemala.

SMOs provide information about the wide range of support and services available in host countries.

SMOs also facilitate access to protection and other lawful migration pathways to the United States and other countries including Canada, New Zealand, and Spain.

The Western Hemisphere Regional Migration Program (WHP) is a U.S. government-supported program that has operated since 2011.  The State Department’s Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration provides funding as a contribution to IOM to implement the program.

The Africa Regional Migration Program (ARMP) focuses on enhancing the capacities of host governments and civil society to support the resilience of local communities. Its primary objective is to strengthen migration governance, promote partnerships, and enhance preparedness for crises. This program will enhance the coordination and cooperation of governments in addressing migration challenges and leveraging multiple opportunities associated with well-managed migration for both migrants and host societies. 

This OECD publication looks at best practices and policy challenges in the integration practices adopted by OECD countries. The objective is to summarise in a non-technical way the main challenges and good policy practices to support the lasting integration of immigrants and their children for selected key groups and domains of integration.  Each volume presents ten lessons and examples of good practice, complemented by synthetic comparisons of the integration policy frameworks in OECD countries

MeNTOR (Mediterranean Network for Training Orientation to Regular Migration) is a project that promotes legal migration paths through co-development cooperation projects. In its first phase (2017-2018), MenTOR aimed to improve temporary and circular migration schemes for young people between Italy, Morocco and Tunisia.

Canada’s Economic Mobility Pathways Project (EMPP) empowers regional partners and stakeholders, including local governments and the private sector, to help immigration address regional and local labour, economic and demographic challenges and create complementary pathways for the protection of refugees and durable solutions through labour mobility, family reunification, and education.

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Portuguese Government has decided that all immigrants with residence permit applications that were pending at the Aliens and Borders Office (SEF) on 18th March will receive permission for temporary residence and have access to the same rights as all other citizens, including social support. The measure also includes asylum seekers. 

This measure will remain in force until at least July 2020.

Spain offers universal access to basic health services. Beyond the most favourable scheme enjoyed by EU nationals covered by EU common legislation, all migrants staying in Spain, irrespective of legal status, have access to the basic national health system. This measure has proved its utility during the pandemic.

In February 2021, the Colombian government launched the Temporary Protection Status (Estatuto Temporal de Protección para Migrantes Venezolanos, or ETPV), a legal mechanism which facilitates the transition of migrants from an emergency migratory regime to a regularization status, granting access to formal employment, education, healthcare, and financial services for almost two million Venezuelan migrants and refugees. 

The New Pact on Migration and Asylum is a set of regulations and policies to create a fairer, efficient, and more sustainable migration and asylum process for the European Union. The Pact, which was proposed in September 2020 and agreed between the European Parliament and the Council in December 2023, is designed to manage and normalise migration for the long term, providing certainty, clarity and decent conditions for people arriving in the EU. It also establishes a common approach to migration and asylum that is based on solidarity, responsibility, and respect for human rights.