Labour migration and mobility

The Decent Work Country Programme (DWCP) 2019 - 2021 was developed through intensive consultations between the ILO and its national constituents. It set out the three Country Priorities, which are

In pursuit of exploring bilateral cooperation on migrant workers with countries that have reformed their regulation on migrant workers so as to provide more protection for them, Indonesia has launched cooperation between Bahrain and the Philippines.

This cooperation includes, for example, the Memorandum of Understanding between the Department of Manpower and Transmigration of the Republic of Indonesia and the Department of Labor and Employment of the Republic of the Philippines Concerning Migrant Workers.

This programme between the governments of India and the United Arab Emirates links the electronic emigration and immigration systems of the two respective governments, with the objective of reducing contract substitution and improving government oversight over recruitment practices. The process for implementation has been made available to other ADD Member States for replication, as well as to the wider GFMD community through the Platform for Partnerships.

Designed as a regional programme, THAMM supports national institutions to draft and implement policies and mechanisms for safe, orderly and regular migration, as well as fostering cooperation and regional exchange between relevant stakeholders in North Africa. It will also develop and pilot mobility schemes, in particular for young women and men in Morocco, Tunisia and Egypt, who are interested in a dual vocational education training in Germany, or for skilled workers seeking recognition of their qualifications to start working in Germany.

The Second National Integration Plan for Costa Rica 2018 - 2022, emerges as a propositive response to guide the country's actions over the next few years in terms of integration of the migrant and refugee population. The initiative is based on the framework of the initiative MIgration EU eXpertise (MIEUX) funded by the European Union and implemented by the International Center for Migration Policy Development (ICMPD).

The Japanese Economic Partnership Agreements with Indonesia and the Philippines established the legal framework to receive Indonesian and Filipino nurses and care workers. Japan has been receiving candidates to become nurses and care workers from these countries for years. The program provides language training and the opportunity to work in Japanese hospitals. Candidates can take the examination to become qualified nurses and care workers and access work in Japan beyond the 3- or 4 year- period foreseen by the program.

Uruguay has introduced specific measures to minimize administrative irregularity linked with international human mobility and is pursuing legal framework revisions to promote migrants’ rights, bilateral and multilateral social security agreements, visa waiver agreements, and various measures in line with civil society recommendations.

The most significant examples of regularization and access to residence and identity documents are the following:

Loan Programme for Returned Nepalese Migrants provides loans of 1 million Nepalese rupees ($8,908) to people who had returned to Nepal in the three years preceeding the beginning of the programme (November, 2018). The loans are meant to be used to build businesses and should be repaid within five years.

The Migrant Support Fund is a federal fund administered to states according to the size of their repatriated migrant populations, which provides migrants one-time seed grants of up to USD 1,500 to start a new business.

Because the Mexican labor market is saturated and often unfamiliar to returning migrants, especially those who have been abroad for an extended period, these entrepreneurial and self-employment opportunities offer a key path to their economic reintegration.

Programs of employment creation for migrants, and economic and psychosocial integration projects for returnees offer returned migrants in El Salvador access to local job-search databases, vocational training, skills accreditation, and seed grants up to USD 3,500 for entrepreneurial projects.

The National Network of Returned Entrepreneurs (RENACERES) offers counseling and seed capital to migrants who demonstrate potential to establish new businesses or projects.