Justice and home affairs: migration and borders

• Author: Directorate-General for Parliamentary Research Services (European Parliament)
• Pages: 179-193

Europe’s two trillion euro dividend: Mapping the Cost of Non-Europe, 2019-24

179

JUSTICE AND HOME AFFAIRS:

MIGRATION AND BORDERS

37. Legal migration

Cost of Non-Europe: €22 billion per year

Key proposition

The EU aims at building a comprehensive immigration policy in which legally residing Third-Country

Nationals (TCNs) are treated fairly and in a non-discriminatory manner. Secondary legislation has

been adopted covering different categories of TCNs and various stages of the migration process.

However, a Cost of Non-Europe Report on legal migration, produced by the European Added Value

Unit of EPRS for the European Parliament’s Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs Committee (LIBE)

in March 2019,812 identifies a number of gaps and barriers. These result from the lack of incorporation

and implementation of international and EU human rights and labour standards, and the sectoral

approach taken in the EU legal framework, not covering all TCNs and in part leaving parallel national

schemes in place. The differential treatment among TCNs and further barriers result in differences

in their employment rate, over-qualification, lower job quality, lower earnings and poorer long-term

integration outcomes. At societal level, these problems can undermine the EU's ability to attract

workers, and especially to address shortages in particular sectors or occupations in the EU labour

market, as well as the effects of demographic change (an ageing population), and to boost

innovation and growth. These deficiencies all negatively impact GDP growth. Further EU action in

this area could address these gaps by better implementing and enforcing existing standards, the

gradual extension of EU legislation towards other sectors, or revisiting the idea of adopting a

Binding Immigration Code covering all TCNs. Depending on the policy option pursued, some €21.75

billion in individual and collective economic benefits could be achieved each year.

More detailed analysis of potential benefit

The Cost of Non-Europe Report identifies a number of obstacles TCNs face including as regards

equal treatment, entry and re-entry conditions, work authorisation, residence status, intra-EU

mobility, social security coordination, family reunification and the recognition of qualifications.813

Beyond giving rise to discrimination, these obstacles result in income losses at individual level and

lost tax revenue at societal (aggregate EU) level. The greatest impacts are due to unequal treatment

with regard to employment and remuneration, barriers imposed on family migrants and the poor

recognition of qualifications.

Fragmented national policies in the legal migration area also undermine the EU's ability to attract

workers. The positive impacts of migration on the destination economies are especially found in the

812 W van Ballegooij, E Thirion, The Cost of non-Europe in the area of legal migration, EPRS, March 2019.

813 Ibid, chapter 2.2.