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Visas reduce immigration… and return: New working paper

8 April 2014

The effectiveness of migration policy remains a highly contested issue in the media, politics and academia alike. This new IMI working paper addresses how immigration policies – specifically visa requirements – affect migration.

The authors, IMI Co-Director Hein de Haas and Senior Researcher Mathias Czaika, use two new databases compiled as part of the DEMIG (Determinants of International Migration) project to provide evidence that:

Visas reduce immigration and return migration
Visas interrupt circulation of migrants and push them into permanent settlement
Visas make migration less responsive to economic opportunities in origin and destination countries

Download WP-89-2014: The Effect of Visa Policies on International Migration Dynamics

Visas reduce immigration… and return: New working paper

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