News
MPI holds webinar on ‘Meeting labor skill needs while expanding refugee protection’
| Migration Policy Institute will on Thursday, February 26, 2026, hold a webinar on Meeting labor skill needs while expanding refugee protection’. The webinar slated for 2:00 P.M. CET (Brussels, Berlin), 1:00 P.M. GMT (Lisbon, London) and 8:00 A.M. ET (New York, DC) has as speakers Bassel Ramli, Co-Founder & Director, Global Initiatives, Jumpstart Refugee Talent, Marius Tollenaere, Partner, Fragomen, Germany and Belén Zanzuchi, Policy Analyst, MPI Europe. The meeting will be moderated by Kate Hooper, Senior Policy Analyst, Migration Policy Institute (MPI). |
| According to the organisers: “As humanitarian protection needs grow amid near-record displacement globally, labour migration pathways offer another route to safety and stability for qualified refugees while helping meet destination countries’ skill needs. In practice, however, qualified refugees can struggle to qualify for work visas due to poorly designed frameworks or operational practices. The circumstances of their displacement can make it impossible to meet certain requirements, such as providing a valid passport or original proof of qualifications or traveling for necessary appointments. And employers and visa applicants alike can be deterred from using these pathways because of cumbersome procedures, complex requirements, and unpredictable results. “As countries across Europe and beyond explore reforms to their labour pathways to attract sought-after talent, and civil-society actors push to expand protection opportunities, this MPI Europe webinar will explore ways to make work visas more accessible to qualified refugees.” The organisers said the speakers will examine the barriers that prevent refugees from successfully applying for work visas and will assess initiatives and practices that aim to close this gap. They will also discuss concrete policy design changes and practical solutions to help make visa systems more accessible and predictable—benefiting not only refugee workers, but employers and all applicants alike. “The webinar will mark the launch of Building Refugee-Inclusive Labour Mobility Pathways: A visa evaluation framework and accompanying scorecard that give policymakers a framework to understand how accessible different work visas are for refugee candidates and opportunities for reforms that can achieve these twin goals of addressing labour shortage and protection needs. “This webinar is organised as part of the Skills, Talent, and Empowerment through Pathways (STEP) project, which focuses on developing and expanding labour mobility channels for displaced workers, in particular those to Ireland, Italy, and Spain. STEP is co-funded by the European Union’s Asylum, Migration, and Integration Fund (AMIF).” |
Migration Policy Institute Europe, based in Brussels, is a nonprofit, independent research institute that aims to provide a better understanding of migration in Europe and thus promote effective policymaking.