A new open-access article developed by researchers involved in the MORE project has been published in Comparative Migration Studies. The study, titled “Beyond deportation: regularisation and voluntary return as alternative policy approaches to irregular migration in Spain and the United Kingdom,” examines how different policy responses affect the lives of irregularised migrants.
While Spain primarily relies on regularisation pathways and the United Kingdom places greater emphasis on voluntary return, the research reveals that these seemingly different approaches can produce similar outcomes. In both contexts, irregularised migrants may experience prolonged legal uncertainty, limited access to rights, economic exploitation and exclusion from full participation in society.
The study draws on policy analysis and extensive fieldwork conducted between 2022 and 2024, involving interviews and focus groups with 122 participants. These included irregularised migrants and people at risk of return, policymakers, legal experts, police and enforcement authorities, civil society organisations and frontline professionals.
The article makes an important contribution to the work of MORE, which critically examines return and readmission policies in Europe and the United Kingdom and explores effective, rights-based alternatives. It underlines the need for policies that move beyond symbolic demonstrations of migration control and provide realistic pathways towards legal security, dignity and social inclusion.
The article was authored by Sevda Tunaboylu, Marie Mallet-Garcia, Alèxia Rué, Carlos Vargas-Silva and Olga Jubany.
Read the full article here.
