ABSTRACT

National migration policies have become increasingly complex and multifaceted in their objectives, design, functions, and effects. This chapter aims to take stock of the current state of (explicit) national migration policies and their role in influencing international migration and integration processes. It will address the nature and making of migration policies by elaborating on the evolution of existing migration regimes and reviewing conceptual and empirical insights and evidence on the effects of migration policies including their unintended consequences. It is further argued that the boundaries of migration policy and ‘non-migration’ policy are relatively blurred as many public policies that are usually not classified as migration policies – because they do not target (potential) migrants – nevertheless influence migration processes, and the effects of such policies may in certain cases be even larger than those of immigration policies targeting migrants. The chapter concludes with some suggestions for further research in this area.