Lunch & Learn: Andreas Pott, Chris F. Wright and Peter W. Walsh

Join CERC Migration and Toronto Metropolitan Centre for Immigration and Settlement (TMCIS) for a lunchtime talk from Andreas Pott (external link) , Universität Osnabrück, Chris F. Wright (external link) , University of Sydney, and Peter W. Walsh (external link) , Unviersity of Oxford. Presentations will focus on labour migration policies in Australia, Germany and the UK and their recent reforms.

This Lunch & Learn is chaired by Anna Triandafyllidou, Chair, CERC Migration.

Producing knowledge on the production of migration: The new collaborative research centre SFB 1604 at Osnabrück University by Andreas Pott

Abstract

Since April 2024 the German Research Foundation (DFG) has funded a large-scale basic research project on the production of migration, located at Osnabrück University, Germany. The funding allows it to run the Sonderforschungsbereich (SFB 1604), a so-called Collaborative Research Centre, which comprises more than 50 researchers from 10 disciplines, working on 16 sub-projects for up to 12 years. This Centre is the first DFG-funded SFB which is devoted to migration and migration-related knowledge production. 

This lunch seminar input will introduce the SFB to the CERC Migration team and present some of its key objectives and conceptual ideas. Why production? Why is it high time to carry out interdisciplinary and reflexive research into the societal negotiation of migration and its meanings? How could the analysis of migration policies or other pressing issues related to migration benefit from the SFB’s approach?

Labour Migration after Brexit: The UK’s new “points-based” immigration system by Paul W. Walsh

Abstract

On 23 June 2016, the population of the United Kingdom voted to leave the European Union. Survey data show that immigration was a key reason that people voted for Brexit. Pro-Brexit politicians argued that if the UK left the EU, the government would be able to “take back control” of the UK’s borders, and reduce immigration. EU free movement to the UK ended on 31 December 2020, being replaced by the new post-Brexit “Points-Based Immigration System”. Yet post-Brexit immigration went up rather than down, reaching 685,000 in 2023 – more than three times the figure for 2019 (184,000). This presentation will examine the UK’s post-Brexit points-based immigration system, which does not discriminate by country of origin and prioritises skilled work. It will outline its effect on sectors previously reliant on low-skilled EU workers, and explain why immigration increased to record levels. It will then turn to the new Labour government’s work migration policy, with its focus on restricting the demand for foreign workers.

Fixing a broken system? Shifting state imperatives and the reform of Australian migration regulations by Chris F Wright and Stephen Clibborn

Abstract

At the turn of the 21st century, the ‘nation building’ rationale that defined Australia’s migration system during the post-war decades was disbanded in favour of ‘guest worker’ style policies that placed temporary migrants at significant risk of workplace mistreatment and social exclusion. In December 2023, the Australian government released its Migration Strategy aiming to rectify these problems in the migration system. This presentation analyses key elements of the Migration Strategy particularly those relating to temporary skilled visas and student visas, which are a central focus of the reforms. It will draw upon state-centric theories of migration policy to examine the shifts in the Australian government’s motivations for these policy changes. The findings highlight the importance of values and evolving policy problems in driving migration reform.