Presentation from the Final Conference of the EURA-NET project in Brussels, 2nd December 2016.

1. Temporary Migration
Experiences from Transit Countries
Prof. Dr. Ahmet İçduygu
Dean, CSSS, Koç University

2. I. Migration process: Experiences from Transit Countries
• Some countries (such as Greece, Hungary, Turkey, Ukraine ) have become a
country of transit, particularly since 1980s
• International Context
• Geographical position (Europe, Middle East, Asia, Africa)
• Economic, Political, Socio-cultural Reasons
• Domestic Context
• Economic Development, Liberalization, etc.
• Economic, Political, Socio-cultural Reasons

3. I. Migration process: Experiences from Transit Countries

4. II. Types of Migration
- Mixed flows and mostly “temporary”
- Five types of border crossings since 1980
1. Transit Migrants
• With the aim of moving to a third country
2. Temporary Labour Migrants (Circular Migration)
• Domestic-care, textile, agriculture, sex and entertainment, construction
sectors

5. II. Types of Migration
3. Asylum Seekers
4. Professionals
• Education
• Multinational companies
5. Sun/Retirement Migration

6. III. Overview of Transit Migration: Illustration of Transit Migration on the
Fringes of the EU
Source: DüVell, Franck (2008). Transit Migration in Europe. Centre On Migration, Policy and Society (COMPAS) University of Oxford.

7. III. Overview of Transit Migration: Transit Migration
Source: DüVell, Franck (2008). Transit Migration in Europe. Centre On Migration, Policy and Society (COMPAS) University of Oxford.

8. III. Overview of Transit Migration: The Various Forms of Transit Migration
Source: DüVell, Franck (2008). Transit Migration in Europe. Centre On Migration, Policy and Society (COMPAS) University of Oxford.

9. III. Overview of Transit Migration: Scheme of the Legal Dimension of
Transit Migration
Entry
into transit country
Stay
in transit country
Exit
from transit country
Entry
into next country
Legal
Illegal
Source: DüVell, Franck (2008). Transit Migration in Europe. Centre On Migration, Policy and Society (COMPAS) University of Oxford.

10. “Temporary Migration”: Migration movements that are more than three months and less than five
years, which may vary among different migration groups
A. Politico-Legal Aspects
1. Temporary Migration in the Legal Framework
– Lack of definition of who is “temporary”
2. Challenge: New Legal Arrangement
3. Tension Between State Authorities/Departments
4. Political Engagement of Migrants
5. Citizenship
IV. Transformative Characteristics of Temporary Migration

11. B. Socio-Economic Aspects
1. Labour market conditions and labour market integration
– Majority working in the informal sector
– Lack of forming employment opportunities and “reluctancy”
2. Some countries try to keep high skilled transit migrants on their labour market (Turkey) while others not
(Hungary, Greece) – but competing with receiving countries
3. Cost for the country: Social security, obligations related to the EU
4. Boom for some branch of economy (for example mobile phone)
5. Remittances
– Monetary
– Material (food and consumption goods), Nonmaterial (skills, cultural exchange)
6. Human trafficking and smuggling
IV. Transformative Characteristics of Temporary Migration

12. C. Socio-Cultural Aspects
1. Social Cohesion
- Minimum Integration
- Language as a Barrier
2. Transnational Social Network
3. Solidarity Networks with Locals
4. Education Problem for Families with Children
5. Citizenship ?
IV. Transformative Characteristics of Temporary Migration

13. V. What are the positive impacts of temporary transnational migration on
people and their communities in transit countries?
• Building new politico-legal schemes for migration/temporary migration
• Establishment of new institutions to support migrants
• Increase in human capital
• New skills and technology
• Increase in transnational networks
• Cultural diversity
• New discussions on citizenship and participation

14. V. What are the negative impacts of temporary transnational migration on
people and their communities in transit countries?
• Increased interest working in informal sector;
• Concerns in rising racism, prejudices and discriminatory discourses, polarization
• Growing number of migrant children out of school
• Problems accessing services
• Low cultural integration due to language barrier

15. VI. Recommendations
• Formulation of policies for “temporary migration” referring to different types of migrants (high
skilled workers, low skilled workers, asylum seekers, refugees , etc. )
• Formulation of policies for “orderly” migration
• Policies to channel migrant labour force from informal to formal sector
• Right to work should be granted to asylum seekers and refugees
• Access to health care and education services to all temporary migrants should be ensured
• Concerning the recent humanitarian migratory movements to Europe, targeted integration
programmes should be developed and carried out in cooperation with local, national and
European stakeholders
• National and supranational (EU, international) mechanisms and legal frameworks needs to be
revised to cope with the radically increased humanitarian migration

16. Temporary Migration in Turkey

17. I. Overview of Trends in Turkey
29426
47529
94514 92365
82825
56219
61228
57428
51983
64290 65737
34345 32667
44415 47510
39890
58647
146485
0
20000
40000
60000
80000
100000
120000
140000
160000
1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016
Source: Ministry of Interior, Directorate General for Migration Management
Irregular Migration

18. I. Overview of Trends in Turkey
73422
35921
7247 5464 3792 2857 1978 1445 1393 1241
11725
0
10000
20000
30000
40000
50000
60000
70000
80000
Source: Ministry of Interior, Directorate General for Migration Management
Nationalities of Irregular Migrants Apprehended in 2015

19. I. Overview of Trends in Turkey
Iranians Iraqis Afghans Other Total
2001 3 485 998 400 294 5 177
2002 2 505 974 47 268 3 794
2003 3 092 342 77 437 3 948
2004 2 030 956 341 581 3 908
2005 1 716 1 047 365 786 3 914
2006 2 297 724 339 1 188 4 548
2007 1 668 3 470 427 2 039 7 604
2008 2 217 6 904 1 571 2 289 12 981
2009 1 981 3 763 1 009 1 081 7 834
2010 2 881 3 656 1 248 1 441 9 226
2011 3 411 7 912 2 486 2 211 16 020
2012 3 589 6 942 4 401 5 382 16 725
2013 5 900 25 300 8 726 4 874 44 810
2014 8 202 50 510 15 652 13 456 87 820
2015 8 967 51 456 29 099 10 220 99 742
Total 50 352 164 954 66 188 46 547 328 051
Source: Compiled by the author from data obtained from the UNHCR International, UNHCR Ankara Office and Bureau for Foreigners, Borders, and Asylum at the Directorate of General Security of the Ministry
of Interior. The 2013 figures include asylum-seekers registered with UNHCR as well as asylum-seekers who have been pre-registered but who are pending official registration with UNHCR.
Asylum Applications in Turkey, 2001–2015

20. I. Overview of Trends in Turkey
176,944
217,206
267,299
313,692
379,804
422,895
0
50,000
100,000
150,000
200,000
250,000
300,000
350,000
400,000
450,000
2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016
Source: Compiled by the author from data obtained from Bureau for Foreigners, Borders, and Asylum at the Directorate of
General Security of the Ministry of Interior (2008-2013), Directorate General of Migration Management, 2015
Number of Residence Permits Granted

21. I. Overview of Trends in Turkey
9,438 10,603 8,930 10,705
14,023 14,201 16,890
32,272
45,834
52,304
64,547
0
10,000
20,000
30,000
40,000
50,000
60,000
70,000
2004 2006 2008 2010 2012 2014 2016
Number of Work Permits Granted
Source: Directorate General of Migration Management, 2016

22. II. Legislative and Administrative Process
EU-ization
• The Law on Work Permits for Foreigners, 2003
• Turkish government adopted an Action Plan, 2005
• Settlement law, 2006
• EU-Turkey Readmission Agreement, 2013
• Law on Foreigners and International Protection, 2013
• Directorate General of Migration Management (DGMM) as new institution to manage all operations
regarding immigration
• International Labour Force Law, July 2016

23. III. Syrian Refugees
2,769,991
2,503,549
1,519,286
224,655
14,237
0-
500,000
1,000,000
1,500,000
2,000,000
2,500,000
3,000,000
2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017
Number of Syrians Under Temporary Protection per Year as of November 10, 2016
Source of the data: Directorate General of Migration Management (Directorate General of Migration Management (DGMM)).

24. III. Syrian Refugees
Trends of the Syrian Refugee Flow and Timeline of Legislative Process
2,769,991
2,503,549
1,519,286
224,655
14,237
0-
500,000
1,000,000
1,500,000
2,000,000
2,500,000
3,000,000
2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017
Regulation on Temporary Protection
(October 22)
Regulation on Work Permit of Refugees
Under Temporary Protection
(January 15)
President Erdoğan's
Citizenship
Announcement
(July 2)
"Open-Door" Policy
Law on Foreigners and International
Protection*
(April 4)
EU-Turkey Deal
(March 18)
Source of the data: Directorate General of Migration Management (Directorate General of Migration Management (DGMM)).
* The passage of LFIP was motivated by Turkey’s efforts to align its laws with EU accession requirements initiated prior to the Syrian influx.

25. IV. EU-Turkey Deal: “one in, one out”
• All new irregular migrants who arrive in Greek islands through Turkey as of March 20, 2016 will
be returned to Turkey starting on April 4, 2016
• For every Syrian who is sent back, one registered Syrian in Turkey will be resettled to the EU
• Turkey agreed to keep passage into Europe under control
• The EU agreed to the disbursement of 3 billion Euro to the Facility for Refugees in Turkey
• Acceleration of visa liberalisation for Turkish citizens

26. Survey says…
A word-cloud from our interviews

27. (Refugee, 1967, male, Congo)
“I came here eight years ago, escaping from an ethnic war. I applied
to UNHCR immediately I arrived. Waited so long to get my status,
but in 2013 I became legally refugee. Since then, again waiting to be
resettled in another country. I left two sons behind. Now they are
stuck in Tanzania. I cannot go there, cannot bring them here. I don’t
heave work permit. I work informally, and get exploited almost every
time. I am stuck here with no life, without my sons. We are the
victims.”
V. Transformative Characteristics of Temporary Migration
Politico-Legal Aspects

28. V. Transformative Characteristics of Temporary Migration
Socio-Economic Aspects
(Asylum related NGO representative, male, national organization)
“[with the new work regulation] Syrian doctors will take care Syrian patients.
This is an immediate solution. Getting work permits, legal procedures will be
much easier. Same procedures are valid for education sector. Syrian teachers
will be employed for Syrian pupils. This regulation will ease some problems. But
at the same time it may end up in segregation and more discrimination.
Furthermore, we are talking about millions of people and most of the workforce
will continue to work informally. Most employers will still prefer to employ
informally to be able pay less. So I do not think that regulation will provide an
overall solution. Unfortunately, whole [asylum] system is discriminative".

29. V. Transformative Characteristics of Temporary Migration
Socio-Cultural Aspects
(Asylum seeker, 1979, male, Afghanistan)
My daughter and wife should have surgery and the doctors said so. But the
cost was too high and we did not have that kind of money. More
importantly, I did not understand what was going on, because I don’t speak
Turkish and we couldn’t communicate. There are a lot of Afghans living [in
my neighbourhood]. When I am at work, I want job related help from them
or help for translation. I have very little interaction with Afghanis as well.