Immigration and Border Governance

Border officials are the first persons migrants encounter at their destination, most likely.

Ensuring that these are aware of migrants’ rights and international standards is paramount to promoting safe and well-managed migration. Complemented by efficient policies and structures, this enables to counter smuggling and identify victims of trafficking. For this purpose, IOM facilitates dialogue between migrants, countries of origin, and regional governments to ease the legitimate cross-border flows of people and goods.

Immigration and Border Governance (IBG) interventions are designed in partnership with governments and other relevant stakeholders, advancing IOM’s commitment to facilitate safe, orderly and regular migration along with predictable human mobility, through three distinct but complementary portfolios: Border and Identity Solutions, Immigration and Visas, and Legal Identity.

Across its programmes, IOM works to promote regular migration pathways, strengthen admission processes, encourage readmission cooperation, advance access to legal identity, facilitate the cross-border movement of goods and bona fide travelers, and ensure rights-based and coherent border security measures. With a heightened focus on good migration governance, IBG’s work highlights the positive contributions of well-administered mobility as well as immigration and border management processes to peace, security, regional integration, and sustainable development.

In partnership with the European Commission, we assist requesting governments to institute appropriate migration governance and management by creating policy, legislation, administrative structures, operational systems and providing the human resources necessary to respond effectively to diverse migration challenges.

In addition, the IOM Global Office in Brussels is also tasked with supporting the liaison with border management related EU agencies, such as Europol, the European Union Agency for Asylum (EUAA) or the European Border and Coast Guard Agency (FRONTEX).