This policy brief examines the relationship between migration policy, irregular status, and labour market vulnerability. It highlights how restrictive legal frameworks can unintentionally increase exploitation and undermine workers’ rights, and calls for policy approaches that better align migration governance with social and economic realities.
New Exhibition | 2–6 March 2026 | University of Helsinki. We are pleased to present Future Conditional, a two-channel video installation by Anna Knappe and Amir Jan, commissioned by Centrala Space (Birmingham, UK) and developed as part of the I-CLAIM research project.
This new report examines the living and working conditions of irregularised migrant workers in agriculture, delivery and logistics, and domestic and care sectors across six European countries, highlighting how migration, labour, and welfare systems shape experiences of insecurity and work.
New I-CLAIM paper unpacks how “irregularity” is made in Europe. Written by Nando Sigona and Ilse van Liempt
The new I-CLAIM sector reports offer key insights from the ethnographic research into domestic work, care, agriculture and delivery sectors across Europe.
Check the Comparative report. It compares migration discourse across seven contexts—Germany, Finland, the Netherlands, Italy, Poland, the UK, and the EU—analysing how irregular migration is framed in politics, media, and civil society.
Check the new Country report. This report presents the key findings of a corpus-based study on narratives of irregular migration in the domains of media, politics, and civil society in Finland.
New I-CLAIM Policy Brief! It calls for policy reforms to address irregular migration in Europe by promoting regularization paths, coordinated policy responses, and protections for migrant workers’ rights.
This Policy Brief shows that a home affairs and criminalisation approach prioritising law enforcement and policing has dominated the von der Leyen Commission on questions related to migration policy.