Irregular migration is skilled migration: reimagining skill in EU's migration policies

The paper interrogates how the categories of irregular and skilled migration are constructed and instrumentalised in EU contexts, asking how and why “skill” is used as an othering device that underpins racialised hierarchies and differential deservingness. It situates the study within persistent data gaps on irregular migration and a dominant threat–victim binary that obscures migrants’ economic roles and capacities. By contrasting the reception of Ukrainian refugees with that of migrants from the Global South, the authors highlight how assumptions about education and skill shape policy responses, rights, and public perceptions. The purpose is to explore the heterogeneity of skills among irregular migrants, the dynamism of skill acquisition along migration trajectories, and the systemic deskilling produced by legal limbo. The study aims to challenge rigid migration categories and reframe policies that reproduce inequalities, emphasizing the importance of recognizing skills and aspirations among irregular migrants in Belgium and the EU.

The review frames irregularity as a legal and political construct produced by immigration laws and historical interventions (De Genova, 2004), embedded in colonial continuities that established racialised borders and hierarchies (Mayblin & Turner, 2021; Bhambra, 2014; Hall, 2000). It traces how the migrant/refugee and legal/illegal binaries function as sites of racialisation (Kunz, 2020) and notes the Eurocentric origins of asylum law that initially excluded non-Europeans (Mayblin, 2014). The literature shows how contemporary discourse replaces explicit race/ethnicity with ostensibly neutral notions of “skill” and merit (Liu-Farrer et al., 2021), producing hierarchies that privilege cognitive over manual skills and devalue knowledge from non-Western settings (Iskander, 2017, 2021; Raghuram, 2021b). Public attitudes and media coverage valorise highly skilled migrants and cast others as passive, unskilled, or threatening (Naumann et al., 2018; Połońska-Kimunguyi, 2022). Within EU policy, skill is defined by credentials and occupational classifications responsive to market demand (Weinar & Klekowski von Koppenfels, 2020; Freitas et al., 2012), while refugees and protection beneficiaries face constrained labour market access and recognition hurdles (NBB, 2020). Overall, the review positions skill as a bordering mechanism that sustains racialised exclusion and legitimises unequal rights.

The study draws on 34 semi-structured interviews with irregular migrants who arrived in Europe between 2005 and 2018 and subsequently settled in Belgium (most living in Belgium for at least five years). Fieldwork occurred between 2020 and 2022, conducted online, by phone, and in person, in Persian, Arabic, English, French, Pashto, and Turkish. Participants provided informed consent; interviews were conducted following ethical protocols, and data were pseudonymised. Researchers also consulted civil society organisations working with refugees and asylum seekers in Belgium and in French transit settings (Calais, Dunkirk) to contextualise findings. Sampling leveraged social media outreach and snowballing. The sample comprised 25 men and 9 women, who were aged roughly 5 to 30 at first arrival in Europe, and originated from Afghanistan, Ghana, Guinea, India, Palestine, Syria, Tibet, Togo, and Turkey. Many adults had at least secondary schooling, and some had tertiary education and professional experience. Interviews were thematically coded in NVivo, initially focusing on trajectories and decision points, then on cross-cutting themes (time, skill, education, aspirations) across pre-departure, transit, and post-arrival phases. Remote interviewing both constrained the sample to those with internet access and improved access to geographically dispersed participants.

• Sample profile and heterogeneity: 34 participants (25 men, 9 women); first arrival in Europe between 2005–2018; at arrival ages ~5–30; origins include Afghanistan, Ghana, Guinea, India, Palestine, Syria, Tibet, Togo, and Turkey. Many adults held at least a high school diploma; several had tertiary education and work experience. This challenges assumptions that irregular migrants lack education or skills.
• Skills are dynamic and context-dependent: Migrants continuously acquire and adapt skills across trajectories, including languages (e.g., Turkish, English, Dutch, French), digital/navigation competencies, legal literacy, teamwork, and problem-solving. Skills’ relevance ebbs and flows with geography, legal status, and time spent in transit or camps.
• Systemic deskilling and non-recognition: Legal limbo, detention, and prolonged asylum procedures lead to loss of formal education continuity and devaluation of prior qualifications. Recognition barriers (degree equalization, tests) are costly, slow, and often accessible only after legal recognition, producing downskilling and misalignment with aspirations.
• Legal status trumps ability: Undocumented status and restricted work rights force migrants into precarious, low-paid, and exploitative jobs irrespective of education or experience, reinforcing a hierarchy of disposability (“deportability”).
• Institutional interactions steer toward low-skilled work: Public employment services and integration programmes frequently prioritise quick job entry over recognition of prior expertise, channelling even highly educated refugees into low-skilled roles and generic trainings; participants reported lack of tailored support.
• Gendered barriers: Women face layered constraints from host-society stereotypes and intra-community gender norms, limiting participation and skills acquisition despite cases of high prior education and breadwinner roles.
• Transit and camps as sites of both learning and loss: While camps and transit countries can offer opportunities (e.g., ad hoc schooling, language acquisition), prolonged waiting fosters educational gaps and psychological strain, hindering progression toward original career goals (e.g., medicine).
• COVID-19 disruptions: The pandemic halted training and precarious work, shifted learning online, and delayed labour market entry, compounding the challenges of recognition and networking. Overall, the findings show that irregular migrants possess heterogeneous, evolving skills that are rendered invisible or devalued by legal and policy regimes, producing structural deskilling and exploitation.

The study demonstrates that the notion of “skill” functions as a bordering apparatus: while migrants accumulate and deploy diverse skills throughout their journeys, EU legal categories, recognition systems, and labour market institutions systematically obscure and devalue these capacities. This directly addresses the research question by showing how skill is instrumentalised to differentiate deservingness along racialised and colonial lines, with legal status overriding demonstrated ability. The evidence from Belgium reveals that heterogeneity and dynamism of skills contradict the homogenising label of “unskilled irregulars.” Prolonged waiting, restricted work rights, and burdensome recognition procedures generate deskilling and funnel migrants into precarious employment. These processes reinforce social hierarchies and sustain narratives of undesirability, even as migrants’ trajectories reflect resilience, learning, and aspirations for education and dignified work. Recognising skill as central to irregular migration reframes policy debates from exclusionary merit filters to equal access and rights, suggesting that improving recognition pathways and decoupling core rights from migration categories would better harness migrants’ capabilities and reduce exploitation.

The paper contributes by reconceptualising irregular migration as inherently skilled, documenting the heterogeneity and dynamism of migrants’ competencies, and linking the devaluation of these skills to racialised, colonial legacies embedded in EU legal and policy frameworks. It challenges rigid categories (migrant/refugee; legal/illegal; skilled/unskilled) and shows how legal status and recognition systems produce deskilling, exploitation, and stalled aspirations. Policy implications include reframing migrants beyond deficit narratives, prioritising equal access to rights and opportunities regardless of status, streamlining and valuing transnational qualifications and experiential skills, and tailoring labour market services to prior expertise. Future research should deepen analysis of gendered intersections, explore how post-colonial ties shape trajectories and recognition, investigate differential rights as mechanisms sustaining racial hierarchies, and broaden sampling to include harder-to-reach populations lacking digital access or fearing engagement.

• Sampling and access: Participants were recruited via social media and snowballing, skewing toward individuals with internet access and a certain education level; those fearing deportation or exploitation may have opted out.
• Data collection mode: Pandemic-era remote interviewing limited observation and may have influenced rapport; some interviews occurred outdoors or by phone.
• Scope and depth: The study focuses on migrants settled in Belgium and does not provide representative statistics; historical asylum data for earlier years were limited. Gendered intersections were only partially explored.
• Recognition of sensitive details: Pseudonymisation and alteration of potentially identifying information may reduce contextual granularity in narratives.