Funding programme

The Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund (AMIF) provides funding for actions in the field of asylum, legal migration and integration, return and countering irregular migration.

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Call overview

This call aims to increase the impact and the sustainability of complementary labour pathways as regards numbers of legal admission places and the quality of the programmes.

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Background

Ensuring effective integration and inclusion of third-country nationals is a necessary social and economic investment in the EU. It makes European societies more cohesive, resilient and prosperous. Integration and inclusion can and should be a win-win process, benefiting the entire society. In the Action plan on integration and inclusion 2021-20273 (the Action plan), the European Commission has set out strategic guidance and more than sixty concrete actions to promote integration and inclusion of third-country nationals and EU citizens with a migrant background. The Action plan covers all the different stages and phases of the integration process: pre-departure measures, reception and early integration, medium- and long-term integration, which, all together, help build inclusive and cohesive societies.

For the purpose of this call for proposals, “migrants” should be understood as third-country nationals, including beneficiaries of international and temporary protection and applicants for international protection.

Read more in the call document.

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Themes and priorities

At the international level, the New York Declaration for Refugees and Migrants, adopted at the General Assembly of the United Nations on 19 September 2016, and the Global Compact for Refugees, adopted in December 2018, called for expanding legal pathways for refugees so that they can become systemic and globally available. The UNHCR Three-Year Strategy (2019-2021) on Resettlement and Complementary Pathways has set ambitious goals to develop complementary pathways in addition to resettlement. In April 2022, the Global Task Force for Refugee Labour Mobility, co-led by UNHCR and Canada, was launched to implement this goal. The European Commission will work more closely with the Task Force.

At the EU level, the 2020 Recommendation on legal pathways to protection in the EU21 encourages the Member States to promote complementary pathways for people in need of international protection, in addition to resettlement and humanitarian admission schemes. EU funding was made available to promote complementary pathways under the 2020 AMIF Union Actions Call for Proposals.

‍Read more in the call document, page 21.

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Objectives

The general objective of this topic is to increase the impact and the sustainability of complementary labour pathways as regards numbers of legal admission places and the quality of the programmes.

This could be achieved via one or more of the following specific objectives:

• 1. creating new and/or upscaling existing complementary labour pathway programmes to offer more places of admission to skilled persons in need of international protection and address labour shortages in the Member States,
• 2. expanding the number of Member States that implement such programmes and expanding the number of businesses willing to engage,
• 3. creating the necessary (facilitated) procedures and support structures to enable admission of skilled persons in need of international protection through complementary labour pathway programmes.

Programmes should be designed in such a way to promote the integration of beneficiaries in the host society.

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Activities that can be funded

Proposals should include one or more of the following activities (non-exhaustive list):

• Activities to engage national authorities concerned by complementary pathways linked to work, notably Ministries of home affairs and Ministries of Labour to fill information gaps, create closer cooperation across policy fields and establish fast and simple admission procedures.
• Activities to mobilise support and build strong partnerships on complementary pathways between key stakeholders, such as local authorities, employer organisations, business organisations, companies, trade unions, local communities, diaspora communities and other relevant stakeholders, in order to identify the steps and create the necessary procedures to enable the effective implementation of such schemes.
• Developing and providing training to stakeholders, especially to companies and employer organisations on how to take part effectively in a complementary pathway project, building on existing good practices.
• Conferences, workshops and awareness-raising activities.
• Activities relating to engaging companies that might be willing to take part in complementary pathways, in both urban/rural settings, notably through outreach, information provision and motivation.
• Activities relating to mobilising diaspora communities: information campaigns and awareness-raising campaigns, including on promoting the added value for stakeholders in investing in complementary pathways and by mobilising a wide variety of approaches and making use of new technologies.
• Activities to facilitate and/or improve the matching of companies and job offers with people in need of international protection.
• Training of companies to ensure sustainable commitment and the provision of quality support towards workers recruited via a complementary pathway linked to work.
• Pilot projects on work-related complementary pathways, leading to actual admission and job placement, and the evaluation of first experiences of both, employers, and workers.
• Activities to create support programmes for skilled people in need of international protection residing in a country of first asylum to facilitate access to labour migration avenues, building on existing initiatives and partnering with relevant stakeholders.
• In third countries hosting refugees, organisation of joint study, information campaigns, job fairs etc. with a view to recruiting skilled refugees.

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Expected impact / outcomes

Proposals should focus on contributing to the achievement of one or several of the following outcomes:

• reinforced and expanded sustainable networks between national authorities, labour market actors at local/regional/national level, international organisations and relevant NGOs to advance complementary pathways linked to work leading to concrete admissions;
• well-developed and tested methods and tools for international recruitment of persons in need of international protection outside the EU and matching them with shortages in the European labour market (possibly as an element of the EU Talent Pool that is currently under development);
• strengthened support at the local and national level for the development of complementary labour pathways, particularly through building effective partnerships between relevant stakeholders;
• higher number of organisations involved in designing and implementing complementary labour pathways and more clarity/awareness about their role/contribution and the added value of their engagement in complementary pathways.

‍Read more in the call document.

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Eligibility

In order to be eligible, the applicants (beneficiaries and affiliated entities) must:

• be legal entities (public or private bodies)
• be established in one of the eligible countries, i.e.: EU Member States (including overseas countries and territories (OCTs)), excluding Denmark, countries associated to the AMIF or countries which are in ongoing negotiations for an association agreement and where the agreement enters into force before grant signature

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Consortium composition

Proposals must be submitted by:

• minimum three applicants (beneficiaries; not affiliated entities) from three different participating Member States.
• the following entities can NOT apply as coordinator: profit making entities

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Project duration

Maximum 30 or 36 months.

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Budget

The available budget for this topic is EUR 6 000 000.