This EMN Inform summarises the main findings of the EMN Study Admitting third-country nationals for business purposes.
Key points to note:
- Designing and implementing policies/programmes and schemes to attract and facilitate the admission of third-country nationals for business purposes is a growing phenomenon.
- The admission of third-country national investors and business owners is not harmonised at EU level.In many cases, national approaches have been introduced relatively recently, and in response to the economic crisis.
- In terms of migration policy design, Member States strive to find the right balance between incentives and rights offered to third-country nationals on the one hand and admission criteria which guarantee effective controls and secure borders on the other.
- Higher-rate immigration Member States with tailored programmes for business persons have developed and / or adapted them with the aim to better meet the needs of their national markets and seek higher economic benefits.
- In lower-rate immigration Member States, immigrant investors’ programmes may have been more recently designed as economic recovery measures or, more ambitiously, to act as (regional) hubs for investments.In other Member States, however, immigration for business purposes does not seem to be a priority, or to be attributed any higher degree of attention.
- Member States rely on their standard measures to detect any misuse / abuse of the business channel by migrants to the EU. Few specific instances of misuse/abuse of the investor route by third country nationals has been reported.
See also:
- Business Migration to Ireland
- Admitting third-country nationals for business purposes: EMN synthesis
- National reports from other EU Member States and Norway
