The COVID-19 pandemic has affected all of us in our daily lives. However, different communities have been impacted in different ways. For undocumented people, one of the most marginalised communities in Europe, the pandemic and the lockdown measures have exacerbated pre-existing conditions of social exclusion and deprivation.

So what has this meant concretely for undocumented people? We surveyed our members to learn more about the impact of the lockdown measures on them and on the communities they serve. Forty members responded, based across the EU as well as in neighbouring countries (Albania, Israel, Morocco, Norway, Switzerland and the United Kingdom).

Our survey shows that the main concern for undocumented people during the pandemic (80% of those surveyed) was the loss of income due to the interruption of work, and the impossibility for undocumented migrants to access state support, including unemployment benefits. Another prevalent concern (50% of those surveyed) was the impossibility to keep social distances, as many undocumented people live in crowded precarious settings, including detention centres and informal camps.

At the same time, many PICUM members (41% of those surveyed) told us they’re less able to support undocumented people, as restrictions during lockdowns made it hard to carry out community work. Yet more than one-third of PICUM members surveyed also indicated that requests for support are on the rise (38%).  Our members reported (41%) that it has become harder to advocate towards their governments for inclusive policies, as in person meetings were largely discontinued and because the management of the health emergency is trumping other priorities.

Civil society organisations noted that numerous restrictive measures were adopted under the pandemic. In ten of the countries included in the survey, access to asylum and immigration procedures was suspended. In four countries, people rescued when crossing borders, including when undocumented, were denied access to the national territory. In four countries, undocumented people were detained for not respecting physical distancing and (de)confinement measures, which are often impossible to follow for undocumented people who don’t have any accommodation.

Despite the numerous challenges, the portrait is not entirely bleak. In fact, the pandemic has opened windows of opportunity for the rights of undocumented people in quite unlikely ways. Pushed by considerations about public health, some European countries have adopted measures which aim at reducing the exclusion of undocumented people from public services. For instance, Portugal temporarily regularised the status of all people with a pending residence application, so they could have access to state support, including full access to health care. Ireland granted safe access to health care to undocumented people, ensuring no data is shared with immigration authorities. Some other countries passed laws with an impact on migration management for other reasons. Italy adopted a measure that opens the door to a major regularisation for undocumented workers in the domestic and care, and agri-food sectors, with a view to addressing labour shortages due to the closure of borders. Spain nearly emptied its immigration detention centres, while relying on civil society to provide alternative accommodation, to avoid uncontrolled COVID-19 outbreaks in the centres. Detaining migrants if return is impossible to carry out due to border closures is also prohibited by international human rights law and jurisprudence from the European Court of Justice.

Civil society also observed some small openings allowing undocumented migrants to access specific services during the pandemic. Overall, our members found that several countries allowed for undocumented to access some form of emergency assistance. In ten countries, undocumented people were able to access COVID-19-related health care; in seven countries, they could access food and nutrition schemes; while in eight they could access emergency shelter.

Although many of these measures are not perfect and have been presented as temporary, civil society should seize the opportunity to show policy makers that change is possible and that more inclusion benefits everyone. Governments and other donors should recognise that these are long term efforts and should devise schemes to support and partner with civil society in a sustainable way.

Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Greece, Hungary, Israel, Italy, Malta, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom.

Albania, Cyprus, Italy and Malta.

Albania, Greece, Morocco and the Netherlands.

Belgium, France, Germany (only in Berlin), Ireland, Israel, Malta, the Netherlands, Norway, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom.

Belgium, Finland, France, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Spain and Switzerland.

Belgium, the Czech Republic, Finland, Malta, the Netherlands, Norway, Switzerland and the UK.

In March 2020, Italy’s Minister of Agriculture, Teresa Bellanova, called for the regularisation of undocumented workers – a step that many within and outside of the EU found surprising. A government official that calls for the regularisation of undocumented workers? Some found it unseemly. However, regularising undocumented people makes economic, social and political sense and European countries have been doing it for years.

A taboo that isn’t one?

The impression that regularisation is taboo in the EU was solidified in 2008, when France, which held the Presidency of the EU at the time, proposed a ban on large-scale regularisations. Countries such as Germany, France, Poland, The Netherlands, Denmark, Austria and Ireland were against one-off regularisations (although many had held them in the past), while Italy, Greece and Spain were in favour. To achieve compromise amongst differing views amongst EU member states, the European Council recommended  that Member States only do case-by-case regularisations “for humanitarian and economic reasons.”

While the decision to enact a regularisation programme or mechanism is ultimately implemented at the member state level, several EU directives foresee access to residence permits for particular groups, be it victims of domestic violence, people in return procedures or victims of trafficking or exploitative working conditions.

The most comprehensive study on regularisations to date shows that 24 of the 27 EU Member States implemented regularisation programmes or mechanisms between 1996 and 2008. PICUM’s own research shows that countries understand that they can meet their social and developmental objectives, as well as human rights obligations, by developing ways to regularise people – for instance, children and young people or victims of crime.

And why not? Developing ways for undocumented people to regularise offers countries tangible advantages. Countries receive economic benefits through increased tax revenues and social security payments, a better understanding of their resident population and labour market and the opportunity to better regulate working conditions, health and social services. Regularisation also can help increase migrant communities’ trust in governments and institutions, reduce inequality and social exclusion, empower migrants and their families and reduce their vulnerability to exploitation and abuse.

COVID-19 gives an additional reason to countries to grant secure, long-term residence statuses, as some scientists predict that societies around the world will have to live with COVID-19 for the next two years before everyone is vaccinated or immune. Protecting everyone makes sense.

Measures taken by countries in response to the pandemic

Protection is what Portugal had in mind when they decided to grant people with a pending residence application a temporary residence permit during the Covid-19 pandemic. The decision came after nineteen civil society organisations, mostly socio-cultural associations of Nepali, Pakistani, Brazilian and Bangladeshi people, had called out the need to safeguard the rights of workers who had started a regularisation process and of people with a residence permit that would expire during the lockdown.

The Portuguese measure is an important step forward: until 1 July 2020, tens of thousands of migrants are able to access health care, social services, unemployment benefits and the labour market on the same footing as Portuguese citizens. A simple “stub” proves that they submitted a residence permit request before the lockdown started and grants them access to their rights.

But not all can benefit. SOS Racismo has estimated that roughly 80,000 to 100,000 undocumented people cannot benefit from the measure, including tens of thousands of Sub-Saharan African workers who were not able to submit a residence permit application before the start of the lockdown.

Italy has gone another route. The regularisation programme that was adopted at the end of May as part of a broader 55 billion euro stimulus package reflects the government’s aim to address acute shortages in the Italian labour market that the COVID-19 pandemic caused. It focuses exclusively on the agricultural sector, domestic and care work and grants temporary residence permits along two tracks.

In the first track, employers can submit an application to conclude an employment contract with a foreign national on the territory or to declare an existing irregular employment relationship. In the second track, people whose residence permit expired after 31 October 2019 and was not renewed or converted into another permit can apply for a six-month permit to look for work. In both cases, the worker needs to have been in the country since before the start of the lockdown on 8 March 2020 and an administrative fee is due.

Italy’s approach does contain important measures to protect undocumented workers. For example, no one can be expelled from Italy during the application period from 1 June to 15 August 2020. And, if at any time in the future a worker loses the job they were regularised through, they can apply for a residence permit of up to one year to look for another job. Nonetheless Italy’s approach also reflects the economic rationale behind it, seeing undocumented workers as cogs of the economy.

Other countries have focussed on preventing people from becoming undocumented by extending residence permits during the lockdowns. These include Greece, Ireland, Italy, France, Luxembourg, Poland, Slovakia and Finland.

Necessary elements of regularisations

While the Italian and Portuguese measures will change the lives of many undocumented people, they also show that regularization programmes and mechanisms need at least the following six crucial elements to be effective and human rights compliant.

Firstly, people should be able to apply independently. Regularization mechanisms and programmes that are driven by or depend on employers can lead to exploitation. It often happens that employers charge their employees for the application, or workers accept exploitative conditions because their application depends on their employer.

Secondly, they need to be accessible and not too bureaucratic, burdensome or expensive. Administrative fees are an important barrier because most undocumented people live in poverty. In Belgium, children are exempt from the administrative fee but adults pay 385 euro when applying for regularisation on humanitarian grounds.

Thirdly, eligibility criteria should be clear, not arbitrary or too onerous to prove. A number of years of residence should be sufficient grounds to regularise people, at least in cases of children and young people, for instance.

Fourthly, decisions should be transparent and made on the basis of clear, objective criteria. People should be informed throughout the process, and processes should include a right of appeal.

Fifthly, they should result in independent, secure and long-term statuses, as people remain vulnerable to exploitation if they don’t. People should receive a temporary status that grants access to services while their regularisation application is processed.

Sixthly, civil society organisations are crucial partners for effective regularizations, and should be involved as such from the outset, in the design, implementation and evaluation of measures.

Alone, regularisation does not provide a solution to irregular migration. But it is a valid and effective policy that allows countries to recognize undocumented people living on their territories, contributing to their societies and economies and calling these communities home.

Kate Brick, 2011, Regularisations in the European Union: The Contentious Policy Tool, Migration Policy Institute Insight

“Programmes” regularise large(r) numbers of undocumented people who fulfil a specific set of critera, but is open for a limited period of time. A recent, non-EU, example is Operation Papyrus in Geneva, which ran from February 2017 to December 2018 and regularised 2,390 undocumented workers and their families by January 2020. “Mechanisms” are permanent ways to regularise one’s residence status, often on a case-by-case basis and with a varying degree of discretion by decision-makers. Examples are article 9bis and 9ter in the Belgian law, providing the possibility to obtain a residence status on humanitarian or medical grounds, respectively.

Martin Baldwin-Edwards and Albert Kraler (Eds.), 2008, REGINE: Regularisations in Europe, Pallas Publications

500 Euros in track one, payable by the employer; 130 Euros in track 2. Paragraph 7, see https://stranieriinitalia.it/attualita/regolarizzazione-ecco-il-testo-in-gazzetta-ufficiale/

Paragraph 17, see https://stranieriinitalia.it/attualita/regolarizzazione-ecco-il-testo-in-gazzetta-ufficiale/ and http://www.governo.it/node/14766?fbclid=IwAR3So3OAbJJv1aIRhRDy2tZhWWcZ0wxYlB3l7WvGbxAdTop-DcVyMYnY9Fk

Article 22, par. 11, of Decree Law 286/98

See also PICUM, 2018, Manual on Regularisations of Undocumented Children, Young People and Families

Cover image credit: Adobe Stock: Lakshmiprasad

This page gathers statements and resources about the COVID-19 pandemic and its impact on migrant communities and on civil society working with migrants.

Additional PICUM resources:

• PICUM: Non-exhaustive overview of European government measures impacting undocumented migrants taken in the context of COVID-19

PICUM members’ statements:

• Aditus (Malta): The ill-treatment aboard the Captain Morgan ships must be stopped at once!
• Aditus (Malta): The nation cannot quietly celebrate Easter whilst men, women and children are drowning on our doorstep.
• ADC Memorial – Anti Discrimination Centre Memorial (Belgium): Human rights defenders demand the release of immigration detainees during the pandemic
• ASGI (Italy): L’impatto sui diritti delle/dei cittadine/i straniere/i e le misure di tutela necessarie: una prima ricognizione
• ASGI (Italy): COVID-19: le Regioni tutelino chi vive negli insediamenti informali
• ASTI (Luxemburg), Le COVID-19 exige une solidarité sans conditions
• FLEX Focus on Labour Exploitation (UK): New Briefing: No Worker Left Behind – how might the COVID-19 pandemic impact worker exploitation?
• Funcación CEPAIM; Almeria Acoge,Médicos del Mundo y Cruz Roja (Spain), Protocolo conjunto para la intervención inmediata en los asentamientos de la provincia de Almería para la prevención y control del coronavirus
• Funcación CEPAIM (Spain), Por una regularización de personas migrantes indocumentadas, ante la pandemia del Covid 19
• Funcación CEPAIM, Almeria Acoge, Sevilla Acoge (Spain), El Escudo Social para las Personas Sin Hogar ante el Coronavirus debe proteger también a las personas que residen en asentamientos chabolistas junto a explotaciones agrarias
• CORAM (UK), Children’s legal centre, Coronavirus impact on EHC plans and children with special educational needs
• FGTB (Belgium), Protéger les travailleuses et travailleurs durant la crise du coronavirus
• FIZ (Switzerland), Les victimes de la traite des êtres humains ont besoin de protection -aussi en temps de crise!
• Generation 2.0 (Greece), Monitoring of working and living conditions of the migrant agricultural workers at Manolada in Ilia, Greece.
• GISTI (France), Face à la crise sanitaire, l’enfermement administratif des personnes étrangères doit immédiatement cesser
• Greek Forum of Refugees, AITIMA, 119 ORG (Greece), Protect the most vulnerable to ensure protection for everyone! 
• Human Rights 360° (Greece), Protect the Most Vulnerable to Ensure Protection…
• ICRSE, Sex workers in Europe set up emergency fundraisers to provide food and shelter for community impacted by COVID-19
• Jesuit Refugee Service Europe, Covid-19 and asylum: the right response is the same as ever – ensure protection, stop detention, invest in inclusion.
• The Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants (UK), Protecting migrants from Covid-19
• KISA (Cyprus), Protection of public health is not feasible amidst exclusion and discrimination!
• KISA (Cyprus), The government undermines legality and the rule of law under the pretext of coronavirus
• La Strada (The Netherlands), The impact of COVID-19 on the protection of rights of trafficked and exploited persons
• LAWRS, Step Up Migrant Women campaign (UK), COVID-19: Domestic Abuse Services Call for Urgent Support for Migrant Victims Blocked from Safety, Healthcare and Refuges.
• LEGIS (Macedonia), COVID-19: No one is safe until All are protected!
• Maternity Action, End unfair treatment of pregnant women and new mothers in Covid support schemes
• MRCI Migrants Rights Centre Ireland, Migrants Rights Centre Ireland calls for health and safety measures in the agri-food industry to be upheld
• MRN Migrants Rights Network (UK), Access to Healthcare, Housing & Food for All- ‘Status Now’!
• MRN Migrants Rights Nextwork (UK), Open letter to the chief executives of all local authorities in England
• NASC (Ireland), Nasc calls on Minister for Justice and Equality to ‘Move the Vulnerable Out’ 
• ORBIT (Belgium), Persbericht | Overheid zet mensen zonder papieren uit gesloten centra op straat | Hoezo #blijfinuwkot?
• Pax Christi International: Life in a time of a global pandemic crisis
• Por ti mujer (Spain), ¡¡No nos pueden dejar atrás!!
• Samen Levingsopbouw Brussel (Belgium): Voedselhulp cruciaal om coronacrisis in Brussel hoofd te bieden
• Servicio Jesuita a Migrantes (Spain): No retomar el internamiento en los CIE cuando acabe la pandemia
• Servicio Jesuita a Migrantes (Spain): Ante la situación de excepcionalidad, Interior debe liberar a las personas de los CIE
• Solidarité sans frontières (Switzerland): Appel aux autorités fédérales, cantonales et à toutes les collectivités publiques
• UNDOK (Austria): Arbeiten ohne Papiere in der Corona-Krise

Statements co-signed by PICUM:

• The Civil Society Action Committee: First, Save Lives: Solutions for the COVID-19 Pandemicand New Solidarity with Migrants and Refugees
• Joint Statement (28 organisations): Without Rights for Agri-food Workers, Europe’s Food Supplies Rest on Shaky Ground
• EU Alliance for Investing in Children: Joint statement on protecting children and their families during and after the COVID19 crisis
• FAR Feminist Alliance for Rights: Call for a Feminist COVID-19 Policy
• Hope and Homes for Children: COVID-19: Call to action to protect vulnerable families and children in alternative care across Europe
• NLO Nobody Left Outside: EU and national government COVID-19 responses must reach everyone–including marginalised people
• Social Platform: Statement on the COVID-19 pandemic
• Women in Migration Network: From Crisis to a New Social Compact: An inclusive, intersectional feminist approach is the only way out of the COVID crisis

Other statements or resources concerning migrants:

• Amnesty International (Europe and Central Asia): The COVID-19 pandemic can teach us compassion for migrants and refugees
• Caritas Europa: COVID-19 An opportunity to improve our welfare systems
• Center for Reproductive Rights: European governments must ensure safe and timely access to abortion care during the COVID-19 pandemic 
• CESI: Covid 19:Workers in precarious employment to be hit particularly hard
• The Committee on the Rights of the Child: Grave physical, emotional and psychological effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on children and calls on States to protect the rights of children
• Council of Europe: States should ensure rescue at sea and allow safe disembarkation during the COVID-19 crisis
• Council of Europe: Commissioner calls for release of immigration detainees while Covid-19 crisis continues
• EATG European AIDS Treatment Group: COVID-19 crisis’ Impact on PLHIV and on Communities Most Affected by HIV
• ECRE European Council on Refugees and Exiles: COVID-19 Measures Related to Asylum and Migration Across Europe 
• ECRE European Council on Refugees and Exiles: Open letter signed by 121 Organizations
• EFFAT – EFFE – EFSI – UNI –Europa Joint Statement on the COVID-19 Pandemic in Personal and Household Services (PHS)
• Eurochild: Protecting children now and in the future – Eurochild public statement on COVID-19 and in the future 
• Eurodiaconia: Protectingthe vulnerable –supporting our peoplePolicy recommendations to address the social and economic impact of COVID 19
• EFFAT European Federation of Food Agriculture and Tourism Trade Unions : COVID-19Outbreak,workers in agriculture and food production deserve better protection
• ENAR European Network Against Racism: COVIDIMPACT: Lifting Structural Barriers: A Priority in the Fight Against Racism
• ENAR European Network Against Racism: Leaving no one behind in the coronavirus crisis: ENAR calls for system change now to achieve real equality
• EUPHA European Public Health Alliance: Reducing the impact of the coronavirus crisis on those ‘left behind’ –Disadvantaged Migrants and Ethnic Minorities (MEM)
• ETUC European Trade Union Confedaration: Overlooked: migrant workers in the COVID-19 crisis
• EU Filipino network Migrante Europe: April 28 Coalition for Migrants’ and Refugees’ Rights and Welfare
• EWSI European Web Site on Integration: COVID-19’s impact on migrant communities
• Health Action International (HAI) and the European Alliance for Responsible R&D and Affordable Medicines coordinated a statement signed by 61 organisations.
• IDC International Detention Coalition: IDC Position on Covid-19
• Inter-Agency Standing Committee: Interim Guidance on Scaling-up COVID-19 Outbreak in Readiness and Response Operations in Camps and Camp-like Settings
• International Domestic Workers Federation: Statement on Protecting Domestic Workers Rights and Fighting the Coronavirus Pandemic
• IOM, UN Migration: IOM Responds to COVID-19
• The Lancet: Refugee and migrant health in the COVID-19 response
• The Lancet: Leaving no one behind in the COVID-19 Pandemic: a call for urgent global action to include migrants and refugees in the COVID-19 response.
• The New School – Zolberg Institute on Migration and Mobility: Human mobility and human rights in the COVID-19 pandemic: Principles of protection for migrants, refugees, and other displaced persons
• Migrant Forum in Asia: Uphold Migrant’s Rights in Times of Crisis Situations
• OHCHR United Nations Office of the High Commissioner Humanr Rights: COVID-19 Guidance
• Terra Onlus (Italy): Agire subito per tutelare la salute dei migranti costretti negli insediamentirurali informali e nei ghetti
• Terre des Hommes: Accelerate release of children from detention; Protect children from COVID-19
• UN AIDS: Sex workers must not be left behind in the response to COVID-19
• UNHCR: As COVID-19 pandemic continues, forcibly displaced children need more support than ever
• UN Human Rights: UN Human Rights Treaty Bodies call for human rights approach in fighting COVID-19
• UN Migration Network: COVID-19 Does Not Discriminate; Nor Should Our Response
• VICE: How Europe’s Pandemic Response Pushed Poor Migrant Workers Further Through the Cracks
• WHO, OHCHR, IOM, UNHCR joint press release: the rights and health of refugees, migrants and stateless must be protected in COVID-19 response