Introduction

The political ‘discourse’ on political refugees overshadows and blocks unemotional (not to use the word ‘rational’) thinking on a topic that is closely related but significantly different, that of economic migration. In discussions on refugees I hear many a participant speak derogatory about (the rights of) economic migrants. I am an economic migrant: four times in my life I crossed a border seeking a better life, three times for professional reasons, one time for love, never in fear of persecution. When I speak to current students a semester or study abroad is normal for them, of course this is also a form of economic migration. There are only two relevant distinctions between these individuals and a typical sub-Saharan African ‘refugee’ – indeed, skin color is not one of them – a European nationality and an on-point professional education, to which I also count language skills. Below an argument will be delivered not focusing on historical evidence about the benefits of migration in the past but on the current need to facilitate these flows of individuals. For their benefit but also for our own.

Problems

First, in The Netherlands there is a lack of dentists, plumbers, welders, technicians, teachers, policemen, care takers, nurses and so on. The Dutch government even publishes a list of difficult to fulfill positions. Unemployment is at an all-time low, so activation of the unemployed will not bring much relief here. With the baby boom retiring there is plenty of data predicting that this dire need will only increase. From a purely theoretical perspective, there are several solutions possible:

• Increase fertility
• Increase mortality for the retired
• Increase retirement age
• Increase productivity
• Increase immigration.

Given the obvious non-immediacy, immorality or impossibility of the first four, only the last one remains – even with all of its difficulties – the only one that is anywhere close to feasible.

Second, the operational aspect of immigration is often underexposed: speaking to people ‘in the field’ I hear that not only when refugee centers are opened a lot of societal unrest is created, also when these same centers are closed the same phenomenon occurs. (Unclear whether from the same individuals.) From a purely managerial perspective it is clear that the COA (Central Refugee Agency) needs a certain minimum volume of work to maintain a core staff and facilities, in order to upscale in times of crisis. Or, the Refugee organization needs a certain minimum number of individuals to process to maintain (both a career perspective and employment stability for) professional staff.

Third, media reported that a Vietnamese woman that died in a truck had paid 35.000 dollar to get illegally to the UK. An Afghan acquaintance in Germany told me that his nephew had loaned 4.000-5.000 from a loan shark, who would break his bones if the steep interest would not be paid on time and in full, so in effect significantly more. The mere absence of a legal title increased the price of a trip with several thousands of dollars, several months of time and significant lethal risks.

Fourth, currently refugees and immigrants are not allowed to work while they are in refugee shelters. That means that mainly boys, mainly in their early twenties, are forced to be idle even though they are willing to work. As a man I can assure you that as an idle boy in my twenties I would have been up to no good in such a situation. And just imagine what this means for the development of their work ethic. Furthermore, the best way to integrate is to work, it develops language skills and social cohesiveness facilitating further integration.

Solutions

Taking all of these issues into consideration, we could consider the following solution directions:

From the moment a refugee or immigrant has been registered in our country they are allowed to work in specified jobs where they do not displace Dutch nationals. Those specified jobs are to be defined, but could be jobs in mainly government-paid institutions or those difficult-to-fulfill jobs. If the immigrant finds such a job and obtains a contract, he obtains a longer residency permit. The duration of the procedure is the responsibility of the COA, the more time the COA takes, the longer the immigrant has the option to find work. One of the requirements should be that the identity (and nationality) of the refugee or immigrant is known to ensure the possibility of extradition in case of lawbreaking or no job-finding. Not being an expert in the field I do not dare to predict, however, having a little bit of experience in managing people I dare to expect a decrease in crime and societal undesired behavior by those refugees and immigrants allowed to work.

Also, apparently foreigners are willing to invest heavily in getting their best and brightest into Western Europe. This resembles how Western-Europeans pay for their best and brightest to study abroad as well. With those thousands of dollars the equivalent families outside of Europe can gather, we could select workers abroad, have them pay for the regular (open return) plane ticket themselves and live in a refugee shelter seeking jobs. This way the COA could also house immigrants and ensure their minimum capacity. A nice side effect is that this option would provide competition to human traffickers, whose illegal 5.000 dollar-and-up option would seem overpriced compared to the legal variant.

Of course, the two possible solutions above are only described high over, both will encounter many a difficulty in detailing them out. Still, they do provide a pragmatic way forward, where one solution may solve two problems at the same time.