Attracting skilled immigrants: An overview of recent policy developments in advanced countries 1

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Attracting skilled immigrants: 
An overview of recent policy developments in advanced 
countries
1
 
Giovanni Facchini 
School of Economics, University of Nottingham 
Elisabetta Lodigiani 
Ca’ Foscari, University of Venice 
 
Abstract 
In this paper we review the policies put in place by the main Western destination 
countries to attract highly skilled migrants. Two main systems can be identified. On the one 
hand, employer-driven schemes typically call for the migrant to meet a set of minimum skill 
requirements and to have a job offer before a work visa can be issued. On the other, 
employee driven schemes
 
typically do not require a job offer, and instead select the migrant 
based on a set of characteristics chosen by the policy maker. Employer driven schemes are 
the dominant policy tool in the sample of countries we consider in the analysis, and only 
Australia, Canada and New Zealand have made employee-driven schemes the mainstay of 
their skill selective immigration policy. The preliminary evidence we review suggests that the 
latter are more effective in increasing the skill level of the immigrant population, and casts 
doubts on the usefulness of new initiatives like the EU blue card that are still based on an 
employer driven system.
 
JEL: F 22, J61 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
1
The authors gratefully acknowledge financial support provided by the Miller Center at the 
University of Virginia.

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“Skilled labor migration into Europe boosts our competitiveness and therefore our 
economic growth. It also helps tackle demographic problems resulting from our ageing 
population. This is particularly the case for highly skilled labour. With today’s proposal for 
an EU Blue Card we send a clear signal: highly skilled immigrants are welcome in the EU!” 
Jose Manuel Barroso, 2007
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