When confronted with the challenge of managing travel during a pandemic, governments have introduced a range of policies. Among the very first of them have been border closures, or – at the very least – strict policing of cross-border movements, accompanied by health screening measures (see more in the interlinkage Border management and health during times of pandemic: Lessons from COVID-19).
Such restrictions and closures have had immediate flow-on consequences for processing, delivering and monitoring visas and residence permits. They have also required coordination between border control operations and health and sanitation dispositions. Longer-term impacts are not as easy to gauge, but some trends are already apparent. There are, for instance, clear indications that countries with traditionally large migration intakes will struggle to meet their programme targets or ceilings for some years to come. It is estimated that due to restrictions caused by the pandemic, Australia’s net overseas migration intake will plummet from 194,400 in 2019–20 to -96,600 in 2020–21 and -77,400 in 2021-2022 (Australian Government, Department of Home Affairs, 2021a; Australian Government, Treasury, 2021b. Only 184,000 new permanent residents entered Canada in 2020, just over 50 per cent of the 341,000 that was targeted at the beginning of the year (Agopsowicz, 2021). It is useful to note, however, that both countries have indicated their intention to build their numbers again quickly, once the COVID-19 crisis is over. The international education industry has been hit equally hard. Hundreds of thousands of students have had to put their studies on hold, while their host institutions grapple with unexpected financial shortfalls that, in turn, drag down national economies (Thatcher et al., 2020).
Governments have responded to these challenges in many different ways, but two broad and complementary approaches are discernible, both of which have implications for other sectors and, therefore, require joint efforts across government agencies (especially departments of the interior, migration, foreign affairs and health) and, where possible, between governments linked by international travel routes. The two approaches are:
- Suspension and/or strict restriction of visa issue or privileges of entry. These commonly target persons originating from known “hotspot” countries or areas, or – less frequently – nationals of specific countries, although the justification for the targeting in the latter may not always be readily apparent. These restrictions do not apply to returning citizens, since citizens are entitled to return home under international law, although they are generally required to undergo COVID-19 testing and/or quarantine. For non-citizens, there has been no uniformity of approach, with arrangements largely set up ad hoc to address particular needs or particular situations. In the case of Australia, for example, visas may be granted to foreign nationals with critical skills, military personnel or students in their final years of study. On the other side of the world, truck drivers have been exempted from the COVID-19 ban on cross-border travel between Canada and the United States to enable a continuing flow of goods between the two countries (Government of Canada, 2021). Numerous countries with a historic reliance on seasonal labour (Australia, Canada, Germany, Italy, Poland and the United Kingdom, to name a few) have also swiftly established temporary worker schemes to shore up agricultural activity during the pandemic (for more information, see the interlinkage Labour migration in times of pandemic: Lessons from COVID-19).
- Managing impacts on resident migrant populations. As a general rule, migrants with permanent rights of residence are afforded protections that are equivalent or comparable to those enjoyed by citizens. Temporary residents (and undocumented migrants, in particular) are often “trapped”, in effect, by the closure of borders and the expiry of their visas or residence permits. Without targeted support, migrants are likely to suffer from multiple vulnerabilities: in times of economic crisis, they are often among the first workers to be laid off, and even if they do not lose their jobs they may face salary cuts or non-payment of their wages altogether; they may also have to struggle against discrimination and xenophobia. Doing nothing is not an option, and governments have experimented with a wide range of possibilities. (See the interlinkage Labour migration in times of pandemic: Lessons from COVID-19.)
It should be remembered that the COVID-19 pandemic has confronted migration policymakers with challenges never encountered before, against a constantly evolving public health background. The situation has evolved considerably since the appearance of the virus on the global scene. It continues to change, often in unpredictable ways. In many countries there have been several cycles of rapid onset, successful mitigation and resurgence of transmission. From a migration management point of view, governments have little choice but to closely monitor what is happening and to adapt their policy responses.