What Is Immigration Policy For?

A deeply researched look at the debate around immigration policy, and possible paths forward.

Does political rhetoric on immigration policy match what is actually happening on the ground? Why do well-intentioned plans fail? Could immigration policy be done better?

This book explores what immigration policy seeks to achieve and why so many people end up unhappy with the outcome. Drawing on decades of research and examples from high-income countries around the world, it exposes the unavoidable trade-offs governments face, and the impacts of their choices on people and communities.

It reveals how we got here, why the policy challenge is so difficult, and how we get to a better place.

Author Biography

Madeleine Sumption is the Director of the Migration Observatory at the University of Oxford, which provides impartial analysis of migration in the UK. Since 2016, she has been a member of the Migration Advisory Committee, an independent panel that advises the UK Government on migration. She also chairs the National Statistician’s advisory panel on migration statistics. Madeleine has a PhD in Public Policy from the University of Maastricht. In 2017, she received an MBE for services to social science.