Fragomen’s 2024 Worldwide Immigration Trends Report Finds Restrictive Immigration Policies Waning to Alleviate Talent Shortages

NEW YORK – January 8, 2024 – Fragomen, the world’s leading provider of immigration services, today released its 2024 Worldwide Immigration Trends Report, which outlines the key factors impacting today’s global workforce, national and multinational companies and world economies.

“Through deep data-driven analysis, our comprehensive report aims to encourage important conversations about the role of immigration and mobility on economic prosperity, foreign talent and global competitiveness,” said Scott Leeb, Fragomen’s Chief Knowledge Officer. “This year, we examine the impact of varying immigration policies on skills and labor shortages, demographic challenges and ongoing economic hardships. Additionally, we focus on upcoming trends and offer a roadmap for employers to maximize opportunities while minimizing risk.”

Fragomen’s report highlights the following key themes:

• Continued decline of restrictive immigration policies, with outliers in some countries and anticipation of election impact. Though some countries are keeping pandemic-era restrictive immigration policies in place, restrictive policies in general have waned to counter the economic downturn. It remains to be seen whether the results of key national elections around the world in 2024 bring about immigration policies to further alleviate worker and skills shortages, or if governments will instead choose to protect their domestic workforces.
• Current demographic and skills mismatch presents challenges in the global competition for talent. Although many countries boast low unemployment rates, many job positions—some in crucial industries such as healthcare—are going unfilled at record levels due to several factors, including workers leaving and aging out of the workforce, fewer graduates to fill needed positions, lack of necessary tech skills and restrictive immigration policies.
• Governments are embracing digitalization and innovating to stay ahead, but concerns surrounding AI remain. Digital transformation continues to pick up pace around the world. Governments are investing in sophisticated systems and focusing on the crucial step of interoperability of online systems among departments to increase efficiency and compliance. With increased adoption of AI in immigration processes, governments will also need to address the accompanying risks and ethical dilemmas.
• Formation of strategic partnerships between governments and universities could help reduce skills shortages. Despite a healthy post-pandemic bounce back in many labor markets, four out of five employers globally are reporting difficulty finding the skilled talent they need—a 17-year high. To combat these shortages, educational institutions must collaborate with governments on strategies to attract and maintain talent. Institutions that take an active role in helping employers and governments fill the talent gaps will likely also benefit by being seen as an attractive choice for international students.
• As more companies look to nearshoring, immigration practices will have to catch up. A number of countries already serve as major nearshoring destinations and as more companies look to this option to secure their supply chains against geopolitical events, governments will have to contend with many immigration implications and look to new initiatives to meet demand.

The annual Worldwide Immigration Trends Report is authored by Fragomen’s Knowledge Group in collaboration with key internal stakeholders. It leverages the firm’s unparalleled expertise and reach and coupled with the customized guidance from Fragomen’s professionals, provides value to employers who seek to better understand current and emerging immigration trends. The firm also authors regular supplemental reports with insights into emerging trends and issues.

About Fragomen

Fragomen is a leading firm dedicated to immigration services worldwide. The firm has 6,000 immigration professionals and support staff in more than 60 offices across the Americas, EMEA and Asia Pacific. A member of the Am Law 100 and Am Law Global 100, Fragomen offers immigration support in more than 170 countries. Fragomen’s professionals are respected leaders in the immigration field, and the firm is regularly recognized as a leading employer of minority and female attorneys.

The firm supports all aspects of global immigration for corporate, academic, nonprofit, and individual clients, including strategic planning, quality management, reporting, case management and processing, compliance program counseling, representation in government investigations, government relations, complex matter solutions, and litigation.

Fragomen is a long-time leader in the immigration technology space and continues to lead the way in the digitization of the immigration journey. Fragomen Technologies Inc., a Fragomen subsidiary, focuses on the nexus of law and technology to further enhance the firm’s productivity, efficiency, innovation and overall technology offering.

These capabilities allow Fragomen to work in partnership with individuals and corporate clients across all industries to plan talent strategy, facilitate the transfer of employees worldwide, and navigate complex challenges. For detailed information about Fragomen, click here.

Media Contacts:

Ela Friel, Communications & Public Relations Director
+1 301 785 4306
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Alison Swenton Arjoon, Chief Marketing & Business Development Officer
+1 732 637 2507
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