Immigration Policies in the Western World: Convergence or Divergence?

So far, it has been virtually impossible to trace general trends in migration policies across a large number of countries due to a lack of data. Various and sometimes contradicting arguments have therefore largely remained untested. While some argue that entry policies have become more restrictive others have observed liberalizing trends over the last decades. There are also unclear expectations concerning the divergence or convergence of regulations.  In this paper data from the Immigration Policies in Comparison (IMPIC) project will be analyzed. The database includes measures on immigration policies from 1980-2010 in all OECD states. Moreover, we are able to distinguish four different immigration policy fields: Family Reunification, Labor, Asylum and Irregular Immigration. We are therefore in the position to systematically analyze the development of migration policies across three decades and to differentiate between various groups of countries and policy domains. We are particularly interested in Europeanization effects. It is still disputed whether there are any converging effects in the field of immigration among EU member states. We find that the conditions and criteria to enter and stay in a country have become more liberal for labor migrants, asylum seekers and people joining their families. At the same time we however observe that more restrictive control mechanisms are put in place to help monitor whether regulations are adhered to and to prevent irregular migrants from entering a country.