What commercial flight data can tell us about irregular migration

Summary:

When discussing immigration, we often categorize migrants into two groups: those who follow legal pathways (regular) and those who enter a country through clandestine means (irregular). However, there exists a third, less recognized category known as overstayers.

These individuals initially arrive in a country with a valid visa but stay beyond the authorized period. Typically, this occurs with short-term tourist visas, which allow stays of up to 90 days. A pioneering study of the early 2000s, the CLANDESTINO project, claimed that, in fact, most irregular migrants in Europe were those who overstayed their visas rather than being smuggled across borders.

Despite their significance, overstayers remain largely overlooked in migration studies. But new research through the MirreM project looking at commercial flight data helps to shed some light on overstayers in Europe. Below, we talk about how we used this data and what we can learn about overstayers from the analysis.