Who is involved in displaced talent mobility programs?

Many groups collaborate to make transformative outcomes possible. Here’s an overview of who can help displaced talent connect with international employment opportunities and migrate safely to a new home.

Table of Contents

Displaced Talent

The term ‘displaced talent’ refers to any person with employable skills who has been displaced from their country. Displaced talent are involved in every step of the labour mobility process, from recruitment and visa submission to relocation and integration into the workplace and the community. Individuals decide whether or not to compete for potential jobs and whether or not to accept an offer of international employment and migration. By continually investing in their skills, displaced talent increase their competitiveness for international jobs.

Employers

Employers play a central role in refugee labour mobility. Many employers already recruit workers from abroad and sponsor their relocation to a destination country. By integrating displaced talent into their recruitment strategies, employers can open up much-needed opportunities to a larger pool of qualified applicants while also filling critical positions.Unlike many other solutions for refugees, labour mobility is employer-led. This means that employers, not humanitarian organizations, decide whether or not to proceed with a job offer to any given individual. Employers make the decision to hire on the basis of their talent needs.

Governments

Typically, two governments are involved in any given refugee labour mobility process.

1. The “source country government”

The “source country,” often referred to as the country of asylum or host country, is the country that hosts the displaced person after they have fled their country of origin. Displaced talent may have formally sought asylum in the source country, or they may hold another regular or irregular legal status. In order to successfully depart, displaced people will usually need to secure exit permission or complete other administrative procedures in the source country.

2. The “destination country government”

Destination country governments play a number of essential roles in refugee labour mobility. They design the policy settings for immigration, in particular for work permits for international workers. They make decisions about when and how accommodations or adjustments will be made to visa programs in order to address barriers that affect displaced talent, and they process individual immigration and work permit applications. They also establish the environment within which refugees will be received into the community, including settlement support and social services provided to workers and their families. 

While many civil society groups actively partner with and advocate to governments on policy design, ultimately, it is governments that set the rules on when and how permission to migrate will be granted.You can learn more about governments currently involved in refugee labour mobility by visiting the refugee labour mobility visa programs section of this site.

Labour mobility practitioners 

A variety of  organizations help make it possible for displaced talent to connect with international jobs. These organizations include UN agencies, International Non-Government Organisations (INGOs), local and community-based NGOs, Refugee-Led Organizations (RLOs) and recruitment organizations. They can generally be grouped into two core functions: 

1. Outreach organizations (or referral organizations)

Outreach organizations help spread awareness about labour mobility in their networks.

Outreach organizations working with displaced people spread information within their communities about opportunities for displaced people to move internationally for work. They do so using a wide variety of methods, from in-person events to digital information campaigns, and usually tailor their approach to the unique context in which they work. The goal of an outreach organization is to encourage displaced talent to sign up to the Talent Catalog in order to make their skills visible to employers around the world. 

See how to conduct outreach to displaced people.

Outreach organizations working with employers inform employers about labour mobility pathways and encourage employers to consider hiring displaced people from international talent pools. See how to identify and pitch employers.

2. Managing organizations

Managing organizations work directly with displaced talent and/or employers to make sure every step of the recruitment, visa processing, and relocation processes runs smoothly.

Talent-facing organizations

Many organizations work primarily with displaced talent in “source” countries. These organizations reach out to, identify and prepare displaced talent for international labour mobility opportunities. These are referred to throughout the site as “Talent-facing organizations”.

Employer-facing organizations

Other organizations work primarily with employers in “destination” countries. They reach out to, identify and prepare international employers to hire and sponsor displaced talent. These are referred to throughout the site as “Employer-facing organizations.”

Talent-facing and employer-facing organizations often work together, bringing their respective geographic and functional expertise to the table to help employers and displaced talent successfully connect.

In some instances, a single organization can take on the responsibilities of talent-facing and employer-facing organizations and work directly with displaced talent and employers.

Service Providers

Service providers are organizations that provide support for displaced talent mobility, often on a contractual basis. In many instances the employer or destination country government(s) will fund service providers. Examples of service providers include legal services providers, English and other skills testing agencies, relocation companies, medical screening service providers, travel booking services, and settlement agencies.

Some service providers have oriented their services to specifically meet the needs of displaced talent. For example, Fragomen, the world’s largest law firm specializing in skilled migration, has developed particular expertise in supporting businesses to sponsor refugees through displaced talent mobility programs. 

Donors

When people move internationally for a job, employers typically pay a significant portion of the costs associated with recruitment, visa filing, and relocation. As a result, labour mobility is well-positioned to be a sustainable process.  

Because efforts to support refugees to move internationally for work are new and growing, donors play an important role in supporting programs and creating the initial infrastructure needed to demonstrate the potential and impact of this solution. This group includes philanthropic donors, multilateral and government donors.  By supporting referral organizations, managing organizations, and displaced talent, donors are making refugee labour mobility a viable option for growing numbers of people.

To learn the responsibilities of each group, please visit roles and responsibilities.