Migration and Pandemics

The concern that travellers increase the risk of Covid-19 contagion was and still is legitimate. At the same time, border closures did not keep ‘everyone’ out, only those who were non-citizens or non-permanent residents. In some countries, like Canada, exceptions were made for temporary residents who effectively live in the country. Many EU countries (including, for instance, Spain, Portugal, Poland, and Germany) implemented blanket extensions of stay permits for all foreigners during spring 2020 to avoid people losing their legal status under the lockdown (EMN, 2020a). Similar measures were taken in Canada, Chile, Israel, and New Zealand, while Italy implemented a regularisation program with a view of providing status to illegally staying aliens working in agriculture and the care sector. Some countries implemented different facilitation procedures like allowing for online renewals of permits, as in the Netherlands, or automatically renewing the status of people who had lost it during the pandemic, as happened in Canada, until the end of 2020, to give them more time to gather necessary documents or fnd a new job or both (ibid.
[2021]

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