A new study has been published: "Illegal Employment of Third-Country Nationals: Situation Analysis 2017-2022"

A new study by the European Emigration Network (EMN) highlights the issue of illegal employment among third-country nationals (TCNs) in EMN Member Countries from 2017 to 2022.

Illegal employment of TCNs continues to be a top political concern. National debates have intensified around the impact of illegal employment on society, especially due to the COVID-19 pandemic and Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine. Since 2017, many EMN Member Countries have implemented significant legislative reforms, mainly targeting employer sanctions. For example, in 2021, Cyprus increased penalties for employers breaching labour rules, with the maximum punishment now being up to five years in prison and/or a fine of up to EUR 20 000. In 2018 Estonia increased fines tenfold for legal entities engaging in illegal employment practices.

Preventive measures, however, have largely remained the same since 2017, focusing on awareness-raising, mandatory notifications to authorities when employing TCNs,  compiling lists of unreliable employees or blacklisted employers. Key challenges in preventive measures include difficulties with monitoring and inspections, language barriers in communicating rights and obligations, and administrative obstacles, including data protection issues.

Between 2017 and 2022, all EMN Member Countries actively conducted on-site inspections to tackle the illegal employment of TCNs. Most countries integrated this effort into broader labour inspections. Increased yearly general labour inspections have been reported in six countries in the EMN: for instance, Greece's annual inspections increased in all sectors since 2017, with a 13% rise in 2022 compared to 2021. Other countries report success in finding more violations and hiring more inspectors. The increase in the number of labour inspectors on the ground in Luxembourg, from 22 in 2018 to 86 in 2021, significantly enhanced the detection of illegal employment of TCNs with twice as many cases detected in 2022 compared to 2021. 

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