Institute of Sociology NASU

Continuous data-gathering system on migrants: a critical review

stmm. 2024 (3): 169-182

DOI https://doi.org/10.15407/sociology2024.03.169

Full text: https://stmm.in.ua/archive/ukr/2024-3/12.pdf

VOLODYMYR HNATIUK, Doctor of Philosophy in Political Science, Research Fellow at the International Institute of Education, Culture and Relations with Diaspora, Lviv Polytechnic National University (12, Stepana Bandery St., Lviv, 79013)

v.v.hnatiuk@gmail.com

http://orcid.org/0000-0002-2608-659X

The investigation examines the continuous system as one of the two most common forms of migrant data-gathering today. The system is defined as a set of tools that obtains migration data on changes in the registration of the place of previous residence within the country or immigration record, including the total number of individuals entering or leaving the country and the type of visa issued to them. The strengths of the continuous system are noted, which lie in its ability to generate data on a regular basis and be useful to the authorities at the national level during the management of migration challenges and forecasting of various processes. The factors that influence the rejection of this data-gathering form today are highlighted, such as: 1) difficulty of conducting a comparative analysis between countries; 2) blurring of the entry category, which makes its unification problematic; 3) issues with monitoring of persons with unsettled (legal) status; 4) lack of recording of undocumented individuals in the continuous record of migrants; 5) system bias in focusing on emigration, ignoring the dimension of immigration. The idea about the lower level of use of the continuous system in our time due to the need for large financial resources, technological support, real agreement and coordination of joint actions between the governments of national states is substantiated as an unlikely scenario, taking into account the political, economic, cultural and social, etc. differentiation in the world. Attention is paid to the issue of prospects for the implementation of a continuous data-gathering system in the future based on the analysis of recent research and changes in the status of migration in the context of sustainable development. It is emphasized that, given the current challenges, the form will be used in the future, continuously recording data on displaced persons, but not claiming primacy in the process of systematizing information on global flows of migrants.

Keywords: migration data; continuous data-gathering system; migrant; migration

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Received 14.06.2024