The objective of the project is to study the design and implementation of programs to hire foreign workers in their countries of origin that have been developed in Spain throughout the past decade through bilateral agreements and other migration management mechanisms. The study focuses on agreements between Spain and Senegal, Colombia, Morocco and Romania and workers with diverse training and skills in hotel services, agriculture and construction. These kinds of programs, presented as “best practices” in some international reports, have sparked academic and political debate, as well as theoretical reflection on the new approaches to regulating international mobility and the emphasis on circular migration (or on what has been denominated circular migration systems), which has been presented as an alternative to other regulation models because it produces the “desired effects”. In the EU, for example, this circularity has been linked to the creation of “mobility partnerships”. It should also be noted that over the past few years a new sensitivity and official discourse on the management of labor migrations has emerged. We are currently testing new formulas to manage labor immigration on an international scale.

This project will perform an in-depth analysis of these kinds of programs, including all of the public and private actors involved in Spain and in the various countries of origin. This explains the international makeup of the research group.

The general objectives of the project are:

1. To define the different forms of regulating labor mobility that have been employed by Spain over the past decade through mechanisms to hire foreign workers in their countries of origin.
2. To compile and evaluate the political and regulatory framework of circular migration.
3. To study the dimensions of the phenomenon through existing sources of statistics.
4. To explore the process from the perspective of the public and private actors involved in Spain and the countries of origin.