OECD countries, with the exception of Colombia and Turkey, together accepted about 5.3 million new permanent migrants in 2019. This represents a stable level compared to 2018. Flows to the United States and Germany (the top OECD receiving countries) continued to decrease, while in most other OECD countries flows tended to increase, notably in Spain and Japan.
Initial estimates of migration flows in 2020 suggest that the COVID‑19 pandemic has had a major impact on migration flows in the first half of the year, with the number of new residency permits granted to migrants down by 46% on average in the OECD. Part of the effect might be offset by a rise in flows during the second half of the year, notably for international students, but the current economic downturn will also most likely aggravate the impact on labour migration. Overall, 2020 is projected to be a historical low for international migration in the OECD area.
After two years of decrease, the number of asylum applications to OECD countries rebounded 11% in 2019, reaching 1.2 million. The number of asylum applications remained, however, much lower than the record highs of 2015 and 2016. About half of all asylum applications in the OECD were made in OECD European countries. More than 20% of all asylum seekers came from Afghanistan, Venezuela and Honduras, while asylum requests from Middle East countries were now at their lowest level since 2013‑14.
Partial data on the number of newly accepted refugees in OECD countries in 2019 showed an overall 25% drop. Permanent labour migration rose sharply (+13%) and family migration remained relatively stable.
Temporary labour migration, when a person migrates for limited time to do a specific job, continued to increase in 2018, reaching 5.1 million, compared with 4.8 million in 2017. Preliminary data indicate that this upward trend continued in 2019. Poland was the top temporary labour migration destination, followed by the United States. The main categories of labour migration were: posted workers within the EU/EFTA (1.7 million), working holidaymakers (475 000) and seasonal workers (323 000, not counting Poland). In 2018, more than 1.5 million visas were granted to tertiary-level students, 3% more than in 2017. Flows of tertiary-level students rose in 2019 as well, notably in Europe.