Algorithmic migration: How digitalisation and artificial intelligence are reshaping global mobility

Amrei Meier

No 11/2026, SWP Comments from Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik (SWP), German Institute for International and Security Affairs

Abstract: Digital and artificial intelligence (AI)-based systems now shape all phases of international migration - from the pre-screening of applications and profiles to border management and the integration of migrants. States, international organisations, and private providers use digital platforms, biometric systems, and algorithmic processes to manage migration in a more targeted way. At the same time, migrants themselves use digital tools to obtain information, prepare decisions, and secure access to work or support. This development is changing migration not only operationally but also structurally: It enables new forms of digital labour mobility, shifts power relations and dependencies, and embeds migration into a global data economy. For Germany and the European Union (EU), the question arises as to how digitalisation and AI can be shaped in terms of migration, foreign, and development policy so as to deliver efficiency gains in administration and procedures, without undermining data protection, equal treatment, and human-rights standards.

Keywords: global mobility; digitalisation; European Travel Information and Authorisation System (ETIAS); human-rights standards; Artificial Intelligence; migration; border management; integration; global data economy; Germany; European Union (EU) (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:zbw:swpcom:338259

DOI: 10.18449/2026C11

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