instruments in particular are at their disposal: (1) access control, (2) the
determination process and (3) migrant integration policy. Access control
policy refers to the rules and procedures governing the admission of
foreign nationals and its instruments include visa policy, regulations for
carriers, safe third country provisions, etc. Rules concerning
determination procedures relate to entry into a country's refugee
recognition system, appeal rights, and rules concerning protection that is
subsidiary to the rather narrowly defined Geneva Convention criteria for
full refugee status.19 Finally, integration policy is concerned with rights
and benefits given to asylum seekers inside a country of destination (e.g.
work and housing conditions, rules on freedom of movement, welfare
provisions, educational opportunities, etc.). Policy-makers can introduce
changes in the regulations in these three areas in an attempt to raise the
deterrence effect of their policy, which in turn is expected to make their
country less attractive to asylum seekers in relative terms.
The various above explanations of pull-factors for migrants and in
particular asylum seekers, are obviously not mutually exclusive. On their
own, as well as in combination, they can be expected to help explain why
asylum seekers apply for asylum more in some OECD countries than in
others. Individuals might engage in cost-benefit calculations that make
them choose richer countries with more employment opportunities over
poorer ones with fewer work opportunities; they might try to reduce risks
and costs by using existing networks; that might prefer a more liberal
country of destination over a less liberal one; they might be more likely to
end up in a country that is relatively closer to their country of origin; and
finally their decision might be affected by the relative asylum policy-mix of
different potential countries of destination. The purpose of this paper is
not to examine necessarily competing theories but to test the relative
strength of hypotheses that can be drawn from the above discussion of
different possible pull factors.
19 See definition in footnote 16 above.
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