Coming to Europe to work from outside the EU is hard. Despite dramatic labour shortages across sectors and EU countries, work permits for non-EU workers are few and those that exist often leave workers at the mercy of exploitative employers.
This system doesn't work — neither for workers nor for Europe's labour market. This month, the EU has a chance to reform legislation to make work and residence permits more accessible, and uphold fairer working conditions for all.
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Silvia Carter is the advocacy officer for labour rights and labour migration at the Platform for Undocumented Migrants (PICUM), a network of organisations working to ensure social justice and human rights for undocumented migrants. She previously worked on migration and asylum policy in a Brussels-based think tank, at the European Parliament, and at the UN Refugee Agency.