This publication brings together a selection of the papers delivered at the seminar on “Preventing and combating the employment of foreigners in an irregular situation”. This seminar, held in The Hague, was an important step in the work that the OECD has been carrying out since 1995 on illegal immigration in OECD countries, particularly in relation to the labor market and the various programs aiming at regularizing foreigners in an irregular situation.
The main objectives of the seminar were to analyze the economic and political challenges posed by illegal immigration, to examine and compare the measures taken by OECD countries against the employment of foreigners in an irregular situation, and to evaluate their results. The seminar deliberately focused on the employment of foreigners in an irregular situation, even though the issue of illegal immigration also obviously includes border control and the fight against the networks of traffickers that facilitate illegal immigration.