Refugees

Migration

A migrant is someone who willingly moves from one country to another.
An immigrant is someone who moves into a country while an emigrant is someone who moves out of a country.
Immigration is moving to a country.
Emigration is moving from a country.
Push factors cause emigration and pull factors cause immigration.

Voluntary migration occurs when people want to move, mainly for better opportunities.
Usually takes place within the same state and municipality.
Nowadays mostly from rural to urban areas (urbanization).
Migrant worker or season worker moves abroad temporarily to work there.
Voluntary migration can sometimes lead to problems such as "brain drain", which occurs when educated people move away.
This can be harmful to the home country as it is an economic loss, due to the education being invested in those people being lost.

An asylum seeker is someone who wants/needs protection (asylum) and a right of residence in a country different from their home country.
They have not yet been granted asylum but have requested an application.
They are either granted asylum or told to return to their home country.
Asylum seekers often need to be in the territory of the country to apply for asylum which makes their situation difficult.
Some asylum seekers are granted residence permits on the basis of subsidiary protection, humanitarian protection and individual humanitarian grounds.

The UNHCR or United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees is responsible for handling refugees.
Refugees are asylum seekers that have been granted asylum and official refugee status.
They are recognized as a refugee by the UNHCR.
Refugees often leave their country due to fear or threat of persecution.
84% of the world's refugees seek refuge in developing countries near to the origin country, often in refugee camps.
According to the UNHCR there are around 80 million refugees who fled their homes due to persecution in 2020.
Countries have their own policies and offices for handling refugees.
In Finland they are placed in reception centers.
Asylum in Finland can only be applied for in the territory of Finland.

A quota refugee has been forced to flee from their home country and they can't remain in the country they have fled to.
They are granted refugee status by the UNHCR and thus they receive asylum from the quota, meaning there is no need to go through asylum seeking process.

Environmental or climate refugees are people who have been displaced from their home country due to serious environmental degradation.
They are not considered refugees under the Refugee Convention, thus cannot be granted refugee status.
This is because refugees are those who leave their homes due to conflict or threat of persecution.
Around half of the world's refugees are climate refugees.