Projects

Welcoming Talent

My Inaugural lecture as Professor of European Migration Law at the Faculty of Law, Radboud University Nijmegen was held on 2 July, 2020.

Welcoming Talent Material conditions for admission Rights Procedural Fairness Institutional Design Facilitating Trajectories to stay
Tesseltje de Lange

Projects with Others

My work aims to contribute to dignified working and living conditions for all workers, especially immigrant workers, irrespective of their skill-levels or migration status, with or without legal residence.

Current projects

  • Horizon Europe Project: Global Strategy for Skills, Migration, and Development (2024-2027)

    Visit gs4s.eu for more information.

  • Horizon Europe Project: Dignity For Irregular Migration Workers (2023-2026)

    Explore the project at dignityFIRM.eu.

    You can watch the webinar here.

  • Kansen & Knelpunten van Arbeidsmigratie als Oplossing voor Arbeidsmarkttekorten, Instituut Gak Funded (2023-2027)

    Learn about Opportunities and Barriers of Labour Migration

    Watch the project teaser here.

  • Policy Coherence for Development in Legal Migration Pathways to the EU (2024)

    Check out the research from the European Parliament Research Services on LinkedIn.

Concluded projects

  • Arbeidsmigranten in de Frontlinie (2020-2023, ZOnMW Funded)

    Investigated the effects of COVID-19 measures on labour migrants in crucial sectors.

    • Project Page: Labour Migrants in the Frontline.
    • Publications:
      • Berntsen, L., Anita, B., Lange, T. De, & Mantu, S. (2022). State of care for EU mobile workers’ rights in the Dutch meat sector in times of, and beyond, Covid-19. International Journal of Sociology and Social Policy. Read the article.

  • EU Legal Migration Package Study (2022)

    Conducted with the Odysseus Network at the request of the European Parliament Research Centre.

    • Publications:
      • De Lange, T., Guild, E., Brandl, U., Tsourdi, L., Hardiek, S., Kruijff, J., & Honsukova, V. (2022). The EU legal migration package. Towards a rights-based approach to attracting skills and talent to the EU (EPRS) December. Read the full report.

  • Trade Commitments and Immigration Rules Study (2021)

    At the request of the European Commission, we conducted a study on trade commitments and immigration rules, in cooperation with Jo Antoons and her team at Fragomen, which resulted in this report:

    • Publications:
      • Lange, T. de, Tans, S.J. & Azhar, A. (2021). The Interaction Between EU Trade Commitments and Immigration Rules in EU Member States. Read the full report.

  • Migrant Entrepreneurship Research, University of Amsterdam, Instituut Gak Funded (2019)

    This research features 91 entrepreneurial migrants and Dutch nationals with a migrant background. Peer-interviewers conducted life story interviews. For example, we spoke with a Polish accountant, a Syrian hairdresser, an American yoga instructor, a Ghanaian-Dutch photographer and a Moroccan Dutchman as an Uber driver. They work as self-employed entrepreneurs, or as both self-employed and salaried, to make ends meet, to be free from discrimination in the workplace, to pursue ambitions, to contribute to Dutch society or, simply because it is the only way for them to get a residence permit in the Netherlands. The research is about the experiences of these entrepreneurial migrants and refugees with law and practice. What works, and what doesn’t, for entrepreneurial migrants?

    • Publications:
      • De Lange, T., Berntsen, L., Hanoeman, R., & Haidar, O. (2021). Highly Skilled Entrepreneurial Refugees: Legal and Practical Barriers and Enablers to Start Up in the Netherlands. International Migration, 59(4), 74-87. Read the article.
      • Berntsen, L., de Lange, T., Kalaš, I., & Hanoeman, R. (2022). Migrant Entrepreneurship Enablers: From Chance Encounters to Community Development. Work, Employment and Society, 36(2), 271-289. Read the article.

  • Migrant Workers in Low-Waged Jobs (2014-2018, Tilburg University, Instituut Gak Funded)

    Despite attempts by the Dutch government to counter and discourage illegal residence, there are people living in the Netherlands without a residence permit. However, little is known about how they survive, live and work in the Netherlands. Although their residence is non-legal, this does not mean that migrants without residence permits have no rights. On the contrary. This book connects laws and regulations at the national and international level with the socio-economic reality of this vulnerable group of migrants. Based on unique empirical material, this study shows the discrepancy between the rights as workers, as patients or as residents, and demonstrates the absence of protection in daily practice. The book concludes with an exploration of options for improving the vulnerable position of migrants without residence permits in the Netherlands.

    • Publications:
      • Tesseltje de Lange & Mijke Houwerzijl, Guest Editorial (2015), International Journal of Comparative Labour Law and Industrial Relations, 31(4), 351-355. Read the article.
      • C. Rijken & T. de Lange (Eds.) (2018), Towards a Decent Labour Market for Low Waged Migrant Workers. Read the book.
      • L. Berntsen, T. de Lange & C. Rijken Migranten zonder Verblijfsvergunning. Rechten en sociaaleconomische positie in Nederland. Read the book.
      • Recent Book Chapter: Lange, T. de (2023). Blurring Legal Divides: The EU Employer Sanctions Directive and its Implementation in the Netherlands. In Migrant Labour and the Reshaping of Employment Law (pp. 189-201). London: Bloomsbury. Read the book.

  • Labour Market Integration of Refugees in the Netherlands, University of Amsterdam, Instituut Gak Funded (2017)

    Since the publication of the book, the topic has kept me busy. In November 2023 the highest administrative court found a point we made in the 2017 book to be correct: The Dutch practice to restrict labour market access of asylum seekers in the Netherlands is not in accordance with the EU Reception Conditions Directive. The decision followed from multiple studies, a petition and a campaign set up by Ben & Jerry’s for which they won a YouTube Award for impact.

    This project is about the labour market integration of refugees in the Netherlands: Van azc naar een baan (From reception centre to work; University of Amsterdam, 2017, Instituut Gak funded, with Elles Besselsen, Soumaya Rahouti and Conny Rijken). Read more about the project.