As a report by Amrei Meier of the German think tank Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik (SWP) from February 2026 shows, states, international organizations, and private providers are using digital platforms, biometric systems, and algorithms for more precise migration management.
At the same time, migrants themselves are expected to use digital tools to obtain information, plan decisions, and find employment. This evolution is not only meant to streamline operations but to alter the structures of migration: promoting new forms of digital labor mobility, shifting power relations, and integrating migration into the global data economy.
The digitalization of migration is now visible at every stage of the migration process: from gathering information and submitting applications, through mobility and border crossing, to integration in the destination country and return. This creates new interfaces between government bodies, international organizations, technology companies, and civil society actors. Migration is increasingly embedded in transnational digital infrastructures that connect administration, control, and support.
According to the report, international migration is becoming increasingly digitally organized, the German think tank concludes. Throughout the migration process, digital identities, interoperable IT systems, automated verification procedures, and data analysis tools are employed. These systems do not replace formal state decisions but serve for analysis, pre-selection, and decision support, shifting political governance into preliminary technical structures.
In the face of a global shortage of skilled workers, growing mobility, and the need for efficient administration, many countries are turning to digital procedures to manage migration more selectively and reduce costs — for example, in visa issuance, recognition of qualifications, or labor market integration. In Germany, with the progressive digitalization of visa procedures and the planned digital Work-and-Stay agency, migration processes are increasingly digitally focused and partially automated. Digital migration governance is becoming a tool of economic competitiveness, security risk management, and foreign policy. What is lacking, however, is a coherent strategy that would integrate migration, foreign affairs, development, and digital objectives, and define the role of non-state actors providing key data- and AI-based applications.
The digitalization of migration is visible across the entire migration chain to Europe — from searching for information and submitting applications, through mobility and border crossing, to integration in the destination country and return. New interfaces are emerging between state authorities, international organizations, technology companies, and civil society. Migration is being embedded in transnational digital infrastructures linking administration, control, and support. At the European level, digital pre-selection is therefore growing in importance. The ETIAS (European Travel Information and Authorisation System), scheduled for the last quarter of 2026, will automatically cross-reference data from online applications (such as nationality, employment status) against other EU databases. Instead of officials, algorithms will assess security risks and reportedly categorize travelers before they reach the border. Migration governance is set to shift into preliminary decision-making spaces. German experts, however, do not address how this phenomenon relates to human rights and the rule of law.
Information gathering, applications, and pre-selection take place online and are partly automated. This facilitates access but amplifies the importance of standardized personal data, qualifications, and procedures. Distorted datasets, selective criteria, and limited corrections can discriminate against certain regions of origin, educational pathways, or professional biographies. It is worth emphasizing the historical context here: the 2015 migration crisis in Germany was not the result of uncontrolled processes but a conscious political decision by Angela Merkel's government, which opened borders to hundreds of thousands of refugees from Syria and other countries. This decision, motivated by humanitarian and economic considerations, demonstrated that migration is above all a political choice, not inevitable chaos. Today, invoking "anonymous algorithms" as the source of migration decisions often serves as an excuse, masking the true intentions of policymakers. Algorithms do not operate in a vacuum — they are programmed according to political priorities, and their "anonymity" conceals human responsibility.
[The author, Aleksandra Fedorska, is a journalist for Tysol.pl and numerous Polish and German media outlets]
[Title, lead, "What You Need to Know" and "What This Means for Poland?" sections by the Editorial Team]
