Giving Compass' Take:

• This report details the significant impact of COVID-19 on mobility structures and how best to navigate new safety guidance in the wake of the pandemic.

• How do new public health measures on mobility impact immigrants and refugees? Who will be most affected by changes to travel and migration?

• Read about the challenges and concerns of vaccine passports.


The COVID-19 pandemic has had an undeniable and wide-ranging impact on human mobility of all kinds—from travel for work or study to family reunification to refugee resettlement. More than 18 months since the first round of travel restrictions were introduced, it remains to be seen when and how fully these different forms of mobility will recover.

This report explores possible scenarios for what international mobility could look like in two to three years as an exercise to help national governments and international organizations think through the potential impacts of different policy choices and approaches to pandemic management. It also identifies critical questions to address in the coming months and years, such as: What tools should be used in conjunction with vaccines to safely reopen travel, given concerns that the uneven vaccine rollout will deepen existing inequalities in access to mobility? And how can countries better coordinate health screening requirements to minimize unnecessary duplication and costs to travelers?

Read the full report about global mobility in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic by Meghan Benton at Migration Policy Institute.