About

Governments worldwide engage in a variety of treaties to regulate the movement of people, which either impose restrictions or make mobility easier. However, the treaties facilitating movement are not properly categorized. Instead, scholars and policymakers often pile them up under the wider umbrella of free movement. Following the adoption of the Global Compact for Migration (GCM), it has become necessary to carefully distinguish between three categories – free movement regimes (FMRs), visa liberalization regimes (VLRs), and labor mobility schemes (LMS). The Freemove project, funded by the Open Society Foundations, is the first one ever to comprehensively map, analyze, and compare all bilateral and multilateral free movement of people regimes at the global level. This website presents the result of this effort which is led by Professor Diego Acosta and the work of Dr Luuk van der Baaren as Senior Researcher. Users can access information about each regime, see how they have evolved over the last 30 years, compare them with others, and assess trends in this crucial area which affects the rigths of millions of people in situations of human mobility.

Any use of the information available on this website can be cited as: Diego Acosta and Luuk van der Baaren (2024), Freemove Project. Free Movement Regimes Dataset: Indicators on entry, residence, rights, and security of residence, www.freemovehub.com

The Team

Coordinators

  • Prof. Diego Acosta

    Principal Investigator
    Prof. Diego Acosta Dr. Diego Acosta is a Professor of Migration Law at the University of Bristol. He has written extensively on free movement regimes, as well as on international and comparative migration law. Prof. Acosta has also provided advisory services to several governments and regional organizations on the topic of the free movement of people, including in Africa, Europe, and South America.

  • Dr. Luuk Van Baaren

    Senior Researcher
    Dr. Luuk Van Baaren Luuk van der Baaren is a legal researcher whose work focuses on citizenship and international migration law. He specialises in comparative law and empirical legal studies. He is currently a Max Weber Fellow at the European University Institute. He obtained his PhD degree in Law in 2020 at the University of Liège and Maastricht University. He is on leave from Copenhagen University, where he is based as a postdoctoral researcher at the DNRF Center of Excellence for Global Mobility Law (MOBILE). Previously, he worked as a researcher for the Global Citizenship Observatory at the European University Institute where he was responsible for developing global comparative datasets on citizenship law.

Regional Experts

  • Ignacio Odriozola

    Researcher
    Ignacio Odriozola Ignacio Odriozola is a PhD candidate in international law at the Geneva Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies and a legal assistant at the United Nations International Law Commission.
    He has worked as a legal officer at the Migrant Commission of the Defensoría General de la Nación, in Argentina, and at the IACHR (OAS), in the United States. He is a lawyer and lecturer at undergraduate and postgraduate level at the University of Buenos Aires and holds a Master's degree in Migration and Mobility Studies from the University of Bristol.

  • Paula Nimbriotis

    Researcher
    Paula Nimbriotis Paula Nimbriotis is a PhD Candidate in International Law and Migrations at Universidad de Nebrija. She is enrolled as a researcher in the Cátedra Global Nebrija-Santander in Migrations and Human Rights. Her research is based on the free movement of people regimes in the Global South, in particular of the Andean Community (CAN). As well, she holds an Erasmus Mundus Master's Degree in Women's and Gender Studies granted by Universidad de Oviedo (Spain) and University of Lódź (Poland), and a B.A. in Political Science and International Relations with a minor in Social Development. 

  • Patricia Ouma

    Researcher
    Patricia Ouma Patricia Ouma is a PhD Candidate at the Europa Institute in Leiden University researching on
    the role of executive institutions in realising regional objectives in the envisaged East African
    Political Confederation. She is also the Africa Regional Coordinator at CompaRe, the Leiden Jean Monnet Centre of Excellence on Comparative Regional Integration. Additionally, she is a member of the African International Economic Law Network. Patricia has research and teaching experience in Comparative Regional Integration Law and International Economic Law. She holds an LL.M in International Business Law from Catholic University of Lyon, France, and an LL.B from the University of Nairobi, Kenya. Patricia is also an advocate of the High Court of Kenya, with experience in commercial litigation.

  • Amanda Bisong

    Researcher
    Amanda Bisong Amanda Bisong is a Policy Officer in the migration and mobility team of the European Centre for Development Policy Management (ECDPM), a think tank based in Maastricht, The Netherlands and Brussels, Belgium. She has a background in Law and Master’s degrees in International Law and Economics (World Trade Institute) and International Trade Policy and Trade Law (Lund University).

    She has over 10 years of policy implementation and research experience in international law, development, migration, and trade. She has also worked and liaised with political representatives at the national, regional, and continental levels.

    She has written several articles and op-eds on free movement policies in Africa, linking the African Continental Free Trade Agreement and labour mobility with the AU free movement protocol.

  • Mariem El Gazzah

    Researcher
    Mariem El Gazzah Mariem El Gazzah is an international development and policy professional with experience in governance, migration and development programming across the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. She holds a Bachelor's degree in Government and International Politics and a Master’s degree in Public Policy from George Mason University.
    Mariem’s experience includes policy research, data analysis, and international development work through supporting civil society initiatives in fragile and conflict-affected areas of the MENA region.
    She has contributed to the Migrant Rights Initiative at Cornell Law School, where she researched international migrant protection frameworks, migration patterns and policies, and governance systems in the MENA region and Central Africa.
    Mariem is particularly interested in the intersection of policy, development, and human rights issues, with a focus on refugees.
     

  • Dr Sherzod Eraliev

    Researcher
    Dr Sherzod Eraliev Sherzod Eraliev is a senior researcher at the Sociology of Law Department, Lund University, and Aleksanteri Institute, University of Helsinki. He is a principal investigator of several research projects on migration in both universities. Sherzod has published on migration, informality, and authoritarianism in the broader Eurasian context. He has also work experience in humanitarian and development organisations.

  • Mia Bridle

    Researcher
    Mia Bridle Mia Bridle is a PhD candidate at the Andrew & Renata Kaldor Centre of International Refugee Law at the University of New South Wales, Sydney. Their research seeks to understand what insights a data-driven analysis of consistency in decision-making can provide for understanding, assessing and improving the fairness of refugee status determination in Australia. Mia currently works as a Research Assistant at the Kaldor Centre Data Lab and as a Teaching Fellow at UNSW Law & Justice, and has experience as a Research Officer at the Australian Human Rights Commission. Holding a BSc in Advanced Mathematics and an LLB from the University of Sydney, Mia is passionate about utilising data analysis to increase institutional accountability and access to justice.
     
     

  • Dr Andi Hoxhaj O.B.E.

    Researcher
    Dr Andi Hoxhaj O.B.E.Dr Andi Hoxhaj, O.B.E is a Lecturer in Law at King’s College London. He is also the author of a book entitled “The EU Anti-Corruption Policy: A Reflexive Governance Approach (Routledge, 2020”) and has published several peer-reviewed articles in leading academic journals on the Western Balkans. Dr Hoxhaj regularly contributes to the international media, and he has provided expert evidence to the EU Parliament on the rule of law and human rights (2025), and to UK Parliamentary committees on the Western Balkans (2024). He has received a number of awards and recognitions, including the “British Academy Rising Star Award in 2018”, and The King Charles III in the New Year Honours List 2024, awarded Dr Hoxhaj “the Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (OBE)” in recognition of his work and contribution to UK-Albania relations.