Abstract

The world has changed dramatically over the past few years, and the conflicts, climate changes ‎‎and ‎health crises like COVID-19 have become a major challenges of our time, and it is impossible to ‎ignore ‎their ‎effects. As migrants and refugees are among the social groups most affected in these ‎‎crises, where remittances play a vital socioeconomic role in economies around the world, especially ‎in ‎developing countries where they are the sole source of income for many households, and ‎according to ‎the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), “Egypt is the ‎fifth-largest ‎recipient of remittances in the world.‎

This paper aims to shed light on the repercussions of Covid-19 on International Migration, ‎‎Remittances, based on some international studies and reports, and then identify the ‎characteristics of ‎migration and remittances of Egyptians abroad, and which revealed the fragility of ‎Labour markets ‎and the difficulty of sustaining remittances due to health crisis.‎

This study uses the descriptive analytical and quantitative statistical approach, ‎to analyze data ‎and statistics related to immigration and cash transfers in Egypt, and then to identify the determinants ‎of the impact of the Covid-19 on migrants, using some statistical tests, for example: the multiple ‎regression model and the coefficient of determination and correlation to identify the direction of ‎the relationship under study. Moreover, the study uses (SWOT Analysis) to identify the strengths, ‎weaknesses, opportunities and challenges facing Egyptian immigrants in light of the COVID-19 ‎crisis. It based on the World Bank Reports, World Migration Reports, IOM Reports, Migration Data ‎Portal, International Labour Organization, and Central Bank of Egypt indicators.‎

The results of this study show that due to the higher incidence of poverty, housing conditions, ‎and high concentration in jobs where physical distancing is difficult, immigrants are at a much higher ‎risk of COVID‑19 infection than the native-born, Immigrants are potentially in a more vulnerable ‎position in the labour market due to their generally less stable employment conditions and lower ‎seniority on the job, which there is a negative impact on the labor market for immigrants and is ‎increasing more on the sectors most ‎affected by the pandemic, and the school closures and distance ‎learning measures put in place to slow the spread of COVID‑19 put children of immigrants at ‎a disadvantage in several ways.‎

The study recommends that the need to assess the situation of migrants and their children in ‎relation to health, employment and education to better identify issues and appropriate policy, with the ‎need to ensure that migrants have access to testing and treatment for COVID-19, and to ensure that ‎housing and employment conditions for migrants respect health standards in order to avoid the spread ‎of the virus, the data should be fit for purpose. This can challenges when working at this pace.‎