Countries around the globe are faced with labour market imbalances, and migration can play a crucial role in alleviating these. While research has focused on the initial drivers of migration, the factors influencing retention in destination countries remain insufficiently understood. Launched in 2024, the International Mobility Panel of Migrants in Germany (IMPa) a new representative multi-cohort online panel survey among working-age migrants in Germany aims to address this knowledge gap. By tracking the same group of migrants over time, even as they may leave Germany, IMPa includes detailed information on transnational migration processes, including staying in Germany, onward migration, return migration and circular migration.

In doing so, IMPa has the potential to provide novel insights into the complex factors shaping migration and integration trajectories across space and time. The possibility of linking the survey data with administrative data sources, such as individual employment biographies, provides additional opportunities for studying the effects of migration on labour market outcomes and vice versa. By capturing the dynamic experiences of migrants in Germany and beyond, IMPa contributes to a better understanding of transnational migration processes and their implications for policy, research, and practice.

In this seminar, Yuliya Kosyakova will provide details on the survey design, implementation and key descriptive statistics of cohort 1, wave 1 (n=41,637) and wave 2 (n=15,263), and summarises lessons learnt throughout the process.