Facts and Figures
Population (2017)
1.4 billion
Net Migration Rate (2015-2020)
-0.23 migrants/ 1,000 population
Personal Remittances (2017)
USD 28.7 billion
Women as a Percentage of Immigrants (2017)
38.6%
View All

In the People's Republic of China (PRC), the International Organization for Migration (IOM) began its operations in 2007, when the IOM Liaison Office in China officially opened in Beijing. After having held observer status since 2001, on 30 June 2016, China officially became IOM’s 165th member state, opening a new chapter of cooperation. In the same year, IOM Beijing officially became Country Office assuming oversight functions over its Sub-Office in Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR) of the PRC, where IOM has been operational since 1952, as well as for its Country Office in Mongolia, overseen by the IOM Chief of Mission for China and Mongolia based in Beijing.

In the past decades, China has increasingly become a source and a destination country for migrants from all over the world: in 2017, there were 10 million Chinese migrants living and working overseas, and approximately a million international migrants registered in China. These growing migration flows bring with them cases of irregular migration from and into China. To respond to an increasingly mobile population, China has taken steps to engage in international migration governance by strengthening regional and international cooperation on migration issues. In December 2018, China supported the adoption of the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration (GCM).

With China becoming a prominent actor in global migration debates, IOM’s work in the country touches nearly every aspects of migration from facilitating human mobility to preventing and combating irregular migration and human trafficking. Main areas of work include:

  • Immigration and Border Management: IOM supports the Chinese government to enhance immigration and border management-related structures, policy and operational systems in order to respond more effectively to border challenges and to institute good migration governance. Under the EU-funded “EU-China Dialogue on Migration and Mobility Support Project Phase II” (MMSP II), which follows a successful first phase implemented since 2015, IOM is improving knowledge and cooperation on immigration and border management to contribute to better management of regular migration and mobility between the EU and China, and organizing trainings and workshops to enhance the capacity of Chinese and EU Member States’ officials to better detect, prevent and combat irregular migration, including smuggling of migrants and human trafficking.
  • Migrant Protection and Assistance: In China, IOM has undertaken various counter-trafficking activities to assist the implementation of China’s Second National Plan of Action to Combat Trafficking for the period 2013-2020. In particular, IOM supports the Government of China’s efforts to prevent and respond to human trafficking including provision of assistance to trafficked persons, both in China mainland and in Hong Kong and Macau SARs, China. IOM has also provided support for assisted voluntary return and reintegration of vulnerable migrants from and to China.
  • Labour Migration and Human Development: Recognizing the potential of the private sector as a driver of change, IOM has increasingly engaged with private enterprises that employ migrant workers to promote ethical recruitment and decent work practices. In line with IOM’s Private Sector Partnership Strategy 2016-2020, CREST Operational Framework and IRIS principles, IOM through its Sub-Office in Hong Kong SAR of the PRC implements a number of programs aimed at promoting ethical recruitment and decent work among private sector partners by strengthening their policies to protect foreign domestic workforce. In mainland China, IOM facilitates dialogue around labour migration policies and programmes, amongst other aspects of migration and mobility between China and the EU, as well as undertakes activities to facilitate pre-departure orientation for prospective migrants and other relevant stakeholders.
  • Migration and Development: IOM promotes the mainstreaming of migration into policy development by supporting China’s engagement in regional and international processes and frameworks to maximize the development impact of migration and mobility through mechanisms that address migration as a global phenomenon.
  • Data and Research: In collaboration with Chinese think tanks, academia and other partners, IOM undertakes research and provides evidence-based tools to its counterparts to address knowledge and policy requirements on a variety of migration-related topics.
  • Resettlement and Movement Management: In Hong Kong SAR of the PRC, IOM provides transit assistance to passengers traveling under IOM auspices, and makes travel arrangements for persons who require international migration and return assistance as well as provides support to individual migrants when requested.
EU-China Dialogue on Migration and Mobility Support Project, Phase II

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Contact Information

International Organization for Migration (IOM)
Liaison Office
No. 9-1-82，Tayuan Diplomatic Compound
Chaoyang District, Beijing China, 100600

Tel:    +86.10 85 32 18 34, +86.59 79 96 95 ext. 201
Fax:    +86.10 85 32 36 87
Email:    liaisonofficechina@iom.int

 

IOM Hongkong
Rm. 904,
Yaumatei Car Park Bldg.,
250 Shanghai St.,
Kowloon,
Hong Kong

Tel:    +852.23 32 24 41/6
Fax:    +852.23 88 12 04
Email:    hkgen@iom.int

 

The IOM Liaison Office in China, IOM Hong Kong SAR, and IOM Macao SAR each report separately to the IOM Regional Office for Asia & the Pacific in Bangkok:

18th Floor Rajanakarn Building
183 South Sathorn Road
Bangkok 10120
Thailand

Tel:    +66.2 343 93 00
Fax:    +66.2 343 93 99, +66.2 286 18 18
Email:    ROBangkok@iom.int