Basic definitions
Migrant worker
“A person who is to be engaged, is engaged or has been engaged in a remunerated activity in a State of which he or she is not a national.”
International migrant workers
“International migrant workers are defined as migrants of working age, who during a specified reference period, were in the labor force of the country of their usual residence, either in employment or in unemployment.”
ILO, 2021, p. 11
Refugee
“Persons recognized as refugees, by a State or the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, on the basis of objective criteria related to the circumstances in their country of origin, which justify a presumption that they meet the criteria of the applicable refugee definition.”
IOM, 2021, p. 171
Asylum seeker
A person who seeks international protection, applying for refugee status in the territory where she seeks asylum. Thus, in countries with individualized procedures, an asylum seeker is a person whose claim has not yet been definitively decided by the country in which she filed it.
IOM, 2021; Wihtol de Wenden, 2019