EU legal migration policies: the directive on students and researchers and the new talent partnership.

Reduce irregular flows to and within Europe, and protecting EU external borders, can only happen effectively if we look at the migratory phenomenon in a broad and comprehensive perspective, strengthening legal and safe pathways to Europe. This contribution will focus on the Students and Researchers Directive [(EU) 2016/801] and the novelties and future perspective of legal high skilled migration also in light of the recent Communication by the European Commission Attracting skills and talent to the EU. It seems that we are observing an attempt to overcome the fragmented approach adopted so far, in order to fill a series of gaps and barriers to make legal migration a realistic alternative for illegal migration pathways, making the most out of the link between migration and development, putting the migrant at the very centre of the discourse as a development driver for both the countries of origin and of destination.