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Table 1 Operational definition of ‘illegal migrant(s)’ applied for the review

From: Challenges in the provision of healthcare services for migrants: a systematic review through providers’ lens

Type

Definition

Irregular migrants

Irregular migrants are persons whose paths of migration did not adhere to legal provisions of entry and residence.

Undocumented migrants

Undocumented migrants are third-country nationals without a valid residence permit or visa allowing them to reside in the country of destination and who, if detected, may be liable to deportation.

Involuntary migrants

Any foreign-born people who have migrated to a country because they have been displaced from their home country, have an established or well-founded fear of persecution, or have been moved by deception or coercion.

Refugees

Any persons who have fled their country, are unable or unwilling to avail themselves of the protection of their country of nationality or habitual residence because of a well-founded fear of persecution on account of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion.

Asylum seekers

Asylees are persons being granted asylum, having the right to remain permanently in destination country. Contrasting to a refugee who underwent processing overseas, an asylee is a person who first reached another country, usually as a visitor or other non-immigrant status, and either upon or after arrival declared oneself to be a ‘refugee’ based on the refugee standard.

  1. Source: adapted from
  2. 1. Biswas et al. (2001) [5]
  3. 2. Walker and Barnett (2007) [92]