Unseen

The Luxembourg government was asked a simple question by LSAP MP Mars Di Bartolomeo: how many undocumented migrants are living in the country? The answer: no idea.

In a parliamentary reply, the government explained that counting people without valid residency status is, by its nature, impossible. People not identified by the authorities do not appear in administrative records. Irregular residency specifically refers to individuals who are not registered by state administrations. The Directorate of Immigration only sees people undertaking official procedures. Those avoiding contact with authorities remain invisible.

The government stressed that there is currently no reliable or responsible method for estimating the number. Visual impressions or informal estimates, it noted, are not only unreliable but risk unfairly targeting people based on appearance or background. In a country as diverse as Luxembourg, where 48% of the population is foreign, that is a real concern. You cannot tell who is documented and who is not by looking.

But there are fragments of data. The Labour and Mines Inspectorate, ITM, conducts workplace inspections and occasionally finds people working without proper authorisation. In 2025, ITM carried out more than 17'000 inspections, including over 8'300 in construction and 2'760 in manufacturing. Those checks uncovered 106 foreign nationals in an irregular situation. Sixty-nine of them were in hospitality: hotels, restaurants, and cafes.

Between 2021 and 2025, hospitality accounted for more than half of all irregular workers detected. The violations are familiar: no work contracts, no social security registration, excessive working hours, and unpaid wages. These are not people avoiding work. They are people working without papers, often in conditions that documented workers would not accept.

The government also addressed the school system. It said it is not possible to identify pupils based on their parents' residency status, and no child can be denied education because of their family's administrative situation. All policies are designed to avoid stigmatisation. This is the right principle. It also means the school system has no idea how many of its pupils come from families without legal status.

One number is clear: zero. The government confirmed that no dedicated study on irregular migration in Luxembourg has ever been commissioned. Not now, not ever. In a country that has been debating migration policy for decades, in a parliament that regularly questions the government on asylum numbers, deportations, and integration, nobody has ever asked for a serious study of the people who fall outside all of those systems.

106 people found in 17'000 inspections. An unknown number unseen. The government says it cannot count them. It also says it has never tried.