The ILSI Difference
ILSI is built as one continuous membership across the whole migration journey, not a patchwork of separate services — that continuity is what sets it apart.
Migrant workers are usually served by a scattering of separate actors: a recruitment agent paid to place them, an embassy with limited consular staff, an employer whose interests may not align with theirs, and — if they are fortunate — a labour union or NGO once something has already gone wrong. Each actor sees only part of the journey. ILSI was designed to see, and support, the whole of it.
Continuity, not a one-off transaction
Because ILSI membership is continuous, a worker does not need to explain their situation from scratch to a new organisation every time their circumstances change. The same institution that checked their contract before departure holds their case file if a dispute arises abroad, and the same institution helps them plan a return investment once they are home.
Independence
ILSI is not a recruitment agency and does not earn a commission on placements. It is not an employer and does not benefit from lower wage costs. This independence lets ILSI advise governments without a competing financial interest — see our legal status for how that independence is structured.
Evidence from the frontline
Every case ILSI's helpline handles becomes anonymised evidence for our research team and our advisory work with governments and employers. Policy recommendations are grounded in what members actually experience in the corridors we serve, not in assumptions made far from the workplace.
A development mandate, not just a protection one
ILSI's fourth pillar, National Development, treats safe migration as an economic opportunity for origin countries: repatriated remittances and returnee skills captured rather than wasted. This is why ILSI sits at the intersection of labour policy and development finance — see our international development work.
Designed around real corridors, not theory
ILSI’s model is designed for clearly defined legal migration corridors rather than as an abstract global promise. Its initial corridors connect migrant-origin countries. Each programme is shaped by the laws, institutions, employment conditions, consular capacity and principal sectors—including construction, domestic work, manufacturing and care—within that destination market. ILSI will use the practical evidence and experience gained across these corridors to strengthen its framework and guide its responsible expansion into additional origin countries.
See how this plays out for a member day to day in the membership programme, or read what our founding leadership sees as the case for this approach in the Chief Executive's message.