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We combine evidence with the lived experience of migrants to make policy and services work better for everyone in Scotland.

Our approach

  • Start from lived experience

    Good migration policy starts with the people who live it. Migrants shape our work through our Lived Experience Panel, peer research and internships.

  • Build the evidence base

    We build the knowledge Scotland needs for an informed debate on migration – from our annual Attitudes to Immigration survey to a growing observatory function.

  • Connect thinking and doing

    Our policy laboratories bring policymakers, practitioners and migrants together to turn evidence into practical solutions that get used.

  • Our policy laboratories bring policymakers, practitioners and migrants together to turn evidence into practical solutions that get used.

    We look at every route and reason that brings people to Scotland, and bring migration into wider social and economic policy thinking.

Attitudes to immigration in Scotland

Since 2023 we have tracked what people in Scotland actually think about immigration. Three waves of data from a representative sample of over 2,000 people, showing where views are settled, where they are shifting, and where public opinion and policy part company.

Read the report

Support for immigration for work remains among the strongest in the survey - alongside little support for restricting health and social care visas.

Latest from MPS

View all latest
  • Post 02/04/2026

    Blog: Interning at MPS: Experience, Learning, and What I’m Taking Home

    By Shayan Gul, MPS Diversity in Policymaking Intern

  • Post 26/03/2026

    Blog: What My Internship at Migration Policy Scotland Meant to Me

    By Jomana Abunahla, MPS Diversity in Policymaking Intern

  • Our impact

    • Our peer research had a direct impact on the tender and service design of the new Scotland’s Migration Service.

      Shaina Gabi, MPS Lived Experience Panel Representative
    • MPS’s approach to integrating lived experience brought invaluable insights to our work

      Colin Carroll, Scottish Government
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      Andrew Person, UK GOV
    • Maecenas sed diam eget risus varius blandit sit amet non magna. Nullam id dolor id nibh ultricies vehicula ut id elit. Nulla vitae elit libero, a pharetra augue. Curabitur blandit tempus porttitor.

      Andrew Person, UK GOV

    Learning from experience

    Good migration policy starts with the people who live it. Our Lived Experience Panel sits at the heart of MPS – shaping research questions, conducting peer research in their own communities, and co-designing the tools and training our projects produce. It’s a model others in the sector now come to us to learn from.

    Lived Experience Panel