This article attempts to list every significant event in the history of the mass migration to post-war Europe. See a document by UN Population Division  for a detail description of the phenomenon. The article proposes a chronological view of it as a chain of events.

Year 1967

United Nations approves Protocol Relating to the Status of Refugees

Protocol Relating to the Status of Refugees

The Protocol Relating to the Status of Refugees entered into force on October 4, 1967. Where the United Nations 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees had restricted refugee status to those whose circumstances had come about "as a result of events occurring before 1 January 1951", as...

 (aka 1967 Protocol). It removes the temporal and geographical restrictions on the definition of refugee

Refugee

A refugee is a person who outside her country of origin or habitual residence because she has suffered persecution on account of race, religion, nationality, political opinion, or because she is a member of a persecuted 'social group'. Such a person may be referred to as an 'asylum seeker' until...

s.

October 10, 1968

Finland

Finland

Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...

 ratifies the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees and the 1967 Protocol.

December 19, 2005

In Germany

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

, Jürgen Gallmann, in his article in Euro am Sonntag, CEO of Microsoft

Microsoft

Microsoft Corporation is an American public multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing through its various product divisions...

 Deutschland, warns of a "serious shortage of IT specialists".

May 22, 2006

In UK, Liam Byrne

Liam Byrne

Liam Dominic Byrne is a British Labour Party politician who has been the Member of Parliament for Birmingham Hodge Hill since 2004, and was the Chief Secretary to the Treasury from 2009 to 2010 before being appointed Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions on 20 January 2011.-Early...

 (Labour

Labour Party (UK)

The Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after...

) becomes The Minister of State for Borders and Immigration

Minister of State for Borders and Immigration

The Minister of State for Immigration is a Minister of State in the Home Office of the Government of the United Kingdom. The current minister is Damian Green MP who was appointed to his new post following the formation of a coalition government under David Cameron at the 2010 general...

.

July 31, 2006

European Court of Justice

European Court of Justice

The Court can sit in plenary session, as a Grand Chamber of 13 judges, or in chambers of three or five judges. Plenary sitting are now very rare, and the court mostly sits in chambers of three or five judges...

 closes permanent contract loophole

Loophole

A loophole is a weakness that allows a system to be circumvented.Loophole may also refer to:*Arrowslit, a slit in a castle wall*Loophole , a short science fiction story by Arthur C...

. Several EU

European Union

The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958...

 nations allow employers to use a series of short-term contracts to avoid issuing permanent ones. Permanent contracts are used to obtain residency.

September 07, 2006

In Netherlands

Netherlands

The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...

, in a survey by well-known pollster Maurice de Hond

Maurice de Hond

Maurice de Hond is a Dutch pollster and entrepreneur.-Career:De Hond studied social geography at the University of Amsterdam, obtaining a degree in 1971. He worked for the university, as assistant with the Sociaal Geografisch Instituut, but became a project leader for Interview-NSS in 1973...

, 68% agree that "the Netherlands are tired of the integration issue".

November 30, 2006

In Netherlands, more than 30,000 asylum seekers are granted general amnesty

Amnesty

Amnesty is a legislative or executive act by which a state restores those who may have been guilty of an offense against it to the positions of innocent people, without changing the laws defining the offense. It includes more than pardon, in as much as it obliterates all legal remembrance of the...

 by the recently elected Dutch parliament. The motion is backed by leftist parties, among them the Labor Party and the Socialist Party

Socialist Party (Netherlands)

The Socialist Party is a democratic socialist political party in the Netherlands. After the 2006 general election, the Socialist Party became one of the major parties of the Netherlands with 25 seats of 150, an increase of 16 seats. The party was in opposition against the fourth Balkenende cabinet...

.

December 19, 2006

In Sweden, the statistics office reports that immigration

Immigration

Immigration is the act of foreigners passing or coming into a country for the purpose of permanent residence...

 to Sweden is expected to reach a record high this year, in part due to a temporary easing of asylum rules.

October 03, 2008

In UK, Phil Woolas

Phil Woolas

Philip James Woolas was a British Labour Party politician who was the Member of Parliament for Oldham East and Saddleworth from his election in 1997 to 2010. He was the Minister of State for Borders and Immigration in the Home Office, as well as being the Minister of State for the Treasury...

 MP becomes The Minister of State for Borders and Immigration.

October 09, 2009

In UK, according to The Daily Telegraph

The Daily Telegraph

The Daily Telegraph is a daily morning broadsheet newspaper distributed throughout the United Kingdom and internationally. The newspaper was founded by Arthur B...

, a leaked secret memo reveals Home Office

Home Office

The Home Office is the United Kingdom government department responsible for immigration control, security, and order. As such it is responsible for the police, UK Border Agency, and the Security Service . It is also in charge of government policy on security-related issues such as drugs,...

 officials have changed guidelines in order to grant indefinite leave to remain

Indefinite leave to remain

Indefinite leave to remain is an immigration status granted to a person who does not hold right of abode in the United Kingdom , but who has been admitted to the UK without any time limit on his or her stay and who is free to take up employment or study, without restriction...

 to 40,000 illegal immigrants

Illegal immigration

Illegal immigration is the migration into a nation in violation of the immigration laws of that jurisdiction. Illegal immigration raises many political, economical and social issues and has become a source of major controversy in developed countries and the more successful developing countries.In...

because it is going to be too difficult to remove them.