Topic Definition The European region exhibited two different forms of migration patterns in the twentieth century. Within the first fifty years, Europe was involved in emigration towards the New World, while the second half of the twentieth century involved immigration patterns. According to Coleman (54), the diverse migration movements were due to a variety of factors including the termination of the Cold War, the consolidation of Germany, decolonization, wars and political suppression, and the considerable demand for low and unskilled laborers. The current European migration patterns are due to different factors including declining populations due to the higher number of ageing people compared to young people, trafficking of immigrants, clandestine migration, and the need for skilled labor among others (Muus 36). This paper seeks to examine three key issues that influenced migration patterns between European countries and their former colonies, including asylum seeking, migration policies, and the labor requirements in settlement nations. Issues and Questions The three issues mentioned above will be examined in a variety of European States in the European Union (EU). The aim is to identify a history of migration, the magnitude of the migration flows, as well as, immigrant populations through an analysis of trends in the international migration towards European countries. The first issue that will be examined is asylum seeking. This refers to the inflow of immigrants, especially in the Northwestern European countries, from problem areas across the globe. (Hansen 23) With this regard, we shall seek to answer two questions:  1. What is the proportion of asylum seekers who settled in each of the European Union countries, and which were the key destination countries?  2. Which were the primary countries of origin of asylum seekers? The second factor affecting the migration trends in Europe is the regulatory environment. The migration policies bear varying implications for either international migration of EU citizens or non-EU citizens (Hansen 65). As such, the research questions include:  1. Which regulations influenced the freedom of movement for EU citizens based on employment or working arrangements? How did they affect the migration trends?  2. What was the nature of the admission policies for different EU member states on non-EU immigration? How did they influence migration trends? The third element that shall be considered is the labor market. The labor patterns changed at different times within the twentieth century, with a diminishing need for unskilled labor, and a consequent rise in demand for trained workers (Joppke 278). In this regard, the research questions are:  1. How does the labor market integration of immigrants with regard to the main groups of citizenship compare? (an analysis of employment and unemployment figures for EU Member State Nationals, other EU nationals and non-EU nationals in a variety of EU member States)  2. What factors besides nationality influence the labor market integration? Scope The study involves a comparison of migration trends among various European Union States that were former colonial powers. Some of these states include Britain, France, Portugal, Belgium and Netherlands. The process of decolonization resulted in migration flows such as the settlement of Caribbean and Indian migrants into the UK, and set