‘Formal informality’ in EU external migration governance: the case of mobility partnerships

External migration has become a site for extensive EU activity, not least in the years following start of ‘crisis’ 2015–2016. It also testing ground forms governance that are generally associated with external relations. We term this type ‘formal informality’ as there is appearance an agreement third country but lacking legal protections or transparency actions taken under it. The informality tools potentially problematic when used to bypass substantive and procedural formalities law, which turn ensure protection rights. This article uses emergence evolution Mobility Partnerships between countries prism analyse what moves towards mean migration.