Being one of the most developed and economically rich regions, immigrants from around the world are attracted to what the EU can offer in terms of education, stability, and a future. In response to the rising number of immigrants desiring to live in the region, EU institutions are trying to create and implement more unified immigration practices for member states in order to control EU borders while conveying openness to immigrants worldwide. Despite this goal, there continues to be great variation among EU members as to the ideal degree of openness or restrictiveness that policies should implement. This paper seeks to explore the sources of the variation. Using data from all 27 EU member states between the years of 2000 and 2008, I tested seven alternative explanations to find what influences changes in immigration rates. I also controlled for unobserved country-specific factors using dummy variables to represent the individuality of each country. I found strong support for a link between population changes and immigration, as well as a link between unemployment among the highly educated and immigration. Most importantly, I found significance between my control variable and immigration, meaning that there are unobserved country-specific factors that influence immigration policies. My tests reveal that despite the EU goal of creating more cohesive immigration policies among its members, immigration policies are still determined by the nation state. Furthermore, the EU as a regional organization is for now confined to promoting economic cooperation between members, and the idea of the EU as a supranational power is still overpowered by the notion of national sovereignty when dealing with the issue of immigration policy.
