The global expansion of the role ‘migrant brokers’ is an increasingly important and yet understudied component of transnational migration. This three-year collaboration will investigate the dramatic growth in the number of small flexible broker firms such as headhunters, law firms and consultants that facilitate movement within increasingly bureaucratic immigration systems. This project will comprise a number of workshops and publications, an online forum and exchange visits, each aiming to share empirical evidence that considers different aspects of the brokerage system within a wider framework of migration and globalization.