This paper is concerned with the ethical issues
arising for researchers engaged in the study of
irregular migration. Based on the authors
research experiences, the paper goes beyond
analysis of ethical dilemmas and aims to
provide some guidance to researchers in this
field. Irregular migration is by defi nition an
elusive phenomenon as it takes place in
violation of the law and at the margins of
society. The very nature of this phenomenon
raises important issues, including the
sensitivity and vulnerability of the research
subjects and a whole series of other ethical
issues to be addressed both when conducting
fieldwork with irregular migrants and also at
the later stage of data analysis, processing and
dissemination. The paper fi rst considers
various methods in researching irregular
migration and defi nes research ethics. It then
discusses the differences between sensitivity