Expanding legal migration pathways is often framed as a panacea to curb irregular migration and mitigate the effects of population aging in immigration countries, while also fostering source countries’ economic development and immigrants’ income. Yet, policy initiatives to expand migration have not gained significant momentum, and available migration windows tend to prioritise highly skilled workers leading to a mismatch between legal admission policies and the average profile of irregular migrants. We propose expanding legal pathways for all skill levels by transforming circular migration into innovative schemes that combine vocational training in home countries with work-related migration opportunities for selected trainees.