During 2016 FIERI has collaborated with the KNOMAD (Global Knowledge Partnership on Migration and Development) Thematic Working Group on Labour Migration to carry out a survey on labour migration costs in Italy. During 2015 and 2016 several other migration corridors were also surveyed (India-Saudi Arabia, Philippines to Qatar, Guatemala, Honduras and El-Salvador to Mexico). The Migration Costs Surveys primarily focused on costs incurred by workers who were recruited in their home countries and received a job offer prior to migrating. Given the specificity of the Italian case, for Italy the choice has been to focus on western African migrants arrived in Italy over the past few years, regardless of their reason for migrating. In this research report the preliminary findings of the survey, beside the main methodological challenges, are presented and discussed. The full dataset is available at the KNOMAD website.