Luanda – Holanda: Irregular Migration from Angola to the Netherlands

Against the backdrop of push‐pull and social network theories on migration and criminological theory on human smuggling, this article tries to answer the questions of why and how Angolan asylum‐seekers migrated to the Netherlands since the end of the 1990s. The study shows that the migrants can be described as opportunity seeking migrants, rather than survival migrants. Most migrants made no use of typical human smugglers during their travel. They rather used assistance from their social network and made use of the services of middlemen, called esquemas, on an ad‐hoc basis. In this article it is argued that “archetypal” large smuggling organisations in Angola have not evolved because of the existence of these highly informal networks. Support is found that both push‐pull and social network theories can contribute to explaining irregular, asylum migration.     

Irregular Workers or Ethnic Kin? Post‐1990s Labour Migration from Bulgaria to Turkey

This paper addresses the invisibility of the post‐1990s irregular migration flows from Bulgaria to Turkey in the literature despite the increasingly significant number of such migrants. I suggest that this invisibility stems partially from a problem of classification that has to do with implicit suppositions about ethnicity and migration. The post‐1990s Turkish immigrants from Bulgaria are not specified in accounts of irregular migrant flows directed towards Turkey since they are assumed to belong to the category of ethnic “return” migrants: Because of their ethnic identity as Turkish, all Turkish migrants from Bulgaria tend to get considered as part of the intermittent “return” migration waves from Bulgaria, the most notable and well‐known of these being the fight of more than 300,000 Turks in 1989. However, while the ethnic affiliation of the post‐1990s migrants from Bulgaria renders them invisible as irregular migrants within scholarly migrant typologies, the same ethnic affiliation does not necessarily work to their advantage when it comes to their legal and social reception in Turkey. Based on ethnographic fieldwork that prioritizes micro‐level analysis from below, the paper demonstrates that the self designated ethnic affiliation of these migrants, counterpoised against their social marginalization as “the Bulgarian” domestics, heightens the paradoxes of belonging and affects migration strategies. The paper thus underscores the significance of ethnic affiliation as a factor that needs to be adequately taken into account in describing the present and in assessing the future of this particular migratory pattern.     

Responding to Irregular Migration: High Potential of Local Governments in Turkey

This study examines local governments' growing presence in irregular migration management, and discusses how autonomous local responses challenge centralist approaches to the management of this migration. By building on the relevant legal framework, secondary literature and interview notes, the study focuses its attention on irregular migration in Turkey, and uncovers the potential of two local government units – district municipalities and muhtarl?ks – in the response to irregular migration. The study discusses the enablers and the main constraints on these local government units in responding to, and therefore involving themselves in, the management of the phenomenon. As discussed in the study, the main impediment appears to be the country's highly centralized state structure, while there also exist several enablers, such as Turkish Townsmen Law (Hem?ehri Hukuku), the trust relationship with their inhabitants, and their experience of liminality in handling irregular matters and providing social aid to vulnerable, fragile and low‐income residents.     

Irregular Migration,Human Smuggling,and the Eastern Enlargement of the European Union1

This article examines the consequences of the latest round of EU‐Enlargement in May 2004 on irregular migration across Central and Eastern Europe. Drawing on a unique collection of both quantitative and qualitative data related to irregular migration and human smuggling, the article first presents some long‐term trends in irregular migration across the region before taking up more recent developments in 2003 and 2004. While border apprehensions have broadly declined since about 2000 there is ample evidence for an increasing role of human smugglers in facilitating irregular migration. In addition, there are noticeable changes in the modus operandi of human smugglers.     

South‐South Irregular Migration: The Impacts of China's Informal Gold Rush in Ghana

This article examines irregular South‐South migration from China to Ghana, and the role it played in transforming livelihoods and broader developmental landscapes. It looks at the entry of approximately 50,000 Chinese migrants into the informal small‐scale gold mining sector from 2008‐2013. These migrants mainly hailed from Shanglin County in Guangxi Province. In Ghana, they formed mutually beneficial relationships with local miners, both legal and illegal, introducing machinery that substantially increased gold production. However, the legal status of Chinese miners was particularly problematic as, by law, small‐scale mining is restricted to Ghanaian citizens. In mid‐2013, President Mahama established a military task force against illegal mining, resulting in the deportation of many Chinese miners. The article examines the experiences of both Chinese migrants and Ghanaian miners. Findings are that irregular migration into an informal sector had long‐lasting impacts and played a significant role in the transformation of economic, political, and physical landscapes in Ghana.     

Schengen's Soft Underbelly? Irregular Migration and Human Smuggling across Land and Sea Borders to Italy

La migration illégale à destination de l'Italie ou passant par ce pays est généralement associée dans l'esprit des gens à l'image de centaines, voire de milliers de migrants traversant la Méditerranée entassés dans de vieux rafiots se maintenant tout juste à flot. On considère souvent que les traversées de ce type sont la preuve de l'existence de cartels criminels qui seraient structurés hiérarchiquement, centralisés, extrêmement bien organisés et actifs au niveau mondial. Le seul problème avec de telles idées reçues est qu'elles ne concordent absolument pas avec les faits dont on dispose et n'ont pas grand chose à voir avec la réalité concrète des systèmes de migration illégale. Cette étude passe en revue un certain nombre de dossiers de tribunaux italiens concernant diverses organisations qui opèrent aussi bien au travers des frontières terrestres que maritimes. Elle montre comment de telles organisations opèrent en tenant compte de diverses spécificités locales et contraintes structurelles.     

Student Migration: Evidence from Chinese Students in the US and China

This article is based on the analysis of a pair of cross‐national parallel surveys on Chinese students, respectively inside the People's Republic of China and in the US. Specifically, it makes comparisons between two cross‐sectional groups: 1) Chinese students in a PRC university who intend to study abroad (with a subset that stated that the United States is their top destination), versus 2) Chinese students already at a US university. Building on a “motility” concept while using an “Intellectual Migration” conceptual framework and chi‐square and logistic regression analyses, it demonstrates that Chinese students' possibly returning to the PRC are significantly influenced by their gender, college GPA, family finance, assessment of China's current and future development. The results on outmigration or return migration intentions are presented, and it concludes with some policy implications and future research directions.     

Gendering Interprovincial Migration in China1

Migration is a gendered phenomenon, best understood as a series of relationships between socioeconomic factors and gender. Gender differences in migration efficiencies are investigated using the 1990 Census data in China. Results indicate that, although male migration rates are higher, female migration is more efficient in the sense that it contributes to greater population redistribution than male migration. Reflecting different economic and social roles, women are more likely to state social and family reasons for moving while men indicate economic motivations. In terms of the geography of movement, women are more sensitive than men to perceived and expected regional differences in economic opportunities, especially in rural areas. Job opportunities created in urban areas and by foreign enterprises are more attractive to male migrants. Development of light manufacturing industries and the benefits derived from the presence of previous migrants draw female more than male migrants.     

The Irregular Migrant as Homo Sacer: Migration and Detention in Australia, Malaysia, and Thailand

Abstract This paper looks at aspects of the detention of irregular migrants in Australia, Malaysia, and Thailand. The principle intention of the paper is to study detention of irregular migrants as a means of understanding politics and how notions of political participation and of sovereignty are affected by the detention of certain sorts of individual. What does the identification of certain “forms of life” to be detained say about the political norms of different societies? The conduit for this examination will be the Italian philosopher Giorgio Agamben's concept of homo sacer. Homo sacer is a term Agamben extrapolates from “ancient Roman law”. It denotes a naked or bare life that is depoliticized. Homo sacer is the excess of processes of political constitution that create a governable form of life. Homo sacer is thus exempt or excluded from the normal limits of the state. At the same time, however, homo sacer is not simply cast out but is held in particular relation to the norm: it is through the exclusion of the depoliticized form of life that the politicized norm exists. This essay seeks to contextualize aspects of Agamben's argument by looking at detention as a form of exclusion in three different contexts.     

Educationally Channeled International Labor Mobility: Contemporary Student Migration from China to Japan

International education is an important channel of labor migration. Most commonly, this form of labor migration is considered as “brain drain,” represented by the retention of graduate students in science and engineering in the host labor market. This case study of contemporary Chinese student migration to Japan shows that international students have different credentials, interests, and motivations for migrating abroad, and consequently provide the host society both unskilled and skilled labor power. Moreover, Chinese students’ labor market practices as skilled labor migrants show their important roles in the economic globalization. Aside from scientific and engineering skills, Chinese students use their linguistic and cultural competencies to act as intermediaries between their host and home economies.     

Understanding Undocumented Migration from Honduras

Quantitative evidence on the drivers of undocumented migration from Honduras is limited. As a result, policy responses have been reactionary and understudied. Migration flows from the country are distinct from the rest of the region and merit study. By implementing different survey instruments, including focus groups, in‐depth interviews and a nationally representative survey, we build the first nationally representative data‐set on migrant attitudes in the country. Our results show that the propensity to migrate of individuals living in low‐income households is inversely related to human capital accumulation and access to basic services. Similarly, variables linked to networks in the destination country are positively correlated with the propensity to migrate. The prevalence of violence in areas where potential migrants live is unrelated to their migration decisions. This indicates that the focus of migration policy should rest in improving material conditions.     

Retirement Return Migration from Sweden

SUÉDE: MIGRATION DE RETOUR DES RETRAITÉS
Cette étude porte sur la migration de retour des immigrés âgés de 51 à 80 ans en Suède. L'incidence de la retraite sur la migration de retour constitue une question importante. Certaines circonstances liées au retrait du marché du travail indiquent une tendance à rentrer, notamment le passage d'un revenu salarial à une pension de retraite, qui affaiblit le lien entre lieu de résidence et revenu. Par ailleurs, la structure de la migration de retour à la fin de la vie active pourrait indiquer si la migration temporaire est oui on non une stratégie planifiée. Nous constatons qu'à l'âge de 65 ans, âge légal de la retraite en Suède, la probabilité d'une migration de retour s'accroît, en particulier chez les hommes. L'effet de la retraite est immédiat. La probabilité d'une migration de retour diminue de nouveau audelà de 65 ans, ce qui montre qu'il y a un véritable projet de rentrer dans le pays d'origine une fois terminée la vie professionnelle.
En outre, la probabilité d'une migration de retour est beaucoup plus élevée chez les immigrés qui reçoivent une allocation de retraite anticipée que chez ceux qui ne sont pas retraités. Ces effets évidents de la retraite montrent que la migration de retour peut être un élément important dans les stratégies d'optimisation de la sécurité sociale des migrants. Pour ce qui est de la sélectivité par le revenu, l'analyse montre l'existence d'une sélection positive, ce à quoi l'on peut s'attendre quand les migrants épargnent en fonction d'un objectif et ont une stratégie de migration temporaire.     

Highly‐skilled Migration from China and India to Canada and the United States

Using publicly available data, this article aims to understand how immigration policies in Canada and the United States have affected the flow and utilization of highly‐skilled migrants from China and India. Reviewing existing literature on the policies about, and utilization of, human capital among highly‐skilled migrants, and describing the policy contexts in both receiving countries, we present detailed empirical evidence to show that in spite of their higher education attainment than the general population and the total foreign‐born population, China‐ and India‐born migrants are not immune from the brain waste phenomenon. This is especially so among the India‐born. We end the article with policy implications for both countries.     

Changes in Irregular Emigration: A Field Report from Fuzhou

This paper is based on case studies in Fuzhou, China, with the aim of exploring the changes in Fuzhou’s irregular emigration activities. The findings indicate that due to changing socio‐economic and historical circumstances, a more legalizing tendency of irregular emigration from Fuzhou can be observed. Among these new developments are the following: less risk, along with the use of safer tactics, is now involved in the process of emigration; emigrants are better supported with resources such as financial support, network support and a higher level of education; “legal” status is cherished in the process of emigration, and fewer and fewer emigrants are likely to be victimized by organized smuggling groups; and migratory waves have decelerated and the passion for emigration has become both more rational and more sensible.