International Migration最新文献

{"title":"Democratic Backsliding and the Politics of Exit: Highly Skilled Migration From Turkey to the Netherlands","authors":"Ahmet Ceylan,&nbsp;Başak Bilecen","doi":"10.1111/imig.70199","DOIUrl":"10.1111/imig.70199","url":null,"abstract":"<p>This paper examines highly skilled migration from Turkey to the Netherlands in the aftermath of the 2016 coup attempt, focusing on how democratic backsliding shapes migration decisions. Drawing on 37 in-depth interviews with academics, health professionals and engineers, the study explores how political pressures, shrinking freedoms and rising conservatism affect individuals' professional autonomy, social relationships, and everyday lives. The findings reveal five key drivers of migration: restrictions on basic democratic rights, erosion of legal protection, marginalization of secular lifestyles, conservative shifts in education and gender-based insecurity. While earlier research acknowledged political factors in recent emigration from Turkey, this study shows how the repressive political climate permeates intimate domains, undermining trust, belonging and safety and thus motivates exit. By reframing highly skilled migration as a response to political and social ruptures rather than solely an economic or professional choice, the paper contributes to migration and political sociology and calls for more comparative, interdisciplinary research on politically driven migration under authoritarian regimes.</p>","PeriodicalId":48011,"journal":{"name":"International Migration","volume":"64 4","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.5,"publicationDate":"2026-07-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/imig.70199","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148400965","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Caught in Between: Return and Reintegration Experiences of Ethiopian Transit or Halfway Returnees Along Eastern Routes","authors":"Girmachew Adugna","doi":"10.1111/imig.70200","DOIUrl":"10.1111/imig.70200","url":null,"abstract":"<div>\u0000 \u0000 <p>This study examines the experiences of transit or half-way returnees along Ethiopia's eastern migration corridor—migrants who return from transit countries without reaching their intended destinations. Drawing on qualitative interviews with returnees from transit countries and Saudi Arabia, as well as key stakeholders, the study explores how migration trajectories shape return experiences and reintegration outcomes. The findings challenge linear understandings of return migration by demonstrating that return often occurs at different stages of the migration process due to deportation, border controls, insecurity or personal circumstances. Transit countries often become unintended destinations where migrants experience detention, exploitation, violence and economic hardship, resulting in interrupted migration projects and unplanned returns. The study contributes to return migration scholarships by showing how transit and half-way returnees complicate existing typologies that link return motivations to the completion of migration projects. Return is better understood as part of a cyclical and ongoing migration process rather than a discrete departure–arrival–return sequence. Reintegration outcomes are shaped not only by economic conditions but also by social perceptions of migration success. Returnees who come back without achieving their migration goals often face stigma, debt and limited acceptance within their families and communities, while women and young returnees encounter heightened vulnerabilities. The findings further reveal tensions between returnees' aspirations for urban settlement and reintegration programmes focused on places of origin. Community-driven rescue initiatives for stranded migrants illustrate strong collective responsibility but also raise ethical concerns, including the potential reinforcement of trafficking networks and the unintended encouragement of further migration. The article argues for a more dynamic understanding of return that recognises the spatial, temporal and social complexities of migration trajectories and reintegration processes.</p>\u0000 </div>","PeriodicalId":48011,"journal":{"name":"International Migration","volume":"64 4","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.5,"publicationDate":"2026-07-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148393965","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"The European Dream: Migration Narratives of Transpinays","authors":"Brenda Rodriguez Alegre","doi":"10.1111/imig.70201","DOIUrl":"10.1111/imig.70201","url":null,"abstract":"<p>LGBTQI+ Filipinos migrate from the Philippines to Europe for several reasons. However, why is Europe a favoured destination, particularly for transgender women of the Philippines? How do intermediaries become instrumental in linking minority migrants to the wider European landscape for integration? This article draws from the author's interviews, focus group discussions, ethnographic observations, and informal meetings with intermediary and support groups based in Europe, from 2003 to 2024. Using queer feminist and humanising methodologies, the results reveal that transpinays consider Europe as a dream destination for reasons pertaining to relational, security, safety and opportunities. It is reflected that for local and regional intermediaries based in Europe using humanising feminist approaches which mean individuated, intersectional and decolonial approaches to working with trans or queer migrants, are helpful in giving migrants some opportunities to learn and integrate better in the collective dreamland that queer Filipinos hope to call their “other home”.</p>","PeriodicalId":48011,"journal":{"name":"International Migration","volume":"64 4","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.5,"publicationDate":"2026-07-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/imig.70201","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148379668","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Introducing the Freemove Dataset: A Regional Analysis of Free Movement Regimes in Latin America and the Caribbean","authors":"Diego Acosta,&nbsp;Luuk van der Baaren","doi":"10.1111/imig.70192","DOIUrl":"10.1111/imig.70192","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Free Movement Regimes (FMRs) establish a mobility pathway that allows nationals of one country to enter, reside, and work within the territory of another state, extending well beyond the channels typically associated with conventionally defined migration. Despite their global prevalence and significance, they have attracted little scholarly and policy attention. This article introduces the Freemove Dataset, the first dataset to comprehensively map all bilateral and multilateral FMRs globally. Our aim is to identify every FMR in force or adopted between 1992 and 2024, analysing and comparing their provisions, so as to assess their growth and expansion. Additionally, this article presents some descriptive and analytical results for the Latin American and Caribbean (LAC) region. We demonstrate that the number of countries and regimes has increased enormously, resulting in a complex patchwork of partially overlapping bilateral and multilateral regimes. By employing indicator scorings to measure three clusters of FMR provisions (beneficiaries, rights and restrictions), we find that the depth of FMRs has significantly risen over the past three decades.</p>","PeriodicalId":48011,"journal":{"name":"International Migration","volume":"64 4","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.5,"publicationDate":"2026-07-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/imig.70192","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148372389","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Contested Legitimacy: Implementation Dilemmas of UNHCR's Inclusive Refugee Education Policy in Lebanon","authors":"Tingyu Wang","doi":"10.1111/imig.70197","DOIUrl":"10.1111/imig.70197","url":null,"abstract":"<div>\u0000 \u0000 <p>This study examines how UNHCR's inclusive refugee education policy is legitimised and contested in host states, and what structural dilemmas constrain its implementation, focusing on Syrian refugees' education in Lebanon. Drawing on institutional legitimacy and realist institutionalism, the study is based on qualitative interviews and policy analysis. The findings reveal a persistent deficit in cognitive legitimacy, as the policy's assumption of long-term refugee integration conflicts with the objectives of national education systems and host-state priorities. At the same time, pragmatic legitimacy remains fragile, as it depends on externally contingent funding and shifting geopolitical priorities. Under these conditions, Lebanon strategically deploys sovereignty to shape and constrain policy implementation. The study further demonstrates that legitimacy dynamics shape the processes through which policy is adopted, adapted and constrained, and in turn structure the interplay between cooperation and competition in refugee education governance. It contributes by showing how legitimacy and power asymmetries jointly influence policy outcomes, and by calling for more flexible, context-sensitive policy frameworks, diversified funding mechanisms and strengthened global responsibility-sharing.</p>\u0000 </div>","PeriodicalId":48011,"journal":{"name":"International Migration","volume":"64 4","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.5,"publicationDate":"2026-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148371922","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Work Matters: The Role and Meaning of Employment and Career for Highly Educated Female Migrants","authors":"Maja Cederberg","doi":"10.1111/imig.70195","DOIUrl":"10.1111/imig.70195","url":null,"abstract":"<p>This paper explores the meaning of work for highly educated female migrants. While employment tends to be considered central to migrant integration, migration research has paid limited attention to the deeper meanings associated with work, and the role they play in migration processes. In order to address this knowledge-gap, this paper analyses narratives of highly educated female migrants from the Baltic countries (Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania) living in the UK with a focus on how work-related interests and aspirations impact on migration choices and plans, and on how the women evaluate their experiences in the UK. The paper draws theoretical insights from the literature on work orientations and meaningful work, and shows that being able to obtain employment in line with one's qualifications and skills is important to these female migrants in multiple ways: in order to achieve aims and aspirations for economic stability and social mobility, make career advancements, and because of personal interests, ambitions and values, and how those are reflected in the jobs the women do, or aspire to do. While migration is often considered a route to achieving work-related aspirations, the extent to which this succeeds varies amongst the research participants, and for some, migration involves blocked career mobility and a need to adjust and/or re-assess one's plans and options. Through an in-depth exploration of how employment and career feature in these female migrants' stories, the paper adds crucial insights into this aspect of their motivations for and experiences of migration, while highlighting the deeper implications of professional opportunities gained and barriers encountered for integration and belonging.</p>","PeriodicalId":48011,"journal":{"name":"International Migration","volume":"64 4","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.5,"publicationDate":"2026-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/imig.70195","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148371923","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Preparedness and Post-Pandemic Return to Nepal and the Philippines","authors":"Richa Shivakoti","doi":"10.1111/imig.70196","DOIUrl":"10.1111/imig.70196","url":null,"abstract":"<p>The COVID-19 pandemic halted international mobility and greatly affected temporary migrant workers working abroad. This article looks at the pandemic-induced return of migrant workers from two major Asian labour sending states: Nepal and the Philippines. Drawing on interview data from 80 migrant returnees, this paper examines how the institutional level preparedness of labour sending countries and the individual level preparedness of migrant workers intersect and play a vital role for return and reintegration during times of crises. The Philippines, with its longer history of labour migration and experiences with other crises returns, has built a stronger institutional-level preparedness. Nepal, on the other hand, is a relative newcomer and the lack of an institutional level preparedness was visible as the government was initially unwilling and unable to support stranded migrants. Nepali migrants thus faced a higher burden, amplified by their lack of individual-level preparedness due to higher costs encountered during migration.</p>","PeriodicalId":48011,"journal":{"name":"International Migration","volume":"64 4","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.5,"publicationDate":"2026-06-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/imig.70196","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148355638","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Beyond Immobility: Rethinking Sustainable Return and Mobility Aspirations Among Afghan Returnees","authors":"Shapoor Hamid,&nbsp;Matthew G. R. Courtney","doi":"10.1111/imig.70194","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/imig.70194","url":null,"abstract":"<div>\u0000 \u0000 <p>This study examines the interplay between reintegration and mobility aspirations among recent Afghan returnees in early 2024, challenging the assumption that successful reintegration equates to immobility. Based on survey data from 416 returnees from Iran (<i>n</i> = 208), Pakistan (<i>n</i> = 98), Türkiye (<i>n</i> = 69), and Europe and employing structural equation modelling (SEM), it explores how initial migration aspirations, psychological well-being, and social capital shape reintegration and mobility aspirations. Findings reveal that returnees with Western aspirations report lower well-being, while forced returnees experience reduced community engagement but increased family support. Reported likelihood of illegal re-migration, though low, is linked to increased community connections and lower socio-cultural skills attained abroad, whereas legal re-migration is driven by improved well-being, financial stability, and community activity. Critiquing the sedentary bias in migration governance, the study calls for policies aligned with returnees' aspirations, emphasizing legal migration pathways and adaptive reintegration frameworks. These findings offer actionable insights for reimagining migration management in Afghanistan.</p>\u0000 </div>","PeriodicalId":48011,"journal":{"name":"International Migration","volume":"64 4","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.5,"publicationDate":"2026-06-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148282516","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Comparing Refugee Integration Experiences in the UK: Community Sponsorship and the Vulnerable Persons Resettlement Scheme","authors":"Gabriella D'Avino","doi":"10.1111/imig.70193","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/imig.70193","url":null,"abstract":"<p>The global increase in displaced populations underscores the need for diverse refugee solutions, with Western countries expanding resettlement and sponsorship programmes. Sponsorship programmes, involving private and community actors in refugee support, are often credited with offering more comprehensive, personalised assistance than government-led resettlement, leading to assumptions of better integration experiences. However, empirical evidence is limited. This study compares the integration experiences of refugees resettled in the UK through the government-led Vulnerable Persons Resettlement Scheme (VPRS) delivered via local-authority caseworker support and the volunteer-led Community Sponsorship (CS) scheme. Using the Home Office's Indicators of Integration framework, the findings show that differences in social support are mediated by structural and institutional factors and do not consistently translate into significant disparities in employment, education, or health experiences. Structural barriers, such as the non-recognition of refugees' qualifications, persist across both schemes. The study highlights the need for a multi-stakeholder approach to refugee integration.</p>","PeriodicalId":48011,"journal":{"name":"International Migration","volume":"64 4","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.5,"publicationDate":"2026-06-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/imig.70193","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148282171","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Selective Institutionalisation and Transnational Moral Economy in the Korea–Central Asia Migration Corridor","authors":"Ikhtiyor Rasulov,&nbsp;Julia Jiwon Shin","doi":"10.1111/imig.70191","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/imig.70191","url":null,"abstract":"<p>This study examines migrant incorporation and informality in the Korea–Central Asia migration corridor, focusing on Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. Using 2024 administrative data from the Korean Immigration Service, it compares registration outcomes and visa composition across four sending countries with distinct institutional profiles. Rather than treating informality as policy failure, the study shows that the coexistence of formal incorporation and unregistered residence is a structured feature of migration governance. The findings are organised into an ideal-type typology of corridor profiles—kinship-driven, institutionalised hybrid, diversified emerging and new-frontier informal—demonstrating how bilateral infrastructure, diaspora composition and origin-state capacity interact with destination-state policy to produce corridor-specific configurations. Drawing on a transnational moral economy framework as an interpretive lens, the analysis highlights how responsibility for social reproduction is distributed across states, households and transnational networks. The typology is proposed as a transferable analytical framework for comparative corridor research, contributing to debates on selective institutionalisation, migrant precarity and the governance of managed labour mobility.</p>","PeriodicalId":48011,"journal":{"name":"International Migration","volume":"64 4","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.1,"publicationDate":"2026-06-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/imig.70191","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148238160","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}