Friend or Foe? Attitudes Towards Immigration from Other European Union Countries

Over the decades Europe has become a destination for different groups of migrants, including mobile citizens from the European Union Member States. At the same time European citizens have become more mobile with a growing number of cross-border practices connecting them to places and people abroad through migration, travel, social networks or consumption practices. The main contribution of this study is in analysing to what extent processes of Europeanization, at an individual and country level, matter for sentiments towards immigration. Data suggest that social globalization processes may produce a sense of threat, but individual transnationalism seems to provide a remedy against prejudice

New Horizons? Comparisons and Frames of Reference of Polish Multiple Migrants Worldwide

Building on the literature on transnational social fields (Levitt & Glick Schiller, 2004) and the research agenda on pluri-local transnational studies (Pries, 2001), in this article we examine the processes of Polish migrants’ social positioning. Nowadays many migrant trajectories are more complex than moving just from one place to another, involving repeated migration spells, returns, and onward mobility. In particular, multiple migration routes involving more than one destination expand the horizons lived by migrants and hence the frames in which they can position themselves. We adopt an actor-centred approach to better understand how highly mobile individuals negotiate social comparisons concerning the contexts they have engaged in during their multiple migration spells. This article draws on qualitative data from the MULTIMIG project that examines Polish migration worldwide. The analysis is based on a qualitative panel study with 70 Poles living abroad, who have the experience of multiple migration (who have lived in two countries outside of Poland for at least three months in each). The interviews shed light on how Polish migrants make social comparisons, and in particular, which frames of reference they adopt

Navigating the European space: physical and virtual forms of cross-border mobility among EU citizens

Drawing on earlier works in the EUCROSS series, this working paper proposes a comprehensive picture of physical and virtual mobility practices. Physical mobilities are characterised with regards to the time factor, thus distinguishing between high and low permanence practices (or ‘migrationlike’ and ‘tourism-like’ mobilities). Virtual mobilities may have personal or impersonal character (taking a ‘facebook-like’ or an ‘eBay-like’ form). A short discussion of each mobility type is additionally described with existing sources (mainly from Eurostat). This range of cross-border practices is then mapped within the European countries in which the EUCROSS survey was carried out (Germany, the UK, Denmark, Italy, Spain and Romania). Quite against conventional wisdom which suggests that EU citizens make modest use of their free movement rights and are rather immobile, we found that one in six Europeans of the EUCROSS sample has spent at least three months in another EU country in their lifetime. Furthermore, 51 per cent have visited another EU member state, even if for a short vacation, in the last two years. Europeans cross borders in a nonphysical sense as well (almost three quarters of our sample), when they connect online or on the phone with significant others who migrated or with friends they met during their physical trips. Finally, Europeans increasingly engage in cross-border transactions (almost one third of EUCROSS sample), shopping online but also transferring money abroad. All these practices are socially structured, their likelihood depending significantly on education, socioeconomic status, gender and age in differing degrees, as multivariate analyses detail. National contexts matter as well. Danes are most mobile when it comes to low permanence physical mobility and impersonal virtual moves. In turn, Britons and Romanians – possibly with different purposes – have definitely higher odds of having migrated, even in the wider sense of migration as ‘long-permanence mobility’ that we used. This reverberates on being more strongly networked with other persons abroad than any other nationality examined

Types of Migration: the motivations, composition, and early integration patterns of 'new migrants' in Europe

Applying latent class analysis to a unique data source of 3,500 Polish migrants in Western Europe, we develop a new typology of Polish migrants under ?free movement? following the 2004 expansion of the European Union. We characterize these diverse migrant types in terms of their pre-migration characteristics and link them to varied early social and economic integration outcomes. We show that alongside traditional circular and temporary labour migration, EU expansion has given rise to new migrant types who are less driven by purely economic concerns, resulting in a more complex relationship between their economic and social integration in destination countries

Exploring new avenues for legislation for labour migration to the European Union

The paradox between the need for international labour migration to counter the impending demographic crisis in Europe and the lack of commensurate policy instruments to attract and integrate labour migration from third countries into the EU is one of the key strategic issues for Europe. Upon request by the LIBE committee, this research paper reviews the social and economic context of EU international labour migration policy, the status of relevant EU legislation and the available policy options from a comprehensive labour market perspective, as well as their feasibility. These options for opening up legal labour migration channels to the EU should be considered in the framework of the ongoing discussion over the European Agenda on Migration

Rethinking Migration Studies for 2050

Migration is a complex social process not simply a response to development imbalances, or a solution to problems like unemployment, poverty or population aging. As such migration and mobility are shaped by broader processes of globalization, development, technological transformation, urbanization and in turn contribute to shaping those. This collective paper raises and seeks to answer important research and policy questions about migration and social change in the next 20 years, reflecting on new forms of migration and mobility and their implications for identity, citizenship, and migration governance