Project Summary Migration studies have often analyzed inequalities faced by older migrants ageing in a place or by the elderly left behind. Yet, in recent years, ageing populations are increasingly mobile after retirement. This new trend enables the study of diverse migration patterns of the elderly. Moreover, international retirement migrants are not a homogeneous category […]
Project Summary Moving beyond a focus on urban centers, in this project we look at how diverse forms of mobility generate social diversity, and how, in turn, these participate in social transformation. We study these questions at the scale of small localities – villages, conglomerations of villages, or valleys – on the outskirts of Europe, […]
The Mobility of Migration Policies: Pathways and Consequences of the Diffusion of Migration Policies
Project Summary The movement of people across national boundaries creates interdependencies among migrant countries of destination, but also between migrant countries of origin and destination. In this situation, states can act autonomously and compete in attracting/repelling migrants, but they can also adopt more cooperative approaches and learn from each other or develop joint norms. In […]
Project Summary In the field of digital migration studies, existing research stresses that digitalization offers new agency tools for migrants, while generating new structural constraints to their actions and (im)mobilities. This project questions the digital empowerment of precarious migrants by unpacking ICTs-mediated practices of asylum seekers and refugees from a Migration-Mobility Nexus perspective. We explore […]
Project Summary With the shift to knowledge-based economies and the dominance of the service sector in developed economies, there has been a growing need for companies to hire ‘knowledge workers’ in increasingly complex roles. Particularly, IT professionals might often engage in international mobility for work. At the same time, the digitalization of work now makes […]
Migration flows and their consequences for immigration societies need statistical data to be adequately managed. In this context, researchers and policy makers regularly delve into original information to monitor issues, such as social cohesion, structural integration and migrants’ living conditions. The aim of this project is threefold: first, it valorizes already existing information and links […]
This project aims at measuring the impact of new forms of migration in Switzerland by analyzing three domains: the labor market, the social insurance system and the spatial distribution of inhabitants. Using statistical methods and longitudinal analyses, as well as results from the Migration-Mobility Survey, the project reveals the complexity and the diversity of new […]
The Arab spring upheavals and civil war in Syria have transformed trajectories of mobility. In this context, the EU, as well as other global legal frameworks evolved, which in turn impacted on notions of identity and belonging. The 2016 New York Declaration for Migrants and Refugees increases the level of international commitment in the fields […]
According to the Swiss dualist immigration policy only highly-qualified nationals from third countries can work in Switzerland. However, some economic sectors depend heavily on low-skilled workers that cannot be recruited legally. Caught between restrictive legislative approaches, the needs of the economy and international human rights obligations States have developed various approaches to solve the untenable […]
Migration law is not just a matter of national law. Instead, various types of bilateral and multilateral agreements come into play. It is the result of State bargaining and thus potentially linked to other issues at stake. Considering a framework of different levels of decision-making, the main focus of this project is on two questions: […]
Over the last few decades, the regulation of migration of third country nationals has been a central concern for the 28 EU Member States (MS) as well as for Switzerland. In contrast to highly skilled workers, the immigration of low-skilled and/or unskilled workers is politically and economically controversial. Until now, governments have followed a sectorial […]
Western countries have long struggled to achieve a successful social and economic integration of immigrants. This challenge has further increased against the backdrop of recent immigration trends. In this context, labor market integration is a pivotal stepping-stone that grants opportunities for immigrants and their families allowing them to take part in the social and economic […]
Migrants to Switzerland are better educated than ever before. Yet, while many highly qualified migrants hold highly regarded positions others are still unable to use their skills. Our goal is to understand the implications of uneven access to resources, opportunities and social participation for different groups of highly qualified migrants. We observe that migrants who […]
Basic economic theory predicts that immigration puts pressure on the wages of native workers. Yet, many empirical studies do not find such effects. We study two mechanisms that can explain this puzzle, namely the reallocation of natives’ labor supply and the market share reallocation of firms. Despite the small effect of immigration on the labor […]
Many governments face the challenge of designing policies that catalyze the integration of immigrants and sustain the social cohesion of host communities. Against this background, we want to know to what extent open labor market access regulations as well as immigrant voting rights foster economic and political integration. We further question how the presence of […]
The phenomenon of international student mobility (ISM) has received little scholarly attention even though it is now a major issue for a) receiving states (as a potential source of skilled labor), b) sending states (as a potential source of brain drain and/or successful returns), c) universities (as a potential booster of international rankings), and d) […]
Swiss migration law defines rules and measures aiming at excluding “unwanted migrants”. However, we know very little about the way in which different actors put these rules into practice. Our project investigates how the exclusion of migrants who are trying to enter or have been requested to leave the Swiss territory is practiced, experienced and […]
Unlike in most European states, immigrant integration policies and discourses in Switzerland are characterized by profound territorial variations, resulting from the comparatively broad degree of autonomy of its cantons and municipalities. Our project mapped out these differences and compared them with other federal and regional states. Overall, our results point to the prominent role of […]
For more than a decade Switzerland has been adopting laws and policies on integration, which are the subject of serious debate. Why is integration so politically contested? Because it is a multifaceted concept and political project with multiple meanings. It does not have a fixed but a relational meaning and faces critique from subaltern and […]
Migration prompts confrontations with questions of belonging among both migrants and those considered native citizens. Often, migrants experience ethnic and cultural boundaries, which exclude them from the majority society. As a result, they have become symbols of ‘the other’. In this project we examine how gender affects constructions of migrant others and promotes particular realities […]
The demands of the job market increasingly bring professionals, their partners and their children to engage in trajectories of repeated international mobility. In Switzerland, whose policies encourage “highly skilled migration”, the number of mobile families is likely to grow in the next few years. Who are these families, and how do they live on the […]
Everyone is the architect of his/her own fortune. This meritocratic principle has a deep motivational impact on immigrants and their children and at the same time inspires integration policies aiming at strengthening immigrants’ capabilities. Yet this promise is not always kept, as our studies show: labor market chances are influenced by the origin of an […]
In Switzerland and elsewhere in Europe, members of the national majority are exposed to immigration in their everyday lives. Both the interactions one has with immigrants (the quality of these interactions, their frequency) as well as societal norms (shaped by legislation, policies, social climate, and media depictions) shape one‘s attitudes related to immigration. To understand […]
European policy makers are struggling with the design of the asylum process and programs for refugee integration, and there are heated debates about what should or should not be done with asylum seekers and refugees. This project will help ground this vitriolic debate in the first systematic evidence on how the key policy parameters of the asylum process […]
Regional governments compete with national and supranational actors for ownership of the regulation of immigration, asylum, and integration. Regions, Bundesländer, cantons and provinces as well as US States increasingly set their own, distinctive, policy priorities. This might lead to conflicts between governmental levels, and ultimately affects migrants’ lives. This project provides the first systematic, internationally […]
