Abstract This paper applies institutionalist theories to an exploration of continuity and change in the Italian labor immigration regime between 1990 and 2020. It asks why the regime has remained largely unchanged since the 1990s and investigates changes in regulatory settings since 2008. The explanation for the reproduction and inertia of the regime encompasses a logic of appropriateness, institutional

Abstract This article traces the ways in which a refugee resistance movement reclaimed space, place and time in 2021 and 2022 since it first began its’ protests in 2012 in Berlin. Much scholarship on refugee resistance has focused on episodic moments of refugee protests and membership in the polity and have not recognized the relationship between temporalities and visibility. This study demonstrates

Abstract Humanitarian actors often present refugees as vulnerable to mobilize support. Their visual framing, in particular, moves refugees’ helplessness to the center. Critical scholars, however, argue that this representation can have exclusionary effects. In this article, we outline a research agenda to examine this claim empirically and provide initial results testing it. Based on a survey experiment

Abstract This article explores categorizations of migration from a biographical and historical perspective. By comparing biographical narratives of migrants who arrived in France during two historical periods: in the 1960s-1970s (in the context of labor migration) and in the 2010s (in the context of student, high-skilled and refugee migration), it analyzes the impact of categorizations on migrants’

Abstract This study assesses gender gaps in political participation within the host country and in transnational activities among immigrants, using a survey of more than 1000 immigrants in Quebec (Canada). More specifically, the study examines whether premigration experiences with gender equality shapes immigrants’ political participation. We find no evidence of gender gaps in political activities

Abstract This paper discusses the contradictions and tensions in the governance of international migration that the pandemic has exposed. It starts by defining the pandemic emergency as a wicked problem. Even though wicked problems usually do not have solutions, we argue that building resilience and sustainability as key features in migration governance can help address this wicked challenge. We look

Abstract While most immigrant-receiving countries have restricted immigration during the COVID-19 pandemic, Canada has taken a very different approach, increasing its immigration targets over the next three years. With this move, Canada has made it clear that immigrants are expected to play a lead role in the post-pandemic economic recovery. Most of these immigrants will be admitted through Express

Abstract The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the importance of immigrant health workers in OECD nations, and intensified debates about the current and future supply and distribution of such workers, particularly nurses. This review paper considers internationally educated nurses in the case of Ontario, Canada, and the policy responses developed during the pandemic to address the increased utilization

ABSTRACT Many governments closed their borders in spring 2020 to prevent the spread of Covid, but they also made exceptions to allow farm employers to recruit temporary foreign workers to fill seasonal farm jobs. The pandemic changed many parameters of food systems. Closed restaurants led to widespread layoffs in leisure and hospitality, rates of Covid were high among nonfarm food processing and meatpacking

Abstract The ongoing Covid-19 pandemic has strongly reaffirmed the critical importance of labor migration to the global economy, even as it has raised questions about the temporary migration programs responsible for much of this migration. In the Arab Gulf states – home to some of the world’s highest proportions of migrants – the pandemic has highlighted critical structural weaknesses in the region’s

ABSTRACT We compare Germany and Singapore to see how their approaches toward talent migration governance have evolved in the last decade and whether and how the COVID-19 pandemic has affected these developments. Building on the Highly-Skilled Immigration Index (HSII), our discussions show Germany becoming very welcoming of high-skilled labor migrants, and Singapore becoming increasingly selective in

Abstract The UK’s ‘Australian-style’ points-based system (PBS), introduced in 2021, has been promoted by politicians as a strategy to ‘take back control’ of migration after leaving the European Union. However, the 2021 PBS is just the most recent of several initiatives since 2002 to introduce points into the UK’s labor migration policy. Points tests in various forms have been repeatedly introduced

Abstract According to social policy literature, people utilize five criteria – Control, Attitude, Reciprocity, Identity, Need – to distinguish the deserving from the undeserving. Most studies rely on proxy variables rather than measuring deservingness criteria directly. We propose and validate a new instrument – the Migrant Deservingness Scale – that captures these criteria. We analyze data from an

Abstract Although the 2015 “refugee crisis” dominated Europe’s policy-making agenda, little research was actually conducted with refugees. Using focus groups, interviews and photovoice, this study explores the identity and integration processes of 20 refugees, in two German towns, in 2017. While previous scholarship has rightly emphasized the importance of secure legal status for integration, this

Abstract In this study we explore how endorsing binding moral foundations and the perception of realistic and symbolic threat mediate the relationship between need for cognitive closure (NCC) and prejudice against migrants in Italy. We hypothesized that individuals with a high NCC are more prone to endorse binding moral foundations and also to perceive high realistic and symbolic threats and, consequently

Abstract Conflict and displacement are gendered processes which impact women in refugee communities in various ways. The following case study, in a small refugee camp in Chennai, explores whether the design of a small refugee camp allows for increased mobility among women and a different position for female refugees in the community. Findings from a two-year long study, including participant observations

Abstract This paper identifies the short- and long-term labor market impact of negative experiences in using social media to gather information about the Canadian labor market at the pre-arrival stage. Negative social media experiences, mainly due to misinformation and a lack of digital skills, have a short-term negative effect on employment and earnings, but these effects dissipate in the long-term

Abstract Literature reveals that immigrant-serving nonprofits enact an array of strategies that contribute to local policy and other immigrant inclusion outcomes. Yet this empirical relationship has not been systemically and holistically examined across contexts. Drawing on 30 qualitative interviews with immigrant-serving nonprofit practitioners operating throughout various U.S. cities, I specified

Abstract Since the early 1990s, Chile has become a regionally relevant immigrant receiving country. This increase in immigration, the largest in the country’s history, has encountered distinct responses from the state, civil society, and—particularly—printed media. Using a thematic analysis of 134 articles published between 1991 and 2001, I argue that Chilean newspapers framed the portrayals of recent

Abstract Immigrants who ultimately attain U.S. lawful permanent residence (LPR) enter with various initial legal statuses, which stratify their access to resources and have great implications for their economic integration. This study examines how initial legal status affects LPRs’ asset building by investigating three types of financial assets – bank account ownership, investment account ownership

Abstract The literature argues that linguistic enclaves negatively affect immigrants’ language proficiency by reducing their exposure and incentives to learn destination language. This negative association may, however, be spurious, arising due to the self-selection of immigrants into regions with larger enclaves. Exploiting the natural experiment of the German residential policy, this paper analyses

Abstract The control function of reception centers hinders asylum seekers’ settlement to their host communities. Even though open accommodation centers compose the majority of the European reception system, few studies have comprehensively analyzed their controlling aspects from the asylum seeker perspective. In this article, we examine asylum seekers’ experiences of confinement in Finnish reception

Abstract This study examines the relationship between anticipated ethno-racial rejection, place attachment, and attitudes toward immigrants. Drawing from over 2,500 responses from a neighborhood level survey conducted in Melbourne, Australia, we ask if those who anticipate social rejection on the basis of their race and ethnicity report unwelcoming attitudes toward immigrants when compared to those

Abstract The global refugee crisis and the increased number of refugees seeking asylum in Canada has led the federal government to enact a series of policy reforms related to refugee healthcare coverage and spending. This paper provides a critical review of the Interim Federal Health Program (IFHP), drawing on concepts from social justice, migration, and market-oriented theories while examining policy

Abstract Cultural competence (CC) in the refugee context remains under-addressed in the literature. This study explores the perceptions of asylum seekers and refugees (N = 25) concerning the CC of healthcare providers. This study was conducted in 2019, on the island of Lesvos in Greece. A major finding is that, for the participants, CC means the provision of equal and human treatment and not the knowledge

Abstract To center the experiences of twenty Salvadoran women from the Washington, D.C. metro area, I use intersectionality as a conceptual framework. Starting from the vantage point of intersecting identities, these women build on gender and immigrant experiences to remain “fearless fighters” and “leave footprints” with their activism. However, sexism and racism press on their feelings of empowerment

Abstract This study explores one of the least studied components of forced migrants’ journeys—the internal political conditions of the host/transit countries. Using the social navigation approach, we demonstrate how these conditions influence the progress or halt of migration journeys of asylum seekers. We interviewed asylum seekers from Eritrea and Sudan about their journey from their country of origin

Abstract This study examines information-seeking behaviors of immigrants from Russia and Ukraine living in a medium-sized city in the Southeastern United States. Qualitative research methods included focus group meetings, semi-structured in-depth interviews, and a Photovoice project. Participants shared what information they needed to adapt to the American culture, where they looked for this information

Abstract Canada occupies a leadership role in resettling refugees as part of the United Nation’s durable solutions to the global refugee crisis. Although resettlement is an important demonstration of international solidarity, it also poses many challenges for policymakers in terms of optimizing integration and settlement outcomes for refugees. Under the Canadian Resettlement Assistance Program (RAP)

Abstract The struggle for recognition of undocumented migrants is usually portrayed as a public affair involving the contestation of legal status. We advance a broader conceptualization that demands attention to the more intimate sphere where relational processes of recognition take place in interactions with significant others. Based on 70 in-depth interviews, we identify four recognition strategies

Abstract This article discusses the potential and limits of municipal solidarity with refugees to offer solutions to some of the acute problems caused by the lack of international and intra-European Union (EU) solidarity. It focuses on the Greek island of Tilos, which in contrast to the nearby hotspot islands has developed a reception model that safeguards refugees’ rights, preserves social cohesion

Abstract Drawing on ethnographic research on Lodge Lane, the main commercial street within Toxteth (Liverpool), this paper reveals how fundamental ethnic minority enterprises (EMEs) have been to the regeneration of this marginalized area due to public disinvestment. Acting as critical infrastructure, they have transformed the materiality of the locale, and by extension, they have afforded new kinds

Abstract Access to and utilization of preventive health services are diversely distributed among immigrants. This paper aims to test the impact of structural, socio-economic, cultural, and contextual factors, and to test whether the acculturation theory holds true for migrants in Italy. Based on the “Social Condition and Integration of Foreign Citizens” survey (2011–2012), this paper shows that utilization

Abstract Migration is often explained as either forced or economic. But what if people leave, as the state’s ability to govern declines? I examine whether changes in a state’s governance impact the number of asylum applicants from the country to Europe. I measure state fragility using the Fragile State Index (FSI) from the Fund for Peace (FFP). The dataset’s granularity permits analysis of the relative

Abstract This paper uses data from interviews with immigrant youth in Ottawa, Canada, to explore early career-development and employment transition experiences of the youth. Framed by the Community-Interaction Theory of Career Development, the study explores the kind of influences and influencers, which shape career decisions and early on-the-job experiences of young immigrants. Thematic analysis of

Abstract This paper discusses the meanings and practices of multiculturalism among young people from refugee and migrant backgrounds in one of Australia’s most multicultural cities. It is based on a three-year ethnographic study exploring refugee and migrant youth engaged in sports and arts in the suburbs of Melbourne known as “migrant”, “ethnic” and “multicultural” areas. The result of the study indicates

Abstract This article examines how Hindu migrant-refugee men use the digital smartphone application WhatsApp to make collective claims on Indian citizenship based on their experiences of exclusion as a religious minority in Pakistan. Drawing on long-term digital and in-person ethnography, I explore the ways that Pakistani Hindu migrant-refugee men commonly exchange images of young Hindu women, reportedly

Abstract Familial and intimate relationships at a distance are reconstituted in a multitude of ways, as the proliferation of social media and communication technologies afford the scaling up of privacy and publicness, also blurring the lines between presence and absence in transnational space. Based on a longitudinal and mixed method research on the impact of migration on Filipino left-behind young

Abstract Hostile attitudes toward refugees are on the rise, yet individuals who hold negative beliefs toward out-groups are the most difficult to persuade. Is an explicit persuasive appeal effective for such groups, or should fictional narratives with implicit messages be used instead? An online experiment (N = 1, 749) was conducted to test this possibility with three possible media-based interventions:

Abstract Forced migration is a phenomenon that profoundly affects the levels of resilience and life satisfaction of refugees. Hence, the purpose of current study is to address how Syrian refugee university students who study in Turkey recovered after deformation caused by significant changes in their life. This study employed a convergent mixed method design. The quantitative results indicated that

Abstract This article aims at discussing the involvement of “humanitarian” actors, stemming from civil society, in treatment of the issue of refugees’ reception. It suggests the concept of “de-bordering solidarity,” to express the political meaning of such mobilizations. With this term, it refers to various forms of support provided by activists and volunteers, through which these actors contest policies

Abstract In South Africa there is a conflation between refugees and other migrants at a legislative, policy and narrative level. Based on 32 interviews and four focus groups conducted in Johannesburg and Musina in spring 2020, we show the conflation between refugees and migrants through changing legislation, a bureaucratized system which makes access to any legal status difficult and political narratives

Abstract Focusing on Europe’s 2015 crisis in Italy and drawing on Balibar’s notion of “crisis racism,” this article discusses how the amplification of the refugee/economic migrant binary in “crisis” contexts carries asylum adjudication beyond courts, into the public sphere. Analyzing policy-related discourse and interviews with asylum seekers, I discuss how crisis racism feeds a culture of suspicion

Abstract This article will analyze rural-urban migrant workers’ multiple journeys of financial secrecies, gendered solidarities and covert income-management through the use of smartphones and net-banking in the city. Using the narratives of informal domestic workers in Kolkata, a city in eastern India, I show how migrant women managed a shadow network of personal savings, free of surveillance from

Abstract In recent decades, the role of digital communication in the lives of migrants in Asia has greatly expanded, becoming integral to the decision to migrate, earning a living, and the practice of keeping in touch with left-behind families and friends. The papers in this Special Issue foreground how gender structures and practices within migrant households and the wider political economy shape

Abstract There has been increasing attention to legal and political contention concerning refugees and asylum seekers in cities. However, there are further opportunities to analyze the relationship between civil society litigation and state institutions in Global South cities. In this paper, I analyze civil society litigation to re-open Refugee Reception Offices (RROs) in South Africa. Primarily based

Abstract Human rights discourse has become central to the global debates about treatment of and solutions for refugees and displaced persons. Following the expansion of rights-oriented terminology generally, advocates for displacees have increasingly framed their arguments in human rights terms. Many believe that human rights discourse can help mobilize humanitarian solutions for people fleeing violence

Abstract The study of environmental migration has shown how an attachment to land reduces the perceptions of risks, and how women often lack resources to evacuate. This qualitative study of Japanese women’s migration to Southeast Asia after the Fukushima nuclear disaster complicates the debate by showing that the post-disaster attachment to the land is disrupted by unequal gendered social relations

Abstract This article deconstructs the migrant/refugee/host ternary at the Tanzania-Burundi borderlands of Kigoma region. I complicate migrant/refugee binary by presenting different trajectories and outcomes of Burundians participating in agricultural systems surrounding refugee camps. This history of migration and displacement is not new, however, but has been impelled since the rise of European colonization

Abstract This paper unpacks 20 Vietnamese-Canadians’ sentiments of indifference toward or opposition to Canada’s resettlement of Syrian refugees. I argue that participants center their understanding of ‘refugee’ around their diasporic journeys on boats to memorialize their visceral suffering and to position themselves as deserving of entry into Canada atop a hierarchy of legitimacy. In doing so, participants

Abstract The pathway to aging well is not always clear for older migrants living in a foreign country, who must navigate a range of challenges resulting from differences between the cultural expectations of aging in their country of origin and the realities of aging in their country of residence. Transnational migration scholars indicate that digital media are important resources for maintaining relationships

Abstract The label ‘refugee’ is often used to describe a person long after they have settled as a permanent resident in a new country. What ‘refugee’ means to those labeled as such, however, is regularly missing from discourses about third country resettlement. This article seeks to bring attention to such voices, acknowledging them as crucial to discussions about the usefulness and relevance of the

Abstract Through an Ambiguous Loss framework, this study examines how family members in the United States and in Cambodia process grief and cope with deportation and separation. The ongoing sense of loss can result in families feeling stuck, continually dealing with the ambiguity of whether their deported family member is in or out of the family. Individual and group interviews conducted with family

Abstract This introduction outlines the need for a Special Issue on the topic of the migrant/refugee binary, discusses the contributions of the six papers that make up the issue, and outlines an agenda for future research on this topic.

(2022). Correction. Journal of Immigrant & Refugee Studies. Ahead of Print.

Abstract A majority of people from a refugee background endure cumulative traumatic experiences that are compounded by acculturative distress, which disrupts their systems of safety, support, sense of justice, and identity. Literature highlighting the impacts of consistently bearing witness to traumatic experiences and addressing the multiple needs of refugee survivors of trauma is limited. This integrative

Abstract Since the so-called ‘migration crisis’ in 2015/16, EU governments’ efforts to launch online campaigns to inform potential migrants about the risks of irregularity have increased. These migration management tools often apply dissuasive messages, declaring to support migrants to make informed decisions. This article investigates such campaigns through the lens of government communication, a

Abstract In this study, we examined the connections between exposure to traumatic events, contacts with the majority society and the ethnic group, psychological well-being, and sociocultural adaptation among Eritrean asylum seekers in Israel (n = 132). The obtained results demonstrate the long-term destructive effect of exposure to traumatic events on the psychological well-being but not necessarily

Abstract Sports can help refugees mitigate traumas, connect with others, and learn positive values. In this illustrative comparative study, we compare two sport programs for the acculturation of refugees in the US and Sweden. Our aim is to describe both programs, compare them with the literature, and present suggestions for the field. Hence, we placed the program participants at the center of their

Abstract This article, based on qualitative research, focuses on socioeconomic integration trajectories of the refugee population in Spain. In the period between 2014 and 2020, refugees’ arrivals in Spain have continuously increased. Despite protection provided by the Spanish Reception System, refugees emulate the same precarious integration outcomes as refugees in other developed countries, such as