Pub Date : 2025-10-07DOI: 10.1177/01979183251377390
Arokkiaraj Heller, Laavanya Kathiravelu
The mobility between South Asia and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states constitutes the largest migration corridor in the world. Irregular practices are widely tolerated in this region, but have been relatively underexplored in the literature. In exploring that lack, this paper troubles the distinction between regularity and irregularity, demonstrating how different actors constituting the migration industry are complicit in the maintenance of irregularity within the India-Gulf migration corridor. Through in-depth interviews with male returnees in Tamil Nadu, the paper explores how migrants in highly precarious situations mediate modes of irregularity, examining the vulnerabilities they face as well as the strategies they use to manage the migration system. In adopting a migrant-centered perspective, this article sees migrants as co-constructors of (ir)regularity rather than as victims of the migration industry. We develop the emic category of “ khalluli ” to problematize the assumed link between the structural aspects of the migration system and the agency of migrants in dealing with its injustices. Rather than seeing engagement in “khalluli” or irregular labor as a coping strategy, we show that it is a collective sensibility that is woven into the social practices of migrant men. In nuancing notions of complicity amongst transnational labour migrants, this research contributes to interrogations of the migration industry, irregularity, and negotiations of precarity.
{"title":"Blurring the Boundary Between Regular and Irregular: Tamil Low-Wage Migrants in the Gulf and the Co-Construction of Khalluli","authors":"Arokkiaraj Heller, Laavanya Kathiravelu","doi":"10.1177/01979183251377390","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/01979183251377390","url":null,"abstract":"The mobility between South Asia and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states constitutes the largest migration corridor in the world. Irregular practices are widely tolerated in this region, but have been relatively underexplored in the literature. In exploring that lack, this paper troubles the distinction between regularity and irregularity, demonstrating how different actors constituting the migration industry are complicit in the maintenance of irregularity within the India-Gulf migration corridor. Through in-depth interviews with male returnees in Tamil Nadu, the paper explores how migrants in highly precarious situations mediate modes of irregularity, examining the vulnerabilities they face as well as the strategies they use to manage the migration system. In adopting a migrant-centered perspective, this article sees migrants as co-constructors of (ir)regularity rather than as victims of the migration industry. We develop the emic category of “ <jats:italic>khalluli</jats:italic> ” to problematize the assumed link between the structural aspects of the migration system and the agency of migrants in dealing with its injustices. Rather than seeing engagement in “khalluli” or irregular labor as a coping strategy, we show that it is a collective sensibility that is woven into the social practices of migrant men. In nuancing notions of complicity amongst transnational labour migrants, this research contributes to interrogations of the migration industry, irregularity, and negotiations of precarity.","PeriodicalId":48229,"journal":{"name":"International Migration Review","volume":"19 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.8,"publicationDate":"2025-10-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145241844","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-09-30DOI: 10.1177/01979183251381263
Xiaochen Liang
Legal status is increasingly recognized as a hierarchical axis of stratification shaping migrants’ access to employment and rights. The study reported herein examined how three facets of legal status—current categorization, transitions, and initial “starting points”—are associated with the employment conditions of student-migrant-workers (individuals who are on student visas and under post-graduation work permits). Using pooled National Survey of College Graduates (NSCG) data from 2015 to 2021, the analysis employed ordinary least squares and logistic regression models, supplemented by propensity score matching, to assess associations between these legal-status facets and annual earnings and four benefits: health insurance, pension plans, profit-sharing, and paid vacation. Findings show that current student-migrant-workers earned significantly less and had poorer benefit access than their comparable counterparts with temporary work visas, dependent visa, permanent residency, or naturalized citizenship. Transitions from student to other statuses (whether temporary, dependent, or permanent) are associated with improved employment conditions, though the extent varies by destination status. Even after becoming permanent, those who initially entered with student visas continued to earn less than those who initially entered with temporary work visas; this disparity narrows over time, but persists for decades. The study contributes evidence that legal-status categorization, transitions, and starting points operate as stratifying mechanisms of employment even among highly educated migrants.
{"title":"Legal Status Categorization, Transitions, Starting Points as Employment Stratifying Mechanisms: Evidence from US Student-Migrant-Workers","authors":"Xiaochen Liang","doi":"10.1177/01979183251381263","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/01979183251381263","url":null,"abstract":"Legal status is increasingly recognized as a hierarchical axis of stratification shaping migrants’ access to employment and rights. The study reported herein examined how three facets of legal status—current categorization, transitions, and initial “starting points”—are associated with the employment conditions of student-migrant-workers (individuals who are on student visas and under post-graduation work permits). Using pooled National Survey of College Graduates (NSCG) data from 2015 to 2021, the analysis employed ordinary least squares and logistic regression models, supplemented by propensity score matching, to assess associations between these legal-status facets and annual earnings and four benefits: health insurance, pension plans, profit-sharing, and paid vacation. Findings show that current student-migrant-workers earned significantly less and had poorer benefit access than their comparable counterparts with temporary work visas, dependent visa, permanent residency, or naturalized citizenship. Transitions from student to other statuses (whether temporary, dependent, or permanent) are associated with improved employment conditions, though the extent varies by destination status. Even after becoming permanent, those who initially entered with student visas continued to earn less than those who initially entered with temporary work visas; this disparity narrows over time, but persists for decades. The study contributes evidence that legal-status categorization, transitions, and starting points operate as stratifying mechanisms of employment even among highly educated migrants.","PeriodicalId":48229,"journal":{"name":"International Migration Review","volume":"113 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.8,"publicationDate":"2025-09-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145254618","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-09-30DOI: 10.1177/01979183251381266
Pelin Kılınçarslan, Birce Altıok
This paper explores how the local turn in migration governance is facilitated through city diplomacy and international networks within highly centralized political systems. Drawing on interviews with municipal representatives, NGOs, and experts in Istanbul, Turkey, it focuses on the drivers behind the city's increasing international engagement in urban migration governance. This article shows that municipalities and local NGOs are increasingly turning to external networks in response to administrative, financial, and political challenges at the domestic level. It introduces the concept of “maneuvering practicality” as a dual-purpose city diplomacy approach that explains how international networking enables city-level actors to balance immediate pragmatic needs with strategic autonomy-building within centralized governance structures. While the recognition of “cities as international actors” has been growing, its implications for urban migration governance, especially in highly centralized contexts, have received relatively less attention both theoretically and empirically. By framing international city diplomacy as both a counterbalancing tool and a resilience mechanism in migration governance, this paper contributes to the emerging scholarship on migration city diplomacy within international relations, urban studies, and migration studies.
{"title":"Local Turn Through International Networking: Istanbul's Migration City Diplomacy","authors":"Pelin Kılınçarslan, Birce Altıok","doi":"10.1177/01979183251381266","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/01979183251381266","url":null,"abstract":"This paper explores how the local turn in migration governance is facilitated through city diplomacy and international networks within highly centralized political systems. Drawing on interviews with municipal representatives, NGOs, and experts in Istanbul, Turkey, it focuses on the drivers behind the city's increasing international engagement in urban migration governance. This article shows that municipalities and local NGOs are increasingly turning to external networks in response to administrative, financial, and political challenges at the domestic level. It introduces the concept of “maneuvering practicality” as a dual-purpose city diplomacy approach that explains how international networking enables city-level actors to balance immediate pragmatic needs with strategic autonomy-building within centralized governance structures. While the recognition of “cities as international actors” has been growing, its implications for urban migration governance, especially in highly centralized contexts, have received relatively less attention both theoretically and empirically. By framing international city diplomacy as both a counterbalancing tool and a resilience mechanism in migration governance, this paper contributes to the emerging scholarship on migration city diplomacy within international relations, urban studies, and migration studies.","PeriodicalId":48229,"journal":{"name":"International Migration Review","volume":"35 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.8,"publicationDate":"2025-09-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145254626","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-09-26DOI: 10.1177/01979183251381207
Melissa Rooney
{"title":"Book Review: Hosting States and Unsettled Guests RigganJ.PooleA.2024. Hosting States and Unsettled Guests: Eritrean Refugees in a Time of Migration Deterrence. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press. 214 pages. $32.00","authors":"Melissa Rooney","doi":"10.1177/01979183251381207","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/01979183251381207","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":48229,"journal":{"name":"International Migration Review","volume":"31 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.8,"publicationDate":"2025-09-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145154122","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-09-18DOI: 10.1177/01979183251376527
Yen-Fen Tseng
{"title":"Book Review: The EU Migrant Generation in Asia HofHelena. 2022. The EU Migrant Generation in Asia: Middle-Class Aspirations in Asian Global Cities. Bristol: Bristol University Press. 264 pages. GBP 85.","authors":"Yen-Fen Tseng","doi":"10.1177/01979183251376527","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/01979183251376527","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":48229,"journal":{"name":"International Migration Review","volume":"53 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.8,"publicationDate":"2025-09-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145084245","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-09-17DOI: 10.1177/01979183251370713
Matthew D Bird, Luisa Feline Freier, Denisse Piérola
During the COVID-19 pandemic, many refugees and migrants were excluded from otherwise generous government emergency cash transfer programs. What were the consequences of this exclusion, and what does it reveal about designing adaptive social protection for forcibly displaced populations? This randomized study evaluates the impact of a one-time cash transfer to Venezuelan forced migrants in Peru. Using a baseline survey and follow-ups at one, three, and nine weeks post-transfer, the study measured outcomes related to income, spending, consumption, and health. One week after the transfer, income declined, while spending, consumption, and health improved. By week three, the negative impact on income persisted. By week nine, all effects had faded. Post hoc analysis suggests that the decline in income was driven by labor market withdrawal among men, older adults, and households with higher per capita expenses. Unlike other studies of pandemic-era cash transfers to native populations, we find negative labor effects—likely due to the unique urban conditions faced by displaced migrants. These findings contribute to the limited experimental evidence on cash transfers for forcibly displaced populations and offer insights for designing adaptive social protection in future emergencies.
{"title":"Double Jeopardy: Adaptive Social Protection for Venezuelans in Peru during the Pandemic","authors":"Matthew D Bird, Luisa Feline Freier, Denisse Piérola","doi":"10.1177/01979183251370713","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/01979183251370713","url":null,"abstract":"During the COVID-19 pandemic, many refugees and migrants were excluded from otherwise generous government emergency cash transfer programs. What were the consequences of this exclusion, and what does it reveal about designing adaptive social protection for forcibly displaced populations? This randomized study evaluates the impact of a one-time cash transfer to Venezuelan forced migrants in Peru. Using a baseline survey and follow-ups at one, three, and nine weeks post-transfer, the study measured outcomes related to income, spending, consumption, and health. One week after the transfer, income declined, while spending, consumption, and health improved. By week three, the negative impact on income persisted. By week nine, all effects had faded. Post hoc analysis suggests that the decline in income was driven by labor market withdrawal among men, older adults, and households with higher per capita expenses. Unlike other studies of pandemic-era cash transfers to native populations, we find negative labor effects—likely due to the unique urban conditions faced by displaced migrants. These findings contribute to the limited experimental evidence on cash transfers for forcibly displaced populations and offer insights for designing adaptive social protection in future emergencies.","PeriodicalId":48229,"journal":{"name":"International Migration Review","volume":"76 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.8,"publicationDate":"2025-09-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145077990","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-09-15DOI: 10.1177/01979183251377434
Marvin Joseph F. Montefrio
In a warming planet, climate variability, extreme weather events, and sea-level rise are putting pressure on poor and precarious rural and urban households to seek livelihood opportunities abroad. This phenomenon is evident in the Philippines, a country highly vulnerable to climate change and a leading exporter of migrant workers. This paper examines the intricate relationship among climate change impacts and interventions, (mal)adaptation of poor rural and urban households, and climate-induced (im)mobility. While the Philippine literature already demonstrates many of the complexities of the climate-migration nexus, there is still a need to examine understudied topics such as the effects of both climate change impacts and interventions, the role of other environmental and economic crises that overlap with climate change, and the implications of and conditions leading to climate immobility. Uncovering these additional complexities, especially through a political ecology lens, emphasizes the need to interrogate and inform both migration and climate/disaster governance.
{"title":"The Political Ecology of Philippine Migration in a Changing Climate","authors":"Marvin Joseph F. Montefrio","doi":"10.1177/01979183251377434","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/01979183251377434","url":null,"abstract":"In a warming planet, climate variability, extreme weather events, and sea-level rise are putting pressure on poor and precarious rural and urban households to seek livelihood opportunities abroad. This phenomenon is evident in the Philippines, a country highly vulnerable to climate change and a leading exporter of migrant workers. This paper examines the intricate relationship among climate change impacts and interventions, (mal)adaptation of poor rural and urban households, and climate-induced (im)mobility. While the Philippine literature already demonstrates many of the complexities of the climate-migration nexus, there is still a need to examine understudied topics such as the effects of both climate change impacts and interventions, the role of other environmental and economic crises that overlap with climate change, and the implications of and conditions leading to climate immobility. Uncovering these additional complexities, especially through a political ecology lens, emphasizes the need to interrogate and inform both migration and climate/disaster governance.","PeriodicalId":48229,"journal":{"name":"International Migration Review","volume":"29 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.8,"publicationDate":"2025-09-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145072662","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-09-12DOI: 10.1177/01979183251377350
Michelle Lynn Kahn
{"title":"Book Review: A Place in the Homeland? KılınçN.KingR.2025. A Place in the Homeland?: Turkish-German Return Migration. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. 328 pp., £95.00.","authors":"Michelle Lynn Kahn","doi":"10.1177/01979183251377350","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/01979183251377350","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":48229,"journal":{"name":"International Migration Review","volume":"37 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.8,"publicationDate":"2025-09-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145072667","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-09-12DOI: 10.1177/01979183251376544
Daniel Meierrieks, Julia Stier
How does the viewing of social media content produced by Senegalese migrants residing in Europe correlate with migration aspirations of people in Senegal? We answer this research question by interrogating original survey data from two regions in Senegal, Dakar and the Casamance, as well as original interview data of (potential) Senegalese migrants, repatriates, migration experts, and stakeholders. Using a mixed-methods approach that combines our qualitative interview and quantitative survey data, we provide robust evidence that viewing more social media content produced by compatriots in Europe coincides with stronger migration aspirations among respondents in Dakar and the Casamance. We also shed light on potential mechanisms. Here, our findings suggest that viewers of social media content by Senegalese migrants in Europe express higher admiration for migrants, consider the migration journey to Europe to be more viable and expect life in Europe to be especially rewarding. Our findings are in line with the cognitive migration model, which posits that migration aspirations are shaped by the potential migrants’ mental time travel to an imagined future abroad. We argue that browsing social media content produced by Senegalese migrants residing in Europe creates particularly positive notions about migration and life in Europe, fueling migration aspirations by facilitating and making the cognitive migration of people in Dakar and the Casamance especially appealing.
{"title":"The Role of Social Media Content in Migration Aspirations: Mixed-Methods Evidence From Two Senegalese Regions","authors":"Daniel Meierrieks, Julia Stier","doi":"10.1177/01979183251376544","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/01979183251376544","url":null,"abstract":"How does the viewing of social media content produced by Senegalese migrants residing in Europe correlate with migration aspirations of people in Senegal? We answer this research question by interrogating original survey data from two regions in Senegal, Dakar and the Casamance, as well as original interview data of (potential) Senegalese migrants, repatriates, migration experts, and stakeholders. Using a mixed-methods approach that combines our qualitative interview and quantitative survey data, we provide robust evidence that viewing more social media content produced by compatriots in Europe coincides with stronger migration aspirations among respondents in Dakar and the Casamance. We also shed light on potential mechanisms. Here, our findings suggest that viewers of social media content by Senegalese migrants in Europe express higher admiration for migrants, consider the migration journey to Europe to be more viable and expect life in Europe to be especially rewarding. Our findings are in line with the cognitive migration model, which posits that migration aspirations are shaped by the potential migrants’ mental time travel to an imagined future abroad. We argue that browsing social media content produced by Senegalese migrants residing in Europe creates particularly positive notions about migration and life in Europe, fueling migration aspirations by facilitating and making the cognitive migration of people in Dakar and the Casamance especially appealing.","PeriodicalId":48229,"journal":{"name":"International Migration Review","volume":"74 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.8,"publicationDate":"2025-09-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145072661","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-09-09DOI: 10.1177/01979183251376526
Seven Erdoğan
{"title":"Book Review: Global Warming and Mass Migration Soukharev, Boris. 2025. Global Warming and Mass Migration: Climate Change and Its Impact on Migration to the North . Cham: Springer. 356 pages. Paperback € 44.99.","authors":"Seven Erdoğan","doi":"10.1177/01979183251376526","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/01979183251376526","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":48229,"journal":{"name":"International Migration Review","volume":"61 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.8,"publicationDate":"2025-09-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145056710","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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