1,721,001 research outputs found
The European convergence towards civic integration
No full textDue to a series of events that have highlighted the lack of integration and the socio-economic marginalization of populations with immigrant background, European countries have converged towards the civic integration, which requires migrants to learn the language, the civic values and the culture of the residence country. The aim of this work is to offer an overview of such policies by making a systematic review of actual legal texts and academic literature. My focus is on Italy, as one of the Southern European countries with the largest migration inflows
Immigrant citizenship status in Europe: the role of individual characteristics and national policies
Get PDFThe acquisition of citizenship status in the new country of residence may depend on (1) the individual immigrant’s characteristics, (2) the structural characteristics of both the origin and the destination countries and (3) institutional factors in the destination country including policy factors, specifically the national citizenship policies. Although almost all European countries have shifted from a ‘nationalist’ to a more ‘multiculturalist’ citizenship policy, thus formally liberalising the access to citizenship rights, in Europe the opportunities for obtaining citizenship status in the new country of residence are still quite limited for many immigrants and their descendants. In addition, the conditions under which immigrants become naturalised citizens vary widely between countries. Indeed, there are many differences in policies on the right to citizenship in terms of the residence requirements for naturalisation, citizenship by birth, acceptance of dual citizenship and language requirements. The aim of this paper is to examine, through a logistic regression model with cluster-robust standard errors, the effect of both individuallevel characteristics and measures of national citizenship policies on the likelihood of citizenship status amongst young and adult immigrants living in six European countries, i.e. Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Portugal and Spain, using data from the Immigrant Citizens Survey (ICS). The results show a considerable effect of individual characteristics on citizenship status. However, the effect of policy factors is also important. In particular, a lower residence requirement for naturalisation and a more inclusive environment favour immigrants becoming citizens of the new country of residence
What is the Relationship Between the Perceived Quality of Neighbourhood and the Self-reported Life Satisfaction in Immigrants Versus Natives in Europe?
Get PDFSubjective well-being (SWB) is emerging as an important measure of individual and societal progress. Among the many individual factors associated with SWB, the quality of the neighbourhood is recently receiving growing attention as a factor shaping self-reported life satisfaction in contemporary societies. However, to the best of our knowledge, studies focusing on the perceived quality of the neighbourhood are still scant. We aim to fill this gap, comparing self-reported life satisfaction of different population groups (i.e., immigrants and natives) living in European countries, and to analyse the association between self-reported life satisfaction and the perceived quality of the neighbourhood, controlling for individual socio-demographic and human capital variables and socio-economic characteristics of the country of residence. The data are drawn from the cross-sectional European Quality of Life Survey (EQLS) of 2016. Our findings reveal that first and second-generation immigrants report lower self-reported life satisfaction compared to natives. Moreover, our findings show that the positive subjective evaluation of the characteristics and services available in the immediate neighbourhood where people live is positively associated with self-reported life satisfaction. There is also a positive relationship between contacts and social networks in the neighbourhood and self-reported life satisfaction. Finally, the characteristics of the country of residence matter for both native and immigrants’ life satisfaction, with immigrants being more satisfied in countries with higher quality of life captured by country gross domestic product (GDP) per capita, life expectancy and unemployment rate
Migration Policies in Europe: the way ahead
No full textStarting from an analysis of EU migration policies before 2011, this work aims to understand how European countries managed the North Mediterranean’s situation after the events of Arab Spring, and which kinds of policies has been adopted by European countries. We focused in particular on Italy, as major Mediterranean destination country. Although the effect of migration following the uprisings was not that strong as announced by the mass media, as the main consequences happened in the region itself, the EU responded to the migratory movements from the south Mediterranean countries reactivating old positions, based on border controls and containment of migrants and refugees. Nevertheless, data showed that restrictive migration policies are not able to prevent irregular flows and control migration; on the contrary, they increase the likelihood of dying at border crossings and caused marginalization and episodes of racism in the hosting societies. Even the more liberal policies aimed at influencing the dimension and the directions of immigration fail their objective. For this reason, we argued that to adapt our societies to the challenges of migration, integration policies should be implemented. It will not only be reasonable and convenient for the receiving countries, but also more humanistic when migrants are considere
Fragmented integration and transnational networks: a case study of Indian immigration to Italy and Spain
Get PDFAccording to 2016 municipal register data, Italy has the highest number of Indians in continental Europe (151,000), followed by Spain (41,000). Mass immigration from India to Italy and Spain started in the 1990s, but economic and political environments more conducive to the entry and permanent settlement of immigrants have resulted in more rapid growth of the Indian immigrant community in Italy than Spain. Due to the unskilled and irregular nature of Indian immigration and the lack of integration policies for unskilled labour in both countries, the level of integration of Indian immigrants remains unexplored. In this research, we used a qualitative methodology to explore the integration level of Indian immigrants into different spheres of these host societies. We conducted 86 semi-structured interviews with Indian immigrants in seven cities with high concentration of Indian immigrants in both countries over 2016–2017. We found that the level of integration of Indian immigrants into the host societies is fragmented: some segments of the Indian community are integrated into specific spheres of the host societies, while the rest remain excluded. The main reasons for this fragmented integration are the absence of integration policies for unskilled immigrants, Indians’ provisional attitudes towards permanent settlement in these countries, the internal diversity of the Indian immigrant community and frequent international mobility through transnational networks
Studying immigrant integration in Europe: civic rhetoric, citizenship policies and self-reported life satisfaction
Get PDFAim of this work has been to understand if integration policies help immigrants to enhance their long-term success and parity with natives. Immigrant integration has been conceived as the process aimed at reducing gaps with natives, therefore at providing to immigrants the same opportunities of native-born citizens, in the main domains of life. The first paper of the thesis has offered a comparative overview of civic integration programmes adopted by European countries in recent years. I have argued that civic integration produces a ‘stratification’ of the immigrant population in receiving countries, because it exacerbates the gap between high-skilled and low-skilled immigrants, therefore between wanted and unwanted migration. Moreover, civic integration is strongly embedded into citizenship, since it establishes under what conditions eligible immigrants can obtain the citizenship status of the new residence country. Therefore, the second paper has examined the effect of both individual-level characteristics and measures of national citizenship policies on the likelihood of having citizenship status among immigrants living in selected European countries. As individual level data I have used the Immigrant Citizens Survey (ICS), conducted by the King Baudouin Foundation and the Migration Policy Group, from October 2011 to January 2012. For the country-level data, a systematic review of national citizenship policies, academic literature and the Eurostat database have been used. Results have highlighted the strong effect of individual characteristics on citizenship status among young and adult immigrants and, therefore, the positive effect of higher family stability, educational attainment, current economic situation, perceived financial well-being, duration of residence and cultural similarity between the country of residence and the country of origin. Nevertheless, policy factors intervene to produce this effect. In particular, a low number of years of residence needed for naturalization, the dual citizenship toleration and relatively high naturalization rates and proportions of foreign citizens positively influence citizenship status among immigrants. Finally, self-reported life satisfaction has been used in the third paper to assess immigrants’ subjective integration. Self-reported life satisfaction has allowed taking into account not only objective forms of integration, but also immigrants’ perceptions about their life into the residence country. This is also in line with the idea that integration is a multidimensional and two-way process, which implies the contribution and the point of view of both newcomers and hosting societies. The positive linkage existing between citizenship status and life satisfaction in the residence country provides evidence for the objective character of naturalization in shaping integration, which, although made more demanding by civic requirements, represents, to this day, the best way for immigrants to acquire parity with natives
The Return Intentions of North African Migrants in Italy
No full textMigrants return intentions are directly linked to the integration in the receiving country but also to the migratory project that is behind the initial migration and to the presence (or absence) of family members in the country of origin (or destination). The latter may imply the so called “pendulum migration” (de Haas H., Fokkema T., 2010), i.e. migrants that spend a part of the year in their country of origin, even if they reside legally in Europe where they spend the rest of the year.
The aim of this work is to shed light on return intentions of the North African migrants in Italy, exploring their evolution eventually linked to the Arab springs.
In order to answer to our research questions, we use a mix of qualitative and quantitative methods. We lead a quantitative multivariate analysis on return intention of North Africans
migrants in Italy, based on the 2009 Survey on Income and Living Conditions (SILC). Qualitative analysis based on interviews to North Africans migrants in Italy will be used to better understand
the “pendulum migration” phenomenon and the consequence of Arab springs on return intentions
Migration policies in times of crisis: a subsidiarity approach
No full textThe aim of this work is to offer a contribution to the scientific debate on the European impasse concerning the issue of migrants. The answer to the request of acquis communautaire which, the Authors argue, raises from migrants’ mobility, should be found in a European approach based on the principle of subsidiarity. At the local level, the solutions to the problems of integration and interculturalism; at the national level, the planning of legal flows and at the supranational level, the political governance of migrations movements, including the relations with the migrants’ sending countries. The subsidiarity approach implies a multilevel citizenship that today is formally recognized by the European countries in a very asymmetrical way. Even in this case, the position of migrants is a very explicit example of what is, under a theoretical point of view, logic and what is, under a political point of view, viable. The reduction of the distance between what is logic and what is viable, is the open land for the new migration policies in Europe. This work is structured as follows: in the first section, the European concept of subsidiarity is introduced; in the second section, its relationship with the principle of the acquis communautaire is illustrated; in the third session, the acquis communautaire is included among the theoretical explanations of international migration; the concluding section illustrates the recent migration crisis and discusses the principle
of subsidiarity as a key solution to it
Which Future for Migration in Europe? A Brief Analysis of the Eu Migration Policies in the Mediterranean Area
No full textStarting from an analysis of the migration policies enacted by the European Union before 2011, this work aims to understand how European countries managed the North Mediterranean’s situation after the events of Arab Spring, and which kind of policies has been adopted by them. A particular attention is devoted to Italy, as one of major Mediterranean immigration countries. Although past evidence shows that restrictive migration policies are unable to prevent irregular flows and control migration, the main response of the European Union to the migratory movements from the south Mediterranean countries was a reinstating of prior positions on the matter, which are based on border controls and restrictions over migrants and refugees. We argue that such policies increase the likelihood of dying at border crossings and cause marginalization and episodes of racism in the host societies. Policies in favor of mobility and integration of foreigners should be preferred to surveillance measures, the former being more realistic, effective and, above all, safer for migrants
To stay or to return? Return migration intentions of Moroccans in Italy
No full textUsing data from the Statistics on Income and living conditions of families with migrants carried out by ISTAT in 2009, we empirically examine the effect of micro level determinants on Moroccans’ return migration intentions. Although Moroccans living in Italy do not have a clear aspiration to return, the socio-economic and work conditions in Italy determine their migration intentions. Furthermore, our research led us to argue that macro-level determinants should also be considered. In particular, emigration, immigration and integration policies represent key elements in the analysis of the dilemma between to stay or to return. Therefore, the promotion of long-term immigration policies, which allow the achievement of a permanent residence in the host country, combined with institutional reforms, which make the origin country socially, economically and politically more attractive for migrants are essential to complete the debate about to stay or to return
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