Migration & Citizenship Notes
MIGRANT THERE IS NO LEGAL DEFINITION OF A MIGRANT IN INTERNATIONAL LAW
- Moving away from habitual residence
- Can be internal and external
+ 6 months
IMMIGRANT
EMIGRANT Someone entering a country
Someone leaving a country
ECONOMIC MIGRANT Immigration decisions are based on cost-benefit analysis
- Do economic benefits outweigh migration risks
- Increasing human capital
- Living standard, job, eduction
→ racial discrimination can result in wide range of psychological distress and can
interfere with integration
FAMILY MIGRANT - Family reunification
- Social capital (migrant networks, potential better job opportunities)
- Cumulative causation
POLITICAL MIGRANT - Forced out of their home due to political events
- War, oppression, violent persecution, conflicts
- PTSD
- Struggle to establish new identity
- Poor skills/English/education/finance
ASYLUM SEEKER - Forced migration
- When you apply for protection - but waiting for approval
- If you don’t apply → irregular migrant (cannot be classified as vulnerable or
receive any protection → you are legally invisible → can psychologically still
be vulnerable)
,REFUGEE 6 CRITERIA
1. The person has to be OUTSIDE HIS OR HER TERRITORY
2. Due to a GENUINE RISK - demonstration of present or prospective risk of
being persecuted)
3. of the infliction of SERIOUS HARM - demonstration of harm that
amounts to a risk of “being persecuted” consequences of life or death
proportions
4. Resulting from a failure of STATE PROTECTION - demonstration that the
individual’s own State cannot or will not respond to that risk
5. Which risk causally connected to a protected form of civil or political status (
it needs to be CONNECTED TO CIVIL OR POLITICAL STATUS (race,
religion, nationality, membership of a particular group, or political opinion)
6. The person must be in need of and DESERVING OF PROTECTION - no
criminal/danger to host society
Violence is selective; not all migrants from a war region are refugees
Underdeveloped countries often don’t have the resources to check if a person is a
refugee
NARRATIVE needs to fall within the “refugee category”
REFUGEE STATUS a) voluntarily and with full understanding seeks out diplomatic protection in
CEASES his or her country of origin
b) lost his or her original nationality but voluntarily elects to reacquire it
c) re-establishes himself or herself in the country of origin, in the sense of
resuming ongoing presence there
d) it is felt can and should return to the State of of origin in view of a
fundamental and demonstrably durable change of circumstance that
restores protection to that person
IRREGULAR/ILLEGAL - Migration into a country in violation of that country's immigration law (illegal
MIGRANT channels, undocumented)
- Overstaying a visa
- State tolerance: if you apply for asylum and follow legal procedures
(migrants are generally granted temporary legal status while their
application is being processed)
LEGAL MIGRANT - Very limited
- Often only if you can contribute to the GDP
- Comes with VISA → refugees don’t have time for this
- student, family reunification, expet
REACTIVE MIGRANT Migrant who relocates involuntarily (push)
PROACTIVE MIGRANT Migrant who seeks to maximize benefits of migration (pull)
REPATRIATION The return of refugees to their home country once it is safe
,RE-ESTABLISHMENT The voluntary re-establishment in the country of origin despite the risk of being
persecuted (refugee is always free to return to country of origin)
RESETTLEMENT The transfer of refugees to a third country where they are given permanent
residency and protection, often because they cannot return home or stay in the
initial asylum country safely
NATURALIZATION The legal process by which a non-citizen acquires the nationality or citizenship of a
country other than their own. They then acquire the same rights as natives.
Requirements are often: language proficiency, civil knowledge, no criminal record)
TRANSIT MIGRATION Migrating by moving through different countries first to reach a desired destination
People might get stuck in transit due to absence of:
negative liberties → being stuck due to legal imposed restrictions (legal)
positive liberties → running out of money (economic)
As long as the aspirations remain to continue it is a transit country, however, when
someone is okay with remaining in the original transit country, it can become the
country of destination
→ shows how artificial the concept is
MIXED MIGRATION Complex flows of populations consisting of different kinds of migrants (voluntary,
FLOWS involuntary) and using different routes (illegal, legal, transit, stepwise) and different
channels such as boat, smugglers, traffickers arriving at same border or taking
same channel
Complicates policy implementation, identifying vulnerability and distinguishing
between legal and illegal migrants
CUMULATIVE CAUSATION Migration tends to create more migration (diaspora, experiences)
, ECONOMIC DISCIPLINE
Why do economists care about migration?
- Migration is big business
- Labour market inefficiencies,
- Retirement demographic crisis
- What policies can turn student workers into highly-skilled workers
- Effect of remittances
Transit Migration in Niger
Externalization EU policies
- Whole economy of Agadez depends on transit migrants (providing
food/water/documents/transport/smuggling/accommodation)
- Migration business became crime, punishable by imprisonment up to 10 years
Negative effects EU policies:
- Increased vulnerabilities migrants: people risk lives trying to circumvent controls
- Economic collapse
- Tension communities (populations afraid that migrants will stay → job competition)
- More illegal practices → smuggling more expensive → migrants working in
prostitution to raise money
- Lots of abandoned migrants in dessert
- Migrants depend on smugglers for onward travel
Stepwise International Migration
Stepwise international migration is used by migrants to reach their end-destination by first
accumulating their (human) capital in an intermediate destination to later reach their desired
(final) destination.
★ Human capital:
- work experience
- Educational certifications (e.g. improve English)
- Family status
- Age
★ Financial capital:
- Money
★ Social capital:
- Migration Network (forge capabilities and aspirations → almost all migrants take part
in stepwise migrations due to stories of friends or relatives who made a similar
multistage journey)
Characteristics of Multistep Migration:
- Multistage structure
- Destination hierarchy
- Temporal range
- Intentionality and forethought
MIGRANT THERE IS NO LEGAL DEFINITION OF A MIGRANT IN INTERNATIONAL LAW
- Moving away from habitual residence
- Can be internal and external
+ 6 months
IMMIGRANT
EMIGRANT Someone entering a country
Someone leaving a country
ECONOMIC MIGRANT Immigration decisions are based on cost-benefit analysis
- Do economic benefits outweigh migration risks
- Increasing human capital
- Living standard, job, eduction
→ racial discrimination can result in wide range of psychological distress and can
interfere with integration
FAMILY MIGRANT - Family reunification
- Social capital (migrant networks, potential better job opportunities)
- Cumulative causation
POLITICAL MIGRANT - Forced out of their home due to political events
- War, oppression, violent persecution, conflicts
- PTSD
- Struggle to establish new identity
- Poor skills/English/education/finance
ASYLUM SEEKER - Forced migration
- When you apply for protection - but waiting for approval
- If you don’t apply → irregular migrant (cannot be classified as vulnerable or
receive any protection → you are legally invisible → can psychologically still
be vulnerable)
,REFUGEE 6 CRITERIA
1. The person has to be OUTSIDE HIS OR HER TERRITORY
2. Due to a GENUINE RISK - demonstration of present or prospective risk of
being persecuted)
3. of the infliction of SERIOUS HARM - demonstration of harm that
amounts to a risk of “being persecuted” consequences of life or death
proportions
4. Resulting from a failure of STATE PROTECTION - demonstration that the
individual’s own State cannot or will not respond to that risk
5. Which risk causally connected to a protected form of civil or political status (
it needs to be CONNECTED TO CIVIL OR POLITICAL STATUS (race,
religion, nationality, membership of a particular group, or political opinion)
6. The person must be in need of and DESERVING OF PROTECTION - no
criminal/danger to host society
Violence is selective; not all migrants from a war region are refugees
Underdeveloped countries often don’t have the resources to check if a person is a
refugee
NARRATIVE needs to fall within the “refugee category”
REFUGEE STATUS a) voluntarily and with full understanding seeks out diplomatic protection in
CEASES his or her country of origin
b) lost his or her original nationality but voluntarily elects to reacquire it
c) re-establishes himself or herself in the country of origin, in the sense of
resuming ongoing presence there
d) it is felt can and should return to the State of of origin in view of a
fundamental and demonstrably durable change of circumstance that
restores protection to that person
IRREGULAR/ILLEGAL - Migration into a country in violation of that country's immigration law (illegal
MIGRANT channels, undocumented)
- Overstaying a visa
- State tolerance: if you apply for asylum and follow legal procedures
(migrants are generally granted temporary legal status while their
application is being processed)
LEGAL MIGRANT - Very limited
- Often only if you can contribute to the GDP
- Comes with VISA → refugees don’t have time for this
- student, family reunification, expet
REACTIVE MIGRANT Migrant who relocates involuntarily (push)
PROACTIVE MIGRANT Migrant who seeks to maximize benefits of migration (pull)
REPATRIATION The return of refugees to their home country once it is safe
,RE-ESTABLISHMENT The voluntary re-establishment in the country of origin despite the risk of being
persecuted (refugee is always free to return to country of origin)
RESETTLEMENT The transfer of refugees to a third country where they are given permanent
residency and protection, often because they cannot return home or stay in the
initial asylum country safely
NATURALIZATION The legal process by which a non-citizen acquires the nationality or citizenship of a
country other than their own. They then acquire the same rights as natives.
Requirements are often: language proficiency, civil knowledge, no criminal record)
TRANSIT MIGRATION Migrating by moving through different countries first to reach a desired destination
People might get stuck in transit due to absence of:
negative liberties → being stuck due to legal imposed restrictions (legal)
positive liberties → running out of money (economic)
As long as the aspirations remain to continue it is a transit country, however, when
someone is okay with remaining in the original transit country, it can become the
country of destination
→ shows how artificial the concept is
MIXED MIGRATION Complex flows of populations consisting of different kinds of migrants (voluntary,
FLOWS involuntary) and using different routes (illegal, legal, transit, stepwise) and different
channels such as boat, smugglers, traffickers arriving at same border or taking
same channel
Complicates policy implementation, identifying vulnerability and distinguishing
between legal and illegal migrants
CUMULATIVE CAUSATION Migration tends to create more migration (diaspora, experiences)
, ECONOMIC DISCIPLINE
Why do economists care about migration?
- Migration is big business
- Labour market inefficiencies,
- Retirement demographic crisis
- What policies can turn student workers into highly-skilled workers
- Effect of remittances
Transit Migration in Niger
Externalization EU policies
- Whole economy of Agadez depends on transit migrants (providing
food/water/documents/transport/smuggling/accommodation)
- Migration business became crime, punishable by imprisonment up to 10 years
Negative effects EU policies:
- Increased vulnerabilities migrants: people risk lives trying to circumvent controls
- Economic collapse
- Tension communities (populations afraid that migrants will stay → job competition)
- More illegal practices → smuggling more expensive → migrants working in
prostitution to raise money
- Lots of abandoned migrants in dessert
- Migrants depend on smugglers for onward travel
Stepwise International Migration
Stepwise international migration is used by migrants to reach their end-destination by first
accumulating their (human) capital in an intermediate destination to later reach their desired
(final) destination.
★ Human capital:
- work experience
- Educational certifications (e.g. improve English)
- Family status
- Age
★ Financial capital:
- Money
★ Social capital:
- Migration Network (forge capabilities and aspirations → almost all migrants take part
in stepwise migrations due to stories of friends or relatives who made a similar
multistage journey)
Characteristics of Multistep Migration:
- Multistage structure
- Destination hierarchy
- Temporal range
- Intentionality and forethought
