Sonia Gsir

Migration policy reforms in the context of economic and political crises: the case of Belgium

ABSTRACT A body of literature has examined the role of ‘crises’ on policy-making. Yet, we observe that endogenous or exogenous events called ‘crisis-events’ are often randomly chosen as sweeping explanations for reforms in migration and integration policy. Thus, we attempt to find answers for the question of how the latest financial and economic crisis affected policy-making in the area of migration and integration. We apply a combination of interest-based and ideas-based theories to the case of Belgium in order to question the role of crises in policy reforms in the field of migration and integration. Multiple political and economic crises have affected the country since 2007. Examining these crises and immigration politics we argue that electoral competition both between and within the Francophone and Flemish party systems continues to be the main driver of migration and integration policy reform. Yet, we also discover a cumulative effect of economic and political crises: while the intention of restricting immigration has remained largely unchanged over the years, the policy instruments employed to reach this objective have changed with the political and economic crises.

Corridor Report on Belgium : the case of Moroccan and Turkish Immigrants.

This report compares two important corridor migrations to Belgium in order to better understand the variation in several dimensions of Turkish and Moroccan immigrants’ integration – in particular, labour market, education and citizenship. It is based on an original methodology combining three different data sources (an analysis of the legal and political frameworks, a quantitative analysis, and a survey). It aims to test the INTERACT project’s main hypothesis which conceives of integration as a three-way process. This report provides insight on integration from the immigration country perspective but also from the countries of origin; it appraises the impact that Turkey and Morocco may have on the integration of their migrants in Belgium. The main findings are the following. Firstly, the countries of origin may have an impact on integration when emigration starts. Secondly, countries of origin may have a positive or negative impact on some integration dimensions (citizenship) but no obvious impact on others (education and labour market). In their efforts to maintain and develop links and to protect migrants’ rights abroad, countries of origin can thus facilitate integration, but indirectly.

Countries of origin as organisers of emigration: Moroccans and Turks in Belgium.

This chapter compares two important migration corridors to Belgium in order to better understand variations across several dimensions of Turkish and Moroccan immigrants’ integration – in particular, the labour market, education, citizenship and residence. It provides insights on integration from the immigration country perspective as well as from the countries of origin, appraising the impact that Turkey and Morocco may have on the integration of their migrants in Belgium. The main findings are as follows. First, the countries of origin may have an impact on integration when emigration starts. Second, countries of origin may have a positive or negative impact on some integration dimensions (citizenship) but no obvious impact on others (education and labour market). In their efforts to develop and maintain links with migrants and to protect migrants’ rights abroad, countries of origin can facilitate integration, but only indirectly.

Do countries of origin contribute to socio-cultural integration of migrants abroad?

This chapter aims at understanding how countries of origin may influence the social ties of their emigrants abroad – and thus the socio-cultural dimension of integration – when they settle in their new country of residence. “Socio-cultural integration is concerned with the question of whether ethnic minority groups become part of the receiving society or whether these groups remain distinct from the host country” (Gijsberts and Dagevos 2007). The contacts migrants develop with the host society, their knowledge of the host society language, the attitudes of the host society, and the sense of belonging to the host society are several aspects of socio-cultural integration which have been studied in great detail (Ehrkamp 2005; Snel et al. 2006; Gijsberts and Dagevos 2007; Vancluysen et al. 2009; etc.). Here, socio-cultural integration is examined through the lenses of social interactions between migrants and natives in different social contexts: intermarriages, interethnic friendships, interethnic relations at workplace and, finally, encounters in the neighbourhood.

Political and Civic Participation of Immigrants in Host Countries. An Interpretative Framework from the Perspective of the Origin Countries and Societies

The focus of this chapter is the role of origin countries in influencing immigrants’ political and civic participation in their host societies. It is our aim to understand how these processes can affect immigrant integration in destination countries. More specifically, our objective is to explore the following questions: first, whether and how emigration countries can influence immigrants’ political and civic participation in destination countries; and second, whether links between origin countries, civil societies and migrants have an impact on the political and civic participation of the latter in the receiving countries. We also propose to analyse origin countries’ possible influence on political and civic participation through a very specific approach based on the identification of different actors intervening in these processes. In this framework, we distinguish between state and non-state (or civil society) actors and we look at how they can play a role in the political and civic participation of immigrants at destination. The rationale behind this differentiation is that these two categories of actors do not generally use the same tools, and often they may not share the same goals (Gabrielli and Zapata-Barrero 2015).

Corridor report on the Netherlands : the case of Turkish and Chinese immigrants

The Netherlands has been a country of immigration since 1945, when incoming migration first became more important than outward emigration (Vink 2007). Many Dutch citizens returned to the Netherlands over the course of the 1940s and 1950s as colonies, such as the former Dutch East Indies, became independent (Vink 2007). Furthermore, the Netherlands began to import foreign nationals in the 1960s as ‘guest workers’ (gastarbeiders) through bilateral agreements. Workers from Italy, Spain, and later from Turkey and Morocco, arrived in the country. Official recruitment of foreign workers ended in 1973, however immigration continued mainly through family migration or asylum seeking but also labour migration. In 2013, the Netherlands had a population of 16,778,025, around 4.7% of whom (796,235) were foreigners. Slightly less than half of this foreign-born population (47.8%) comes from other EU countries.1 However the criterion of nationality gives, at best,

Turkish and Chinese immigration to the Netherlands : corridor report

INTERACT - Researching Third Country Nationals? Integration as a Three-way Process - Immigrants, Countries of Emigration and Countries of Immigration as Actors of Integration

Maintaining national culture abroad. Countries of origin, culture and diaspora

INTERACT - Researching Third Country Nationals? Integration as a Three-way Process - Immigrants, Countries of Emigration and Countries of Immigration as Actors of Integration