Temas transversales en la investigación sobre migración

This paper gives an overview of the current integration standards established within the Common European Asylum System and highlights the possible effects of the changing EU and national legal environment on the integration of beneficiaries of international protection. These integration standards are the starting point of the development of the integration indicators within the project “National Integration Evaluation Mechanism” (NIEM), which aims to support key integration and social actors in 14 EU Member States and Turkey to evaluate and improve the integration outcomes of beneficiaries of international protection. The EU’s greatest impact on the integration of beneficiaries of international protection has been through the stable legal framework of the Common European Asylum System (CEAS). The recast Asylum Procedures, Reception Conditions, Qualification and Family Reunification Directives all build on the standards set by the 1951 Geneva Convention and aim for its full and effective implementation. They set a series of standards that shape the integration process, starting from the reception phase until the full legal, socio-economic and socio-cultural integration allowing refugees to realise their full potential to contribute to society. These binding legislative acts are complemented by the Common Basic Principles for Immigrant Integration Policy in the EU1 and its re-affirmation, 10 Years On2 , which guide Member States on how to respond to the needs and opportunities that beneficiaries of international protection bring to their new homes. However, in the past year, the emergence and strengthening of exclusionary, anti-migrant narratives has threatened to undermine national – and now the EU’s – stable legal framework and level of ambition to promote refugee integration. The negative political discourse induced a surprisingly coordinated race-to-the-bottom reply at national level, whose approach is reflected in the most recent European Commission Communication “Towards a Reform of the European Common Asylum System and Enhancing Legal Avenues to Europe”. This document shows a fundamental change in the approach towards beneficiaries of international protection. These proposals reframe the logic of asylum to a more temporary legal status in its nature and have more often recourse to the cessation clause4 , without assessing the long-term consequences: how will it affect the integration of beneficiaries of international protection?

This paper reviews the comparative multi-level quantitative research on the links between integration policies, the integration situation of immigrants and a wide range of individual and contextual factors. Twenty-one reviewed studies and additional supporting articles indicate that a number of individual and contextual variables explain most of the variation between countries in terms of immigrants’ labour market integration, educational attainment, naturalisation and political participation. Thanks to the use of MIPEX and similar indices, some evidence is emerging that certain integration policies can be related to the specific integration outcomes that they aim to address. So far, only certain general and targeted employment policies can be directly associated with better labour market outcomes for immigrants and a lower incidence of employment discrimination. More indirectly, facilitating naturalisation, a secure residence and a secure family life seems to have positive effects on boosting labour market outcomes for certain immigrants. In the area of employment, studies rarely focus on a specific policy or properly match it to its specific intended target group and outcome. In the area of education, the inclusiveness of the school and education system seems to matter most for immigrant and non-immigrant pupils. Although targeted immigrant education policies adopted at national level do not display consistent results across countries in terms of pupils’ tests scores, most studies conclude that inclusive schools and education systems are more successful when they also target the specific needs of immigrant pupils. Several studies on the acquisition of nationality find that naturalisation policies are perhaps the strongest determinant of the naturalisation rates for immigrants from developing countries. Further research can explore which specific elements of naturalisation policies most help or hinder naturalisation. The few studies on political participation find that targeted policies and the acquisition of nationality may boost participation rates for certain immigrant groups. The fact that studies find no link between the general integration policy (i.e. MIPEX overall score) and a specific labour market outcome (i.e. employment rates for foreign-born) does mean that no causal relationship exist between integration policies and outcomes across countries. Considering that this multi-level research is still in infancy, studies have great room for improvement in terms of their use of databases and methodological tools. A more robust methodological approach using new international datasets can better explore the nuanced links between policies and societal outcomes. Future research needs to pay greater attention to linking a specific integration policy with its actual target group and target outcomes. Studies must also take into account time-sensitive contextual factors and general policies. International surveys can improve their measurement of integration policy outcomes in terms of longterm residence, family reunification, anti-discrimination, language learning, and, to some extent, political participation.

From the sheer numbers of migrants to the complex processes that set people on the move and the multiple changes they bring to both origin and destination countries, international migration suffers considerable deficits of knowledge. As international migration connects each country of the world with all the others, addressing knowledge gaps will require international consensus on definitions and methods of data collection. There is a long way to go before this most challenging objective will be reached. The current study describes some of the steps that need to be taken. Defining international migration A proper assessment of international migration data at the world level must be based on a systematic inventory of what exists and what does not in each country. For lack of such an inventory, this report provides an overview assessment of the various criteria used by public administrations to define and produce data on international migration. Documenting international migration Data are generally collected by national administrations to serve their own needs and not those of scientific research or evidence-based policymaking, with the result that data on international migration are too often insufficient and lacking in quality. Policymakers often lack the minimal statistical evidence necessary to make informed decisions, while academics lack the basic data needed for scientific research. This report identifies key issues that should be addressed to improve migration data for policymaking and scientific research. These include: disentangling migrants from travellers and differentiating between short-term mobility and migration; matching entry and exit data; counting emigrants, i.e. absent individuals; counting circular, seasonal and temporary migrants; and measuring irregular migration. These issues often require ad hoc measurement methods such as specialized surveys. Mapping research on international migration Research addresses the causes of international migration, the process of migration itself as well as its consequences; it does so in the countries of origin and destination, as well as in the transnational space spanning origin and destination. This paper outlines 7 priority areas for research on international migration: Determinants of migration in countries of origin; Pull factors in countries of destination; Linkages between countries of origin and destination; Migration stages; Emigrants, as actors of change in countries of origin; The inclusion of migrants and their contribution to development in destination countries; And finally, the global consequences of migration. Conclusions To significantly improve our understanding of international migration, including its multiple determinants, complex processes and diverse impacts, the following challenges need to be addressed: All countries should acknowledge that international migration is defined; by border crossing. Equating immigrants with foreign citizens confuses a geographic notion with a legal one and indirectly serves policies of exclusion; All countries should agree on producing population data by detailed country of birth using the same unified list of world countries; International organizations should make all possible efforts to extend the coverage of migration surveys to all the countries that host sizeable migrant populations in the Global North as well as in the Global South; The scientific community should organize itself at a global level to develop and disseminate methodologies to fill the huge knowledge gaps that are the result of the currently patchy, mostly administrative data.

The project will explore two interrelated sociocultural dynamics that impact the future of European integration and have a profound effect on the development of a common European culture by challenging established ethnic, class, linguistic and gendered divisions. These are: a.  the rise in migrant mobility and the establishment of transnational migrant networks that enable the construction and negotiation of new forms of hybrid identity and a sense of multiple belonging based on the experiences of cultural diversity and intercultural communication, and b. the spread of transnational digital networks that transcend state boundaries and exclusive national identities and give users the potential to participate directly in processes of cultural production, exchange and consumption particularly through the use of new media technologies.  More specifically the project will address the question of participation of migrant individuals and groups in transnational digital networks by employing innovative methodologies combining online and offline research. Emphasis will be placed on the ability of migrants to access and produce diverse digital spaces and use them to promote their own needs and demands, but also in the possibilities for the promotion of intercultural dialogue and cooperation that open through the development of new interactive media.  Gender will be mainstreamed and treated as an integral aspect of the research design and analysis throughout the project. In particular, the project will explore theways in which changing gender power relations shape identities and performativities in transnational digital and migrant networks. In order to disseminate information and put the findings of the research into practice, the project will develop a transnational migrant digital platform and an interactive digital game. 

"Theoretical background and objectives Existing research on the labour market integration of immigrants usually focuses on male immigrants, comparing them to native males. So far, only few studies have addressed the labour market integration of female immigrants and again, these studies are mostly limited to comparisons between women with and without a migration background. The aim of this project is to conduct a double comparison and to analyse the joint effects of gender and migration background on a number of labour market outcomes. A double comparison is needed because native women and men differ in their labour market behaviour, yet it is not known to what extent these gender differences extend to the migrant population – in fact, gender differences may be larger or smaller among immigrants and their descendants than in the native origin population. Research design, data and methodology Data from the most recent German microcensus are used to analyse the research question. In addition to providing abundant information about labour market behaviour, this data source makes it possible to identify foreign-born immigrants and local-born children of immigrants and to distinguish a number of migrant groups based on their country or region of origin. Thus, we can examine whether gender differences in labour market behaviour differ between migrants and non-migrants and between different subgroups of migrants. Findings We find considerable variation in gender gaps in labour market behaviour between East and West Germany, across ethnic groups and across generations. Intergenerational comparisons show that most ethnic minorities assimilate towards German patterns of gendered labour market attainment."

DIAMINT is an international research cluster that studies science-society dialogues on migration and integration in Europe. Focusing on various European countries, as well as on the EU and local levels, , it aims to reconstruct how science-society dialogues on these contested topics have evolved and how these dialogues have shaped the understanding of migration and integration. The DIAMINT cluster was awarded the status of Standing Committee in the IMISCOE Research Network in 2014. Before, DIAMINT led an international comparative research project on Science-Society Dialogues on Migrant Integration, funded by the VolkswagenStiftung. APPROACH The DIAMINT cluster connects literatures of policy sciences, science studies and migration studies. Knowledge production in the field of migrant integration research. Dialogue structures, or the various institutionalized or non-institutionalized ways in which science-society dialogues are configured Knowledge utilization in the fields of migrant integration policymaking, politics and civil society.

Amidst heated debates on immigration and “migrant integration”, the European Union becomes an increasingly relevant actor, where important resources are earmarked for the implementation of civic integration measures, as well as for producing “scientific evidence” to guide policy. Simultaneously, a prolific scholarship attempts to understand, measure and compare how and whether immigrants are “integrated into society”, often in the effort to remain “policy-relevant”. This study joins other critical works that draw attention to the ways “integration” is debated, legislated, conceptualized, monitored, evaluated, and ultimately, normalized as a mode of governance. Situated at the interstices of migration studies, European studies, and the social studies of science, the dissertation examines the role of scientific research, EU policy, and research-policy knowledge infrastructures in shaping the “immigrant integration” paradigm in Europe. Interested primarily in integrationism as a technique of power, I take a decolonial and genealogical approach that situates integrationist discourses within wider and intersecting systems of hierarchy. The main argument is that the politics of integration research and the scientific claims in “evidence-based” policy intersect to produce “migrant integration” as the hegemonic paradigm in governing migration-related diversity in Europe. Through discourse analysis of research publications, policy documents, media statements, as well as a virtual ethnography of the EU’s science-for-policy community, I examine how integration comes to be seen simultaneously as a political problem and an object of scientific fascination, how is integration regulated at supranational level and through science-policy collaboration, and what are the power effects of integrationism, as a rationality of governance, on its target subjects. Ultimately, I argue, the practices of regulating, governing, measuring, theorizing and monitoring the integration of immigrants are shaped by power relations linked to the preservation of European liberal subjecthood against rapid demographic, social, political, and environmental shifts.

Targeted policy responses for irregular migration require better knowledge about the characteristics of the irregular migrant population and dynamics of irregular migration, as well as about the effects of policy measures. Yet, quantitative data relating to irregular migration are scarce, often outdated and contested. The inadequecy of current data makes it challenging for stakeholders to develop and monitor policies. How do legal frameworks in different countries define migrant irregularity? What are the characteristics of irregular migrants in terms of age, gender, nationality or other socioeconomic variables? How can the effects of policy measures, such as regularisation, be assessed? MIrreM adresses the challenge of insufficent knowledge about irregular migration and regularisation in Europe by actively involving relevant stakeholders in every stage of this project – as co-creators of its results and as stakeholders to its mission. In a rigorous comparative and multi-level study, we will assess the policies, data needs and estimates that define migrant irregularity in 11 EU member states, the UK, Canada, the USA and five transit countries. Using several coordinated pilots we will develop new and innovative methods for measuring irregular migration and ‘regularisation scenarios’, and we will explore if and how these instruments can be transferred or scaled up to other socio-economic or institutional conditions. Based on these insights, we will develop two public databases: a) a database with estimates on irregular migrant stocks and b) a database on irregular migration flows, that will also include data on regularisations. Together with the expert groups, we will synthesize our findings into a Handbook on data on irregular migration and a Handbook on regularisation that will support evidenced-based and targeted policymaking concerning irregular migration. Finally, we will develop training resources for policymakers, practitioners, journalists and early-career researchers.