Migrants, Partner Selection and Integration: Crossing Borders?

Transnational Marriages on the Decline: Explaining Changing Trends in Partner Choice among Turkish Belgians

“…Second, the strong transnational ties that families and communities maintain in both the sending and receiving countries have provided mediating channels that are useful for establishing transnational marriages. Third, concerning stimulating factors in immigrant communities, studies show that many Turkish Europeans chose to marry a partner from the country of origin for a number of reasons (for Belgium: Lievens, ; Timmerman, Lodewijckx, and Wets, ; for the Netherlands: Hooghiemstra, ; for Germany: Strassburger, ; Gonzalez‐Ferrer, ; for France: Milewski and Hamel, ).…”

“…According to Kalmijn (), the particular partner choice a person makes is a result of the interplay between three factors: (1) individual preferences, (2) third parties, and (3) marriage market constraints. Regarding individual preferences about transnational marriage, some studies have reported gender differences among European Turks from different countries (for Belgium: Lievens, ; for the Netherlands: Hooghiemstra, ; for Germany: Gonzalez‐Ferrer, ; Beck‐Gernsheim, ; for France: Milewski and Hamel, ). Turkish men prefer a transnational marriage because they consider Turkish females in Europe too liberated and those in Turkey more “decent” and “traditional” (Timmerman, , ; Hooghiemstra, ; Yalçin et al ., ).…”

“…While legal restrictions are one plausible explanation for this change, they should not be assumed to be the only explanation; the decline may also be a result of changes in attitudes and practices within immigrant communities. Different studies (Autan, ; Lievens, ; Timmerman, ; Hooghiemstra, ; Strassburger, ; Gonzalez‐Ferrer, ; Yalçin et al ., ; Beck‐Gernsheim, ; Milewski and Hamel, ; Hartung et al ., ; Huschek, de Valk, and Liefbroer, ) have provided insight into why people chose a transnational marriage in the eighties, nineties and the early 21st century, but little is known about what their children or younger family members currently think about it.…”

Intra‐Household Conflicts in Migration Decisionmaking: Return and Pendulum Migration in Morocco

“…while family reunification was largely complete at the end of the 1980s, family formation gained significance as a major source of new migration from morocco over the 1990s. at least until recently, a large proportion of firstgeneration moroccans and their descendants preferred to marry a partnerpreferably kin-from the region of origin (de valk et al 2004;Hooghiemstra 2001;lievens 1999;Reniers 2001). in addition, restrictive immigration policies led to increasing irregular (i.e., undocumented) labor migration to the classic destination countries in northwest europe and to italy and Spain.…”

Transnational lives, transnational marriages: a review of the evidence from migrant communities in Europe

“…Again and again these studies reveal a similar trend, to be found over a number of years, in different countries, and for different migrant groups. In large numbers, migrants marry a partner from their family's country of origin (Autant 1995;Ballard 1990Ballard , 2001Bijl et al 2005;Böcker 1994;Distelbrink and Loozen 2005;Hooghiemstra 2001;Janssen and Polat 2006;Lievens 1999;Reniers 2001;Shaw 2001Shaw , 2004Straßburger 1999Straßburger , 2000Straßburger , 2003. To give three examples:…”