Searching for Stability: Onward Migration and Pathways of Precarious Incorporation in and Out of Spain

Abstract

This paper contributes to the literature on multiple migrations by using qualitative data to address two questions. First, why do some migrants engage in multiple moves that may include returns or re‐migrations? Second, how do migrants frame these multiple migrations? The paper focuses on the paths of Colombians and Ecuadorians in Spain as they reacted to the 2008 economic crisis, which severely affected their employment options. The crisis started a new migratory cycle in Spain, with significant numbers of migrants who returned to countries of origin or migrated onward. This paper argues that precarious incorporations leave migrants susceptible to economic shocks and push many to move again. New migrations are often a constant search for stability that is marked by precarity and mediated by economic resources, gendered expectations and generational attachments.

Onward Migration Aspirations and Transnational Practices of Migrant Construction Workers Amidst Economic Crisis: Exploring New Opportunities and Facing Barriers

“…In this context, not being able to sustain their households, many Albanian construction workers considered leaving their first destination and moving to other European countries, aiming to escape precarity and overcome a marginalized socio‐economic status. This is in line with findings of other recent research arguing that economic precarity underpinned onward migration, especially among men who were employed in the construction sector (Bermudez & Oso, 2019; Ramos, 2020). This is the case of Isuf in Milan who remigrated to Belgium:

I had no other chance.

…”

“…Although a significant body of literature suggests that onward migration is a strategy to offer better future opportunities to offspring (Della Puppa & King, 2019), those with children might perceive transnational experiences (and remigration) as something that disrupts their children's lives. My participants’ accounts confirm what has been claimed about the difficulties that a new move (or return) implies, such as learning a new language, adapting to a new context and a detached first destination country (Cena et al, 2018; Ramos, 2020). It was common for my respondents in both contexts to be reluctant to migrate onward as a new movement would disturb the stability of their children's lives.…”

“…These practices are realized by migrants across transnational social spaces between Italy or Greece and a range of different countries, sometimes including their homeland. Explorative transnational practices emerge as a particular version of transnational practice because they comprise occasional visits or short trips to work abroad and are characterized by openness, complexity, unpredictability, dynamism and a reactive aspect; they are activated as a response to economic exclusion or precariousness in the first destination (McIlwaine & Bunge, 2018; Ramos, 2020). These practices can result in remigration or can reconfigure aspirations when migrants evaluate that new destinations cannot meet their needs and desires.…”

Se hace camino al andar. Reemigración de latinoamericanos desde España hacia otros países europeos (2006-2018)

“…Estas investigaciones se han realizado, particularmente, en esta última década, y emergen, tanto por el impacto de la recesión económica en el sur de Europa y la consiguiente reactivación de los flujos de salida, como porque estos países ya habían consolidado su papel de receptores de inmigrantes, contando con una abundante población naturalizada, que puede ejercer su libre movilidad en el marco comunitario. Algunos de estos estudios retoman la hipótesis del fracaso en la integración laboral y del empuje que la vivencia de situaciones de precariedad, reforzada en época de crisis, puede tener para una nueva salida al extranjero (Martí Sempere y Ródenas Calatayud, 2005;Larramona, 2013;Ramos, 2020). En este ámbito destacan las contribuciones de McIlwaine (2012McIlwaine ( , 2015 y McIlwaine y Bunge (2016,2018) con respecto a la comunidad latina reemigrada desde España en Reino Unido, particularmente en Londres 1 , así como el de Bermúdez (2020) sobre reemigrantes colombianos.…”

De vuelta a casa: el retorno de los jóvenes españoles desde Europa

“…En el caso español, la exploración del retorno se había relacionado principalmente con las investigaciones enmarcadas en el regreso a España de los españoles emigrados durante el siglo XX (Álvarez Silvar, 1995).Sin embargo, a raíz de la crisis de 2008, el principal interés relacionado con este tema lo ha despertado el análisis de la emigración de retorno de los numerosos inmigrantes que estaban establecidos en España y que han regresado a sus países de origen (Herrera y Pérez Martínez, 2015;López de Lera y Pérez-Caramés, 2015;Pérez-Caramés, 2012;Ramos, 2020). Muchos menos han sido los estudios que han abordado el retorno desde la perspectiva de la juventud española que emigró durante la crisis económica, aunque ya existen algunos como Navarrete Moreno (2018), Tovar Cuevas y Victoria Paredes (2013) y Zúñiga y Díaz-Catalán (2017).…”