Understanding Integration Experience and Wellbeing of Economic-Asylum Seekers in Italy: the Case of Nigerian Immigrants

Abstract

The literature on migrants’ integration and wellbeing is ample, but the case of economic-asylum seekers in a protracted asylum application system is yet to receive sufficient attention. The economic-asylum seekers are a unique group who migrate with an economic motive but apply for asylum to achieve economic integration in the host country. We use the aspiration-capability framework and a mixed-method approach: participant observation, focus group discussion, and field survey, to study a group of economic-asylum seekers from Nigeria when they were waiting for their asylum decisions in Italy. We find that they evaluate their wellbeing by reflecting on their premigration aspirations, integration constraints, and capabilities. They report lower life satisfaction compared to their satisfaction in Nigeria, and were affected by several barriers including structural, psychological, economic, and social constraints. Our study generally describes what it is like to live in limbo and frustration, with a limited assurance for a better tomorrow. It gives voice to the economic-asylum seekers and contributes to the integration literature by examining their perceptions of integration constraints.

“You are merely a Nigerian prostitute”: Sexual stigma and labeling of Nigerian victims of trafficking in Italy.

“…75−76). This is evident in the participants' narratives of being rejected and treated poorly, because of their race and gender, as was also evident in the study of Obi et al (2022) with Nigerian migrants in Italy; yet, simultaneously reduced to their sexuality and expected to perform sexual services.…”

Tarım ve Hayvancılık Sektöründe Çalışan Afgan Göçmenlerde Ekonomik Konumlanma ve Entegrasyon: Trakya Bölgesi Örneği

“…According to Copestake and Camfield (2010), the difference in well-being achieved compared to expectations creates an expectation gap. A negative expectation gap may indicate low levels of perceived well-being and integration propensity (Obi, Slosse, Bartolini, Dessein, and D'Haese, 2023). The results of the research show that Afghan migrants residing in the Thrace region and working in the agriculture and livestock sector generally do not develop a negative expectation gap.…”

“…Copestake ve Camfield'a (2010) göre, beklentilere kıyasla ulaşılan esenlik/refah farkı beklenti boşluğu oluşturur. Negatif bir beklenti boşluğu, algılanan iyi oluş halinin ve entegrasyon eğiliminin düşük düzeylerde seyrettiğine işaret edebilir (Obi, Slosse, Bartolini, Dessein and D'Haese, 2023). Konut, istihdam, eğitim ve sağlık hizmetlerinin sağlanması entegrasyonun farklı boyutlarından sadece biri olan yapısal boyuta işaret etmesine karşın Wang ve Ning (2016) bu boyutu entegrasyonun ilk adımı olarak tanımlar.…”

Labor exploitation in the Italian agricultural sector: the case of vulnerable migrants in Tuscany

“…As also shown by our case study, the lack of language proficiency, the scarcity of information, the legal precariousness, the migratory debt, and the need to send remittances back home, along with widespread fear, are some of the factors that contribute to the vulnerability of migrants in the territory. As recently underlined by Obi et al (2022) in case of Nigerian asylum seekers, the waiting time for their asylum decisions in Italy plays a further role in their wellbeing and vulnerability in accepting certain conditions for integration, such as job exploitation. Migrants in an existential situation of great fragility are then forced to choose between competitive goods such as personal safety or financial support for themselves and their families ( Palumbo and Sciurba, 2015 ).…”