Why Seek Asylum? The Roles of Integration and Financial Support

Abstract

The suspicion that asylum seekers seek beneficial conditions in host areas has become a controversial and popular topic. It has led to accusations of economic migration, with deterrent and preventative measures introduced to try to control this ''problem'', and in particular, the intended uniformity of asylum procedures has been a key aim of European harmonisation talks. As a small, qualitative study, this article is based upon thirteen semistructured interviews held with Somali individuals who sought asylum. It aims to explore destination choices with reference to the experiences and explanations given by some whose voices are otherwise largely excluded from debates. It asks to what extents and why they occurred. It reveals that having homes, jobs, educations, and more were key parts of what exile meant to these individuals, and so demonstrates reactivity behind topics more typically held to be ''voluntary'' concerns. Choices upon destinations were limited, however, and far bigger influences were the people smugglers or agents whom most relied upon to facilitate their entries past the preventative border controls. Beyond this, deterrence or prevention measures had no effect. The data is also used to explore the controversial and similarly under-researched role of financial support. It is shown to have been connected with the interests that persons had in adjusting to new areas and dealing with their interim disadvantage, and not as something that justifies suspicions. This study supports arguments that policy makers should concentrate less upon deterrence or prevention, and more on the conditions that exist to propel such movements. Its findings suggest that insufficient certainty, support, or quality of life can create pressures for seeking asylum and that these should be addressed by policy makers; it also argues that ''voluntary'' aspects of movements might more recognisably be parts of exile.* Refugee Studies Centre, University of Oxford.

Reconsidering the Problem of ‘Bogus’ Refugees with ‘Socio-economic Motivations’ for Seeking Asylum

“…The fact that all sought to have homes, work (incomes) and safety at home or in exile (see also Zimmermann, 2010), and that these outcomes were so closely bound with safety/danger, serves to reinforce the challenge that these cases pose to the social constructions or knowledge in this area. Connections existed between 'bogus' and 'genuine' refugee issues, or between different forms of survival including and beyond those that are most typically held to belong to genuine refugees.…”

Refugees and asylum seekers living in the Australian community: the importance of work rights and employment support

“…Such exclusion may force refugees to engage in the informal labour sector (Valenta & Thorshaug 2012) or to become dependent on state welfare or community sector support (Zimmermann 2009). Studies have found that refugees do not generally enter host countries with the intention of accessing welfare support -most want to gain employment (Phillimore & Goodson 2006;Valtonen 1998;Zimmerman 2009).…”

‘And then one day they all moved to Leicester’: the relocation of Somalis from the Netherlands to the UK explained

“…Choices regarding destinations are often limited for asylum seekers and determined not by personal choices regarding quality of life or ideals but much more by the practicalities and demands of the situation faced (see also Zimmermann, 2009b). Research among Somalis, for example, shows that the Netherlands had often not been a destination they really planned for; they just ‘ended up’ there by coincidence (see also Moret and van Eck, 2006; van Liempt, 2007).…”