Central and Eastern European Migration Review

The article is focused on the main narratives prevalent in the Polish public debate about migrants arriving at the Polish–Belarusian border and those arriving at the Polish–Ukrainian border. The author seeks to answer the question of why a negative narrative about the former and a positive one about the latter became so popular during the same period and whether, over time, Poles’ attitudes toward refugees from Ukraine may become similar to their attitudes toward migrants from across the Belarusian border. The study is based on focus-group interviews conducted among Poles living in Warsaw, Wrocław, Rzeszów and Łowicz. The collected data were analysed using the theoretical concept of ‘narratives’ adapted for migration studies.

The attitude of inhabitants and representatives of local institutions towards refugees from Ukraine – and the possibility to include the latter in local social and economic life – plays a crucial role in a successful process of integration. A year after Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the authors carried out a quantitative survey among the inhabitants of one rural community in western Poland, investigating whether refugees were perceived as a potential factor of community development. This paper reveals the attitude of residents of that municipality towards war refugees from Ukraine. The predominant attitude is acceptance of the presence of Ukrainian refugees but there is also an element of opposition, albeit much weaker. Although there is demand for migrant labour in the municipality, and, without that labour, many farms and businesses would have to pare back their operations, at the same time the respondents do not fully see migrants as equal fellow residents, agreeing only reluctantly to the financial transfers involved.

The Czech Republic provides international protection to a small number of individuals. This research aims to study the barriers that beneficiaries of international protection (BIPs) face in accessing higher education and to examine which policies affect the opportunities that are available to them. The findings are based on the experience of frontline workers. According to previous studies, most of these barriers are embedded in institutional policies, which may contribute to exclusion from higher education. The barriers which BIPs encounter in accessing higher education have not been investigated in the Czech Republic. This study’s findings reveal many barriers to access to higher education and a lack of supportive policies. In addition to problems like a lack of language proficiency, the recognition of previous education and financing, BIPs have mental-health issues and face a lack of societal cooperation. These barriers make it difficult for them to pursue higher education. Frontline workers acknowledge all these barriers and agree that no strategies are in place at the national level or at higher education institutions to assist in the higher education of BIPs. To improve access, the government, higher education institutions and local stakeholders need to take action.

This paper explores how young people from a peripheral area in Croatia combine their educational and migration plans concerning the desirability which they attach to the local, national and global environment. A survey research study involved high-school students from Vukovar-Srijem County in Croatia (N=681), with the intention of ascertaining where they would like to study and where to live after completing their secondary education. Cluster analysis identified 5 groups of students and a multinomial regression analysis showed that the perception of the local developmental potentials, the quality of life and the students’ value orientations significantly impact on their educational and life paths. The differences between young people who envisage their educational and migration paths leading them abroad and to other parts of Croatia and those who would like to stay in the local communities are particularly highlighted. Interviews with students confirmed that the differences between these groups indicate varying perceptions of the likelihood of developing a career in the local community, satisfaction with local higher-education possibilities and value differences that point to different preferred future lifestyles. The intention to stay in the local community is related to higher place attachment, traditionalism, and a lower preference for personal autonomy.

This article explicitly examines the migration of medical graduates from Romania, ensuring clarity in scope. The study draws on the 2023 European Commission State of Health in the EU: Romania Country Profile, ensuring the use of the most recent data. While the number of graduates has increased in the last decade, the medical workforce remains below EU averages (3.2 doctors and 7.5 nurses per 1,000 inhabitants compared to 3.9 and 8.4, respectively). Romania ranked fifth in generating medical graduates (4,967) and third in nursing graduates (17,549) within the EU in 2019. However, migration significantly reduces the domestic healthcare workforce, influencing access to care and quality of life. My analysis thus uniquely explores the role of regulatory frameworks in shaping migration flows, offering a novel perspective on how policies in destination countries act as pull factors. My findings reveal that countries with deregulated or minimally selective residency admission systems attract significantly higher numbers of Romanian medical graduates. Among the most preferred destinations, Germany, the UK, France, Sweden and Belgium collectively account for over 70 per cent of intended migration cases. Residency systems without national exams saw an average migration preference rate of 69 per cent, while those with strict entry requirements saw a preference rate below 1 per cent. Higher expected wages and shorter residency durations were also significant pull factors. Another significant pull factor identified in the top destination countries is that graduates have the freedom to choose their specialization, rather than having it assigned based on exam performance.

Why do Romanians go abroad? Higher salaries, better conditions for practising the professions known or desired, the dissatisfaction here, compared to the opportunities perceived there? How to explain remigration abroad, after returning? These are the research questions we address here. Since return migration and emigration are complex transnational relations, we are using multiple methods of analysis and national, community and individual data, all of which are subordinated to the idea of a context analysis for understanding the above-mentioned relation for the case of an Eastern European country, Romania. The key finding is that social justice is lower in places with many return migrants from abroad. This is another finding that could support the idea that re-migration abroad is not only economically determined but is also related to the quality of public institutions. The paper also supports the idea that a good understanding of the community context of emigration abroad – by considering accessibility to large cities, historical regions of the community location and the main destination countries – could contribute to better policies in the area.

By drawing on semi-structured interviews with Lithuanian LGBTQ+ individuals who have relocated to various European countries, this study examines the emotional dimensions that influence both migration decisions and homemaking processes. Utilising the theoretical framework of ‘sticky emotions’ and ‘homemaking’, the article highlights how queer migrants navigate their old and new social environments and invest them with emotions. The findings indicate that migration motivations are often intertwined with personal, affective and emotional dimensions, rooted in resistance to Lithuania’s conservative and heteronormative environment. Additionally, the article underscores the homemaking processes in host countries, where queer migrants encounter diverse queer communities that allow them to express their sexualities more openly. By analysing queer migration narratives, this article contributes to discussions on queer mobility, emphasising the need for detailed ethnographic research on the lived experiences of queer migrants, particularly those from post-socialist Central and Eastern Europe.

Although the United Kingdom was the primary destination for Hungarian emigrants in the period following EU accession, since the second half of the 2010s there has been a considerable decline, while the number of Hungarian return migrants from the UK has been higher than ever. Using longitudinal administrative data spanning from 2010 to 2022, this paper investigates whether two historical events, namely the Brexit referendum and the COVID-19 pandemic, have contributed to the observed changes in migration trends and the structural shifts in the composition and patterns of migration that have resulted from them. The results show that the Brexit referendum has had a lasting negative impact on Hungarian emigration to the UK and has significantly encouraged the return of Hungarians. Meanwhile, the temporary shifts in Hungarian migration patterns towards EU Member States caused by the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic are not similarly reflected in migration patterns towards the UK. The social base of the post-Brexit emigration gradually broadened. Nevertheless, when compared to EU destination countries, emigrants to the UK are characterised by a younger and more positively selected group in labour-market terms.

Recently, online searching has become as important as more traditional methods of getting a job abroad. International labour migration is now influenced by new key actors – migrant micro-influencers who share international job opportunities and are increasingly trusted over established authorities. While media scholars analyse influencers’ self-presentation, their role in international labour migration remains underexplored. Migrant YouTube vloggers blend formal and informal brokerage and intermediary practices through ‘performance authenticity’ (Taylor 2022), achieved by a ‘mediated’ presence and intimacy, as well as the strategic ‘game with the expectations and needs’ of job-seeking viewers. It allows them to shift between formal and informal intermediation and brokerage, depending on the context and audience’s preferences. Through authenticity, migrant micro-influencers build trust and adapt their content to audience expectations in an online spectacle. This trust requires strategically blurring vloggers’ dual formal and informal roles. Using a visual and thematic content analysis of a Filipina vlogger’s YouTube channel, the study examines how migrant micro-influencers impact labour brokerage and intermediation. They do so by adapting to audience expectations and leveraging informal media conventions to enhance their credibility as brokers.