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In the name of women's protection, Dutch immigration authorities police cross-border marriages differentiating between acceptable and non-acceptable forms of marriage (e.g. 'forced', 'sham', 'arranged'). The categorisation of marriages between 'sham' and 'genuine' derives from the assumption that interest and love are and should be unconnected. Nevertheless, love and interest are closely entwined and their consideration as separate is not only misleading but affects the exchanges that take place within marriage and, therefore, has particular implications for spouses, especially for women. The ethnographic analysis of marriages between unauthorised African male migrants and (non-Dutch) EU female citizens, often suspected by immigration authorities of being 'sham', demonstrate the complex articulation of love and interest and the consequences of neglecting this entanglement – both for the spouses and scholars. The cases show that romantic love is not a panacea for unequal gender relations and may place women in a disadvantaged position – all the more so because the norms of love are gendered and construe self-sacrifice as more fundamental in women's manifestations of love than that of men's. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Do higher earnings translate into better living conditions for immigrants? While spatial assimilation theory argues that residential patterns reflect economic assimilation, place stratification theory states that immigrants face structural obstacles in their search for better housing, including housing market discrimination. Existing scholarship does not facilitate distinguishing between these contrasting perspectives as analyses typically compare across immigrant groups and natives. By contrast, we focus in this paper on legal status discrimination within the immigrant population in the Netherlands, by testing whether citizenship acquisition provides a positive signal towards housing market actors and moderates the effect of income on residential mobility. We analyse this relation using administrative microdata and using fixed-effects models to control for selection into naturalisation due to unobserved time-invariant heterogeneity. We find that the relation between income gains and immigrants' propensity to live in wealthier neighbourhoods is stronger for naturalised immigrants. These results corroborate the place stratification argument and suggest that naturalisation may help reduce nationality based discrimination. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper tested the sometimes suggested but rarely tested idea that local ties are more important for migrants than for natives. Using nationally representative data from the Netherlands Longitudinal Lifecourse Study on first- and second-generation Turkish and Moroccan migrants aged 18–45 in the Netherlands in 2009 (N = 1607) and a comparison group of natives (N = 1979), this study described how important local ties were for people with and without a migrant background. The focus was on the amount of contacts with people in the neighbourhood, the presence or absence of parents in the neighbourhood and the geographic dispersion of the core discussion network. Models were estimated to explain differences between migrants and natives using information on socioeconomic status, life course variables, religiosity and neighbourhood characteristics. Findings showed that migrants were more strongly embedded in the neighbourhood than natives and that this difference could in part be explained by the lower socioeconomic status and higher levels of religiosity of migrants. Moreover, among migrants, parents were considerably more likely to live in the same neighbourhood and this played a major role in understanding the more local orientation of migrants. It is concluded that it is important to reconsider 'family neighbours' in empirical and theoretical studies of neighbourhood integration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A transnational perspective is used in the analysis of the lives of Ghanaian migrants based in the Netherlands to answer two questions: how do migrants contribute to their home country, and do they also participate in the economy where they reside? An analysis of spending patterns of migrants both in the Netherlands and in Ghana shows that migrants are doubly engaged. In Ghana they invest in housing, business and education, contributing to the daily expenses of people back home and investing in their and their extended family's reputation by donating generously at funerals. At the same time they participate in the Dutch economy at the neighbourhood, city and national level. They devise various strategies for juggling their objectives between these two countries. However, Ghanaian migrants’ contribution to both countries is hampered by the high costs of identity documents both in the formal and informal economy. The paper thus links Dutch migration policies with the consequences for the lives of people back in Ghana. As such, it demonstrates the relationship between two areas that are usually kept separate in both academic and policy discourses: development in the Third World and the integration of migrants in industrialised countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Accompanying a shift from multiculturalism to assimilation in integration discourse, several European immigration countries have shifted from multiculturalist to diversity-mainstreaming policies in the aged care sector. This paper answers the question to what extent diversity-mainstreaming policies provided scope for crafting care provision that is responsive to the needs of ethnic minority elders. To study the implementation of diversity-mainstreaming policies in aged care we conducted a two-year qualitative study in Nijmegen and The Hague, The Netherlands. We identified a mix of mainstreamed and ethno-specific aged care provision which reflected stakeholders' ongoing practical concern with diversity among ethnic minority elders. Nevertheless, we found diversity-mainstreaming policies to be plagued by implementation paradoxes. In some interpretations, 'diversity' inhibited concrete action to address inequality experienced by ethnic minorities. When 'diversity' did provide space to tailor services, these were framed as temporary responses to the language barriers of the current generation of ethnic minority elders. We found this assimilationist framing to undermine long-term investment in the local knowledge needed to reach minority elders. We suggest that policymakers renew support for ethno-specific services and intercultural expertise to successfully meet the diverse care needs of current and future generations of older minority populations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Previous studies have found that the labour market outcomes of Turkish minorities are slightly better in Germany than in the Netherlands. In this paper we test one of the explanations: differences in ethnic discrimination in hiring. We use a harmonised field experiment to test whether discrimination against job candidates of Turkish origin (age 23–25) varies across Germany and the Netherlands, while holding individual characteristics of job seekers constant. We find that, compared to majority candidates, job candidates of Turkish origin are on average eleven percentage points less likely to receive a positive call-back. Moreover, we find that discrimination against Turkish minorities is significantly higher in the Netherlands than in Germany. In Germany, job candidates of Turkish origin are five percentage points less likely to receive a call-back than equally qualified majority candidates, whereas in the Netherlands this ethnic gap is fifteen percentage points. However, the presented evidence does not support the often-mentioned argument that the amount of diagnostic information in application materials explains why discrimination against Turkish minorities is lower in Germany. Overall, adding diagnostic information has little effect on the relative employment chances of job applicants of Turkish origin, both in Germany and the Netherlands. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines discrimination against job candidates of Moroccan origin in Spain and the Netherlands. By drawing on insights from group threat theory, we specifically examine how latent ethnic conflicts regarding economic goods or cultural values at the regional level affect discrimination rates of Moroccan minorities in both countries. To this aim, we make use of a cross-nationally standardised field experiment with fictitious candidates applying for real job vacancies in Spain and the Netherlands (n = 3681). We find higher levels of discrimination against job applicants of Moroccan origin in the Netherlands. Whereas job candidates of Moroccan origin are six percentage points less likely to receive a positive response from an employer in Spain, the predicted ethnic gap in call-back rates is fourteen percentage points in the Netherlands. Furthermore, while regional differences in discrimination are not related to regional unemployment figures, we do find some evidence that in the Netherlands a larger share of Moroccans in the region exacerbates discrimination against Moroccan minorities. Altogether, the findings point to the need to give greater weight to the impact of widespread negative beliefs about ethnic minorities and how these beliefs can have a profound adverse impact on the integration of disadvantaged ethnic groups within the labour market. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we examine the existence and development of the ‘refugee gap’: the difference in labour market participation rates between refugees and other types of migrants. Using the cumulative disadvantage hypothesis, we studied whether the ‘refugee entry effect’ scars refugees for their working careers in the Netherlands. To do so, we used register data (Social Statistical Database), containing information on all refugees who received refugee status in the Netherlands between 1995 and 1999 (N = 33,030). We compared their labour market participation over the 2000–2011 period with that of labour and family migrants in the same cohort (N = 78,298). We conclude that the ‘refugee gap’ exists at the start of refugees working career in the Netherlands and that it diminishes over time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Residential concentration is often referred to as an obstacle to the integration of immigrant minorities. Originating from Wilson's isolation thesis (Wilson, W. J. 1987. The Truly Disadvantaged: The Inner City, the Underclass, and Public Policy. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.), it is assumed that the high ratio of minorities in the neighbourhood decreases chances for social integration, which consequently affects other aspects of integration. This paper provides a comprehensive analysis on the topic by simultaneously examining the links between residential concentration and social, economic and identificational integration outcomes. We perform a quantitative analysis using data from the first wave of The Netherlands Longitudinal Lifecourse Study (NELLS 2009; N = 1,973), which provides a sample of Turkish and Moroccan origin residents in the Netherlands. The results show that a higher ratio of non-Western origin residents is linked to lower likelihood of social relations with natives. While social ties are indeed related to other integration outcomes, living in a more concentrated neighbourhood is not associated with worse integration outcomes in employment, income, and affiliation with Dutch identity. Consequently, we challenge the isolation thesis as a universal model and highlight instead the importance of the quality of relations and the relevance of neighbourhood social context for disadvantaged members of society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper studies determinants of the political participation of immigrants in Amsterdam. A distinction is made between determinants on the individual level and determinants on the group level. On the individual level gender, ethnic membership, cross-ethnic membership and social activities in the network of the respondent are of relevance. On the group level the amount of social capital in the ethnic community is important. To explain individual political participation, the paper suggests an explanatory model, which entails an interaction effect between individual determinants (i.e. organisational membership and the social network of the individual citizen) and the structure of the ethnic civic community as it is reflected in the structure of the network of ethnic organisations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the past decade, the intense debate about multiculturalism and immigration has led to a questioning of the limits of criminal law on hate speech in the Netherlands. The freedom of expression/hate speech dilemma, with its delicate relationship between freedom of expression, non-discrimination and freedom of religion, has itself become a battle ground in public discourse about multiculturalism. This paper seeks to analyse how legal developments around hate speech bans in the Netherlands (in legislation, case law and prosecution policy) have interacted with sociopolitical changes in a multicultural society in the twenty-first century, and how hate speech bans have become politicised. It will show how developments in the Dutch ‘free speech v. hate speech’ debate have led to contestation over fundamental rights and the role of the judiciary versus the legislature, now that the judiciary is being called in to regulate a sensitive sociopolitical conflict. The paper also shows how since 9/11 there has been an ‘asymmetrical’ use of hate speech bans, to protect the majority against radical minorities, and examines what this implies in terms of the ‘militant democracy’ idea. Asymmetry is also apparent in the way freedom of speech functions in public debate, where many use the free speech argument rhetorically as the right to ‘say what they think’, but do not necessarily grant the same right to their adversaries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the literature on migrant networks, the constitutive role of employers and recruiting actors remains underexposed, despite a persistent economic demand for migrant labour which is cheap, readily available and easily dismissed. Aiming to further understand how the recruitment of migrant labour by employers is organised, this paper focuses on the example of international employment agencies (IEAs). It is argued that these agencies are currently the anchors of the circular labour migration between Poland and the Netherlands. In the Netherlands, temporary staffing is a fully legal and common phenomenon, allowing agencies to transfer part of the Polish employment from the underground to a more visible presence. When viewed through the lens of geographical and work-organisation literature on the issue of labour flexibility, these migrant workers could be named migrant flexiworkers. Apart from analysing the origins and current functioning of the IEAs, the paper discusses their development prospects and other more normative aspects of migrant flexiwork. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In many Western European cities politicians express concerns about the lack of integration of immigrants from the so-called less-developed countries. A core issue in the debate is the relationship between the residential segregation of ethnic minorities and integration or assimilation processes. This paper deals with the relationship between segregation and integration in the context of two opposing visions in the debate in the Netherlands. Empirical evidence is presented on both the level of segregation and the indicators of integration as well as the relation between the two. A major conclusion is that the relationship between segregation and integration suffers from too much political and too little scholarly attention. Politicians focus too much on large-scale spatial social engineering projects. The empirical evidence shown in this paper provides support for more policy attention in the domains of education and labour market access. Policies in these fields have had much more positive effects in the past than many want us to believe. It is underlined that education appears to be a key factor for successful integration, both in socio-economic terms and in social and cultural terms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the proliferation and development of the Turkish clubbing scene in the cities of Amsterdam and Rotterdam. It points to how a new clubbing scene is created within the existing mainstream nightlife in order to overcome social and cultural constraints in accessibility and to meet the cultural preferences of the Dutch-Turkish consumers. Nowadays these Turkish parties are being incorporated in established and popular dance halls in the city centres. The question will be addressed as to whether Turkish party organisations and party-goers are engaged in politics of recognition by claiming their space in mainstream nightlife. Furthermore, the paper addresses how Turkish parties can offer a space for the expression of a collective cultural identity by analysing why and how Dutch-Turkish young people opt for the Turkish clubbing scene. The research findings discussed in this paper are taken from in-depth interviews with consumers and producers of Turkish parties in Amsterdam and Rotterdam, from Internet discussions, and from participant observation during several Turkish dance parties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using data from three survey studies, this paper examines the support for the democratic political organisation of Muslims among Muslim immigrants in the Netherlands (Studies 1, 2, and 3) and Germany (Study 3). Using a social psychological perspective, support is examined in relation to religious group identification, Muslim linked fate, perceived discrimination, fundamentalist religious belief, and host national identification. The findings in all three studies show support for the political organisation of Muslims. Furthermore, higher religious group identification and higher linked fate were associated with stronger support. More discrimination and more fundamentalist beliefs were also associated with stronger support, and part of these associations was mediated by linked fate. National identification was not associated with support for the political organisation of Muslims. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper explains how social capital activates the accumulation of human capital within a Diaspora context. Our study focused on migrants in the Lithuanian Diaspora and revealed unexpected differences in the way low- and high-skilled migrants developed and applied social capital in order to accumulate human capital. Namely, despite a less privileged point of departure, low-skilled Lithuanians appeared stronger in developing new social networks, and were more driven to strengthen their human capital than high-skilled migrants. The study provides novel empirical and theoretical insights by explaining the significance of social capital in the accumulation of human capital among Diaspora communities. In so doing, the study provides important insights for integration policy development for immigrant-receiving countries, offering a different perspective on high- and low-skilled migrant mobility and integration intentions. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Traditionally, immigrants’ propensity to naturalize is attributed to individual characteristics and the origin country. Recently scholars increasingly recognise that naturalisation decisions do not take place in a vacuum: they are conditioned both by the individual life course of immigrants, such as the age at migration and family situation, as well as the opportunity structure set by citizenship policies of the destination country. Yet it is less clear what impact specific policy changes have, and to whom these changes matter most. In this paper we address these questions by analysing citizenship acquisition among first generation immigrants in the Netherlands in light of a restriction in citizenship policy in 2003. We employ unique micro-level longitudinal data from Dutch municipal population registers between 1995 until 2012, which allow us to track naturalisation among different immigration cohorts. We find evidence that indeed naturalisation is part of a larger life course trajectory: immigrants who arrive at a younger age in the Netherlands naturalise more often and so do immigrants with a native partner, or a foreign-born partner who also naturalises. Policy also matters: migrants naturalise later and less often under more restrictive institutional conditions, especially migrants from less developed and politically unstable countries of origin. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

International retirement migration gained popularity with the rise of globalisation and individualisation, but little is known about whom the retirement migrants are compared to retirees who do not migrate. To gain insight into who migrates compared to who stays, we examine a broad set of individual determinants. We collected data for the survey of Dutch Retirement Migrants Abroad, a new dataset based on a probability sample of Dutch nationals with an oversample of retirement migrants (ages 66–90). The survey includes 5225 migrants who migrated from the Netherlands and permanently reside in one of forty different destination countries and 1339 Dutch retirees who reside in the Netherlands. Using discrete-time event-history models, we test the effect of socioeconomic status, social ties, personality traits, and cultural values on the likelihood of migration. Having a partner and a higher occupational status raised the likelihood of migration. Additionally, retirement migrants were more likely to be adventurous, postmaterialist, and identify with counterculture of the sixties, such as being involved in the hippie culture, than non-migrants. Having more social ties in the Netherlands decreased the likelihood of migration. This study highlights the complex interplay of determinants influencing who migrates at older ages and who stays. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper compares the levels of socio-cultural integration of naturalised and non-naturalised immigrants in the Netherlands, France and Germany. Socio-cultural integration is measured by host-country identification, proficiency and use of the host-country language, and interethnic social contacts. To increase cross-national comparability, we focus on immigrants from two rural regions in Turkey who migrated before 1975. Based on the assumption that easily accessible citizenship promotes socio-cultural integration, we test two hypotheses. First, whether naturalised immigrants display higher levels of socio-cultural integration than non-naturalised immigrants. Second, whether immigrants in countries with few preconditions for naturalisation show higher levels of socio-cultural integration. We find that naturalisation is positively associated with socio-cultural integration only in those countries—France and Germany—that have traditionally required a certain degree of cultural assimilation from their new citizens. Regarding country differences, we find that Turkish immigrants in France show higher levels of socio-cultural integration on all four indicators. For host-country identification, they share this position with Dutch Turks. The results show that limited cultural assimilation conditions tied to citizenship may be helpful in promoting socio-cultural integration, but also that the allowance of dual nationality does not have the negative effects that are sometimes ascribed to it. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The degree of spatial segregation and concentration of minority ethnic groups in European cities is well documented. However, little is known about the residential mobility between neighbourhoods that brings about changes in the patterns of ethnic segregation. In this paper we analyse the residential mobility of minority ethnic groups from an assimilation perspective, according to which moving out of ethnic into predominantly white neighbourhoods can be seen as an indicator of immigrants' incorporation into mainstream society. Residential mobility into white neighbourhoods is therefore expected to be a function of socio-economic mobility and acculturation at the individual level. The prospect for the long term is that differences in residential mobility behaviour based on ethnic status should gradually disappear. However, in our comparison between the biggest minority ethnic groups in the Netherlands and the native majority, we find only partial confirmation for the assimilation perspective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, the issue of changing labour-market opportunities and the position of members of minority groups in advanced service economies is addressed, focusing on the Dutch case. We distinguish between two social hierarchies, one of traditional 'fordist' occupations and one of post-fordist occupations. Compared to the native Dutch, all immigrant groups are over-represented at the bottom of the labour market, both in the fordist and in the post-industrial hierarchy. Increased immigrant labour-market participation in the 1990s was accompanied by a strong rise in the number of flexible labour contracts. Native Dutch also work more frequently on flexible labour contracts, but not to the same extent as immigrants. The lower occupational level of the Surinamese, Antilleans and other non-Western immigrants employed in post-industrial occupations can be attributed to their low educational level. This is not true, however, for Turks, Moroccans and other non-Western immigrants employed in fordist occupations. Their low occupational level can not be completely explained by their low educational level. The effects of changes in the economic structure differ for ethnic groups, depending on their past employment, their cultural capital and the institutional framework in which they have to operate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the last few years, second-generation migrants in the Netherlands have started to set up their own websites, in particular Dutch Moroccan youth. These developments have changed the old phenomenon of migration, making new communication technology a special feature of the concept of transnationalism. For migrants, the Internet is an excellent tool to ally themselves with compatriots throughout the world. This paper focuses on how the second generation of migrants uses discussion boards of websites to express their ties with their country of origin; thus websites are examples of cultural artefacts that can be seen as a virtual way of keeping alive the image of Morocco. Two websites, Maroc.nl and Maghreb.nl , show how Dutch Moroccan youth express their loyalty and belonging to Morocco. They use these websites as a source of information and imagination, therefore the sites function as a binding factor in a Dutch social context. In fact, what these particular websites keep together is not the transnational but the national network of Dutch Moroccan youths. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As in France and Britain, immigration into the Netherlands after World War II is partly an inheritance of the country's colonial past. In this paper we consider four post-colonial migration flows to the Netherlands, two from the East Indies—the Eurasian population known as ‘Indische Nederlanders’ and the Moluccans—and two from the West Indies—the Surinamese and the Antilleans. We examine the factors that have been crucial for the integration (or non-integration) of these immigrants into Dutch society. Although all these immigrants may be labelled ‘post-colonial immigrants’, the term is misleading to the extent that it suggests homogeneity. A wide variety exists as to the volume of the migration flow; the composition of the immigrant population—social class, ethnic origin and cultural background; the timing of the migration and the perceptions and expectations of the immigrants. The context of reception also varies considerably, due to the economic situation at the time of arrival, government policies vis-à-vis these immigrant groups and the perception and acceptance of them by the general public. Two factors seem to have been of the essence for the integration process: Dutch citizenship and the amount of ‘cultural capital’—in the form of school attainments and familiarity with the Dutch language and culture—that the immigrants already possessed before migrating to the Netherlands. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The decolonisation of the Dutch East Indies put the native soldiers of the colonial army (KNIL) in a difficult position. After a long-dragging conflict over their status after the disbandment of the KNIL, the Dutch government saw no other way out than to bring the last soldiers together with their families to the Netherlands. The group consisted of about 12,500 persons, nearly all Ambonese, who were housed in barracks awaiting their repatriation to Indonesia in the near future. Geographically and socially isolated from Dutch society, the ex-soldiers organised themselves around the ideal of a free republic on the Moluccan islands. After a period of indecisiveness, the Dutch government finally gave up in 1970 the idea of a return to Indonesia and tried to convince the Moluccans that their future lay in the Netherlands. But policy measures aimed at integration were vehemently opposed by Moluccan leaders who feared integration would induce their followers to abandon the political ideal. This deadlock situation led to a decade of violent internal conflicts and terrorist acts against Dutch civilians. After 1980 there came an end to the period of violence. New leaders came to the fore. They had a broader frame of reference and were interested in enhancing the social position of the Moluccans in the Netherlands. So far the situation of the Moluccans in the Netherlands has been described as a singular historic case. In this paper the fate of the Moluccans is analysed in a broader sociological frame of reference as an example of a diaspora; in other words, a settled community, that considers itself to be 'from elsewhere' and whose common and most important goal is the realisation of a political ideal in what is seen as the homeland. By applying the diaspora concept an answer is sought to the question as to how it became possible that, after a decade of violence and terrorist actions, the Moluccans changed into an immigrant population, slowly integrating into Dutch society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many assume that high levels of social and/or ethnic segregation, which often go hand-in-hand with high levels of ethnic concentration, will obstruct integration and participation in society. Concentration is also felt to hamper the social mobility of those with a weak social position and/or low skills, particularly immigrants of non- Western origin. Although these ideas may have some validity in contexts where extremely high levels of social and ethnic segregation exist, they are hardly tested in contexts with more moderate levels of segregation and stronger welfare states. This paper addresses this deficiency by providing some evidence on the relationship between segregation and integration in Dutch cities, Amsterdam in particular. The findings show that, where a relationship between segregation and integration does exist, it is not a very strong one. In Amsterdam some similarly segregated population categories appear to perform differently in terms of integration. In addition, the social mixture of the residential environment hardly has any effect on the social mobility of those living there. On the other hand, I find that the level of social inequality in society is important for understanding the level of segregation. Educational programmes and variations in labour market access are crucial for understanding variations in integration. Conse quently, programmes that are aimed at de-segregation, mainly by mixing neighbour hoods socially and ethnically, will probably contribute little to enhancing integration in society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The unemployment rate for most ethnic minorities in the Netherlands is higher than that of the host population. It is feared that ethnic minorities' low labour market participation will constrain the overall social cohesion of Dutch society. Increased labour market participation of ethnic minorities is therefore considered as the most effective way to reduce the number of claimants and increase their social integration. The two questions to be addressed in this paper are to what extent the labour market is accessible for ethnic minorities in the Netherlands and whether their increased participation in work increases the level of general socio-economic welfare. The available data suggest that social exclusion on the job market continues to be a widespread practice. In most cases increased labour participation has succeeded only due to the creation of low-paid jobs in the public sector. However, in these echelons increased participation hardly leads to an increase in individual welfare. The labour market intervention has thus resulted in the emergence of a social stratum of working poor. It is questionable whether this outcome strengthens intended social cohesion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We explore the nuances of living while undocumented in the Netherlands, focusing on the processes of (in)visibility and (im)mobility in the public sphere. We conceptualize (in)visibility as dialectical and multilayered, with relational, political, strategic and processual dimensions. (Im)mobility isconceptualized as a resource and is interlinked with (in)visibility. Both concepts are understood to be defined by social relations, which necessitate the analytical centering of 'race'. In order to investigate the subtleties of undocumented migrants' public experiences, we examine how racialization is (1) embodied in prejudiced surveillance, (2) experienced by undocumented migrants as racialized individuals, and (3) resisted through the exercise of strategic (in)visibility. We argue that strategic invisibility can result in self-inflicted immobilization due to an amplified perception of risk. Instances of strategic visibility are explored, showing the creation of discursive spaces and informal cooperation between migrant-led collectives and street-level actors. We conclude by stating that asymmetries in visibility create a different urban landscape for undocumented migrants, specifically one that is limited and mined with risks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Muslim Other stands outside the somatic norms of white Dutch society. Thinking through the body as a phenomenal lived body, we explore the ways through which the Muslim Other is (re)constructed through embodied encounters and intersections of sensoriality, corporeality, and affectivity in the urban Dutch. We identify how (1) the Muslim Other is (re)produced through a set of multisensorial encounters based on the look, hearing, and touch; (2) Othering is intercorporeally practised; (3) Othering affectively charges the atmospheres of everyday life to the point that even the objects that Muslims carry cause anxiety. We further outline how this Othering trilogy provides avenues of possibility whereby the imposed anger and 'dis-orientation' can potentially be transformed into hope and 're-orientation'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study explores how the careers of professional university graduates with a first- or second-generation non-Western migrant background evolve within the first four to eight years after graduation, as compared to their Dutch native peers. We find that in the first year after graduation, while holding constant background characteristics, both first- and second-generation migrants experienced lower employment chances, more skill mismatches and lower job satisfaction than natives. No wage differences could be observed between migrants and natives. Although the differences between first- and second-generation migrants appeared to be small in the short term, a follow-up survey four to eight years after graduation revealed evidence that second-generation – but not first-generation – migrants improved their situation overall. They maintained earnings parity with natives, and narrowed the gap in terms of job satisfaction, skill match, and to a somewhat lesser extent employment chances. Although the first generation eliminated the gap with respect to natives in terms of employment chances, they continued to show lower job satisfaction and opened up a wage gap as compared to their native Dutch peers. This suggests that early-career gaps for first-generation migrants are enduring and cannot easily be resolved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study captures how contextual factors have affected the experiences of skilled Polish migrants in two locations, Amsterdam and Berlin. Drawing from interviews with 60 Poles I demonstrate how perceived attitudes of natives towards migrants, cultural closeness or distance with a majority group and specific characteristics of the destination city can be key facilitators or obstacles in shaping migrants' sense of belonging. I am pointing to a greater importance of socio-cultural than economic factors in the process of developing a sense of belonging. Nevertheless, these factors remain under the limited influence of migrants. The article demonstrates how migrants' subjective belonging relates to their experience of integration and thus general level of comfort in a city. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

How do migrants become part of a national community and feel a sense of belonging to that country? Whilst migrants' educational level is considered key in doing so, survey studies conclude that higher-educated migrants experience a low sense of belonging to the residence country. This has been dubbed the integration paradox. We draw from in-depth qualitative biographical interviews with highly-skilled Turkish migrants in the Netherlands to contribute to understanding how this so-called paradox can come about. Purposeful sampling from the New Immigrants Survey allows for rich data that reflect those who, according to the survey, experience a paradox (N = 15) and those who do not (N = 17). First, we find that some migrants interpret national belonging in more complex ways than was intended by often-used survey items measuring this concept. Many highly-skilled migrants experience little belonging to a single nation, but instead identify with a supranational entity. Some self-identified world citizens are therefore categorised as 'paradoxical' because they experience belonging nowhere in specific. Second, we find multiple conditions that structure (non-)belonging, such as experiencing non-belonging due to exclusion from both Dutch and Dutch-Turkish communities, and might explain the paradox. These insights shed new light on the mechanisms underpinning the integration paradox. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, European media and public discourse have been increasingly categorising newcomers using terminology like 'immigrants' and 'refugees'. The aim of this practice is to distinguish legitimate from illegitimate newcomers in the wake of the 2015 'refugee crisis' in Europe. Drawing on data from an online survey in Belgium, France, the Netherlands and Sweden (n = 6000) in September and October of 2017, this article investigates how the use of these categories relates to public opinion on 'immigrants' and 'refugees'. Findings show that people hold more positive attitudes towards 'refugees' than towards 'immigrants', a process which is likely driven by media framing. Attitude discrepancies within 'immigrant' and 'refugee' categories are also investigated, as categorical fetishism causes further differentiation of attitudes within these groups. Public opinion differences within 'immigrants' and 'refugees' are found along three cleavages: ethnicity, the economic situation of the origin country, and region of origin. Newcomers with the same ethnicity (vs. a different ethnicity), from 'rich' countries (vs. 'poor' countries), and from European countries (vs. non-European countries) are preferred in both categories. With these findings, this article reveals important aspects of the influence of migrant categorizations on public opinion towards vulnerable groups of newcomers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The relevance of recent migrants' broader structural position for their destination country identification is studied in this manuscript. In three ways, we build upon previous work referring to an integration paradox, concluding that more structurally integrated migrants turn away from the destination country. First, we extend existing research that mainly tests this for migrants' educational level, by acknowledging that structural integration also includes migrants' economic position. Second, we elaborate on the relative deprivation framework by testing how a mismatch between educational and economic position affects destination country identification. Third, we not only study how migrants feel about the native population, used as outcome in most integration paradox studies, but also for a sense of belonging to the destination country. We test our hypotheses cross-sectionally and dynamically using the New Immigrants to the Netherlands Survey. Results indicate that migrants' educational and economic position hardly affects the way they feel about the native population, whilst a higher structural position does hamper a sense of belonging to the destination country. This latter finding is not explained by a mismatch between educational and economic position, as a mismatch does not systematically affect new immigrants' feelings about the native population or their sense of belonging. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Welfare systems are often perceived as key for migration decisions. Yet traditional international migration theories usually include this factor as rather static in nature and do not acknowledge the dynamic interaction with the individual life course. This is unfortunate, as the impact of macro-level circumstances on individual migration decisions may vary over a person's life, particularly for factors that are intrinsically connected to the life course, as is the case with the welfare system. In this study, we propose an innovative conceptual model which fruitfully combines insights from migration theories with principles of the life course approach. Using qualitative interview data from 36 European citizens born in Poland, Spain and the UK and residing in the Netherlands, we investigated how welfare systems are perceived and experienced at the individual level, and how these perceptions, knowledge and practices may enter migration decisions. Our study empirically underpins the main premise of the theoretical model that migration decisions and the factors shaping them should be explained as connected through the life course. The proposed conceptual model is suitable to explain the influence of welfare systems on migration decisions, but also that of other structural factors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Previous studies have discovered a somewhat paradoxical empirical pattern whereby members of some higher educated first- and second-generation migrant groups in the Netherlands, who are structurally better integrated, harbour more negative attitudes toward natives than their lower educated counterparts, a.k.a. 'the integration paradox'. This finding goes against intergroup contact theory which predicts that the greater contact with natives among highly educated migrants should improve their attitudes toward natives. Here we ask whether this negative relationship between education and attitudes toward natives can already be observed at an earlier stage in the lives of immigrants, in adolescence. In survey data on Dutch first- and second-generation immigrant adolescents, we find no integration paradox: Instead, education positively predicts attitudes toward natives. This positive relationship can largely be attributed to the greater opportunity for befriending native peers in higher educational tracks, which in turn produces more favourable attitudes toward natives, consistent with contact theory. We conclude that if the integration paradox is a robust phenomenon in adulthood, it is either restricted to migrants who do not grow up in the Netherlands, or the attitudes of immigrants radically change after they finish high school. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research on migrants to European countries commonly assumes that with naturalisation, migrants' futures are closely linked to the receiving country. However, from a transnational perspective, citizenship acquisition does not necessarily lead to permanent settlement. Apart from the right to stay in the country, citizenship provides for extensive mobility rights and the freedom to settle elsewhere. This mobility premium may be particularly acute for refugees, and previous research indeed shows that EU citizenship is key in their international movement. Yet, knowledge of the demography, socio-economic profile and scale of subsequent movement of new citizens of refugee background is limited. We therefore test the 'naturalisation-as-a-ticket-to-mobility' thesis for a large and heterogeneous group of refugees who received asylum in the Netherlands. Based on longitudinal data, we follow an entire cohort of refugees registered in the Dutch municipal registers between 1995 and 1999 (N = 60,218) over a period of almost two decades. We examine for whom and under which conditions naturalisation results in subsequent international migration. Results from Cox models reveal that citizenship acquisition is generally associated with settlement in the Netherlands. However, for refugees receiving welfare benefits and those with a 'weak passport' prior to naturalisation, Dutch citizenship increases the likelihood of subsequent migration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While the concept of transnationalism has gained widespread popularity among scholars as a way to describe immigrants' long-term maintenance of cross-border ties, few studies have empirically addressed how social networks that connect migrants to each other and to nonmigrants in communities of origin are also associated with migrants' well-being. We examined the extent to which social support networks of Polish migrants in the Netherlands serve as precursors of loneliness. Using information on confidant networks (The Families of Poles in the Netherlands, N = 1131) and latent class analysis, five networks types are identified based on the received emotional support provided by kin and non-kin residing in the Netherlands and abroad. Migrants with small, homogeneous and kin-based (restricted) networks are more likely to be lonely compared to migrants with other four network types. Addressing the relationship between transnational activities and migrants' social networks, results suggest the host language proficiency is the most important predictor of large, heterogeneous, non-kin based networks in migrants. This study finds support that some transnational activates taking place in the host country are related to social networks in ways that promote integration, contrary to the notion that transnationalism is unrelated to the process of immigrant adaptation and assimilation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigates gender differences in recently arrived migrants' labour market activity and occupational status both shortly after arrival and with increasing length of stay. We examine the role of education, household composition and traditional gender role values by estimating multi-group multilevel models based on three waves of the New Immigrants to the Netherlands Survey. In line with findings regarding gender gaps in labour market behaviour, recent female migrants are less active on labour market than their male counterparts, and we observe a clear motherhood penalty and fatherhood premium on the number of hours worked. Men and women show only marginal differences in their occupational statuses. Changes over time do not differ between men and women, indicating persistent gender inequality in labour market attainment. Moreover, interesting differences between the nationalities were found. Polish migrants show the highest activity levels and lowest occupational status, also when compared to Bulgarians. Spanish migrants hold the highest occupational statuses. Recent Turkish migrants seem to be better integrated and show fewer gender differences than the more established Turkish minority in the Netherlands. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines the impact of economic and safety threat perceptions on anti-immigrant sentiments. We investigate the extent to which public support for individual immigrants is affected by considerations about economic prospects and criminality of potential immigrants. We utilise survey vignette experiments conducted as part of the Panel Component of the European Social Survey in the Netherlands with a representative sample of the Dutch population. In the vignette experiments, we manipulated economic prospects and criminal background characteristics of immigrants, making them appear more or less likely to be an economic burden for and to pose a safety threat to the host society. Our findings demonstrate that both economic and safety considerations highly influence the public support for individual immigrants. We find that citizens’ views on admissibility of individual immigrants are predominantly shaped by considerations about social welfare costs and criminality of potential immigrants. Our findings further illustrate that safety concerns are yielding to more exclusionist immigration policy preferences than economic threat considerations, especially when those safety threats are measured at the individual level rather than at the collective level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study explores to what extent varying levels of host national day participation among immigrants can be explained by previous participatory experiences related to their country of origin, in addition to socio-cultural factors related to the current country of residence. Utilising data from a large online immigrant panel, we concentrate on two prominent national days in the Netherlands: Remembrance Day and Liberation Day. On these days, Dutch society commemorates victims of the Second World War and celebrates freedom, respectively. Our results indicate that Dutch national day participation among immigrants is determined largely by previous familiarity with commemorating and celebrating through participation in holidays specific to immigrants’ country of origin. These findings highlight the need to place more emphasis on the role of previous participatory experiences when examining immigrants’ current patterns of participation in the host society. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Prevailing Anglo-Saxon theories on urban segregation based on class and ‘migrant-status’ have often been rejected for continental European cities, mainly because of different economic and labour market structures and higher levels of state interventions and welfare support in the latter type of cities. As urban economies in continental Europe are growing ever more global and welfare states are in continuous restructuring we seek to investigate whether a typical European socially balanced migrant city, the city (and metropolitan region) of Amsterdam, is developing into the direction of a more outspoken ‘double dual’ condition with populations getting more spatially segregated in terms of class and migrant status. This study looks at developments in terms of the spatial dynamics of the ‘native’ and immigrant population of different classes. We find that the region is undergoing a transformation, which for now reduces spatial concentrations and inequality. As the urban core is gentrifying and some suburban neighbourhoods are declining, the typical dichotomy of a poor-migrant central city versus affluent-native suburbs is vanishing. These developments point to a different type of social-migrant city, one with a patchwork of residential milieus along social and cultural lines. However, we challenge the sustainability of that patchwork over time. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The idea that cities enjoy a certain degree of autonomy from the state when it comes to shaping immigrant integration policy has been repeatedly highlighted by research and promoted by good governance discourses. However, the emergence of state-led civic integration programmes (CIP) across Europe would seem to jar with this movement. This is the contradiction that this article explores. CIP mobilise significant resources and streamline immigrant integration through language courses, the provision of information about the host society and vocational orientation. Drawing on policy documents and interviews with local policy-makers on the CIP in the Netherlands, Germany and Sweden, this article demonstrates how they reduce the role cities have in immigrant integration; and how they transform integration policies—to varying degrees—from being developed in relationship to locally emerging needs to being charged with state sovereignty. These findings challenge the idea that there is an increasingly local approach to integration. They also raise concerns about the ambitions of CIP. Although presented as a means to make integration policies more efficient, their focus on control and coercion may in fact jeopardise their capacity to respond to concrete integration needs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article investigates the impact of discursive and political opportunity structures on religiosity among Muslims and on perceived distance between Muslims and non-Muslims on the role of religion in society, making use of the EURISLAM-data-set (2010). We will focus on Moroccan, Turkish, Pakistani and ex-Yugoslavian origin samples of migrants of Muslim origin and a control group of non-Muslim majority group citizens for six participating countries (Belgium, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Switzerland and the UK). Our analysis does not show any impact of opportunity structures on Muslims religiosity nor on perceived differences between Muslims and non-Muslims. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Western Europe, the children of Moroccan and Turkish migrants were found to be significantly disadvantaged in the labour market. This ethnic gap was found to persist after considering differences in schooling, which was argued to reflect ‘ethnic penalties’ driven by cultural, religious, or racial factors. This study uses data from the 1st Wave of the ‘Netherlands Longitudinal Life-Course Study’ (2009–2010) to revisit the analysis of ‘ethnic penalties’ for second-generation Moroccans and Turks. Unlike in previous research, empirical analyses not only consider differences in schooling, but also skills and social origins. Results show substantial ethnic inequalities in the labour market, with the exception of women from Moroccan origins. For men, these ethnic inequalities do not disappear when human capital factors are considered, but they do when accounting for the unprivileged social origins of ethnic minorities. For women, the disadvantage of second-generation Turks in achieving privileged occupations clearly disappears when human capital and social origins are considered. Yet, the chances of being unemployed among women of Turkish origins persist after controlling for education, skills, and social origins. Overall, this study has global academic and public policy implications to understand the socioeconomic integration of the Moroccan and Turkish second generation in Western Europe. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This article presents a framework which applies life course approach to high-skilled migration. By using the lens of the life course, migration behaviour is viewed not only in response to labour market triggers, but also in relation to other life domains such as education, employment and household. The data presented in this article are drawn from 22 in-depth interviews and visualisations of parallel careers. The results illustrate how highly skilled Indian migrants in the Netherlands shape their life course and highlight the parallel careers that structure their migration trajectories. Parents, spouse and social networks inform the life course decisions of these migrants through the linked lives mechanism to a large extent. Our findings challenge the notion of ‘trailing wives’ and suggest that, despite of gender differences in the life course patterns, the joining spouses play an active role in the family migration decisions of the highly skilled. Life course approach enables us to understand the migration process through the lives of the highly skilled and reveals how—the often culturally conditioned—life course interdependencies frame their migration decisions. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Drawing on 15 in-depth interviews with immigrants who were legalised through a one-off collective amnesty issued by the Dutch government in 2007, this article proposes a tentative typology of three types of immigrants in terms of their economic integration (self-sufficient, dependent, and isolated) and the trajectories that led to these differences. An analysis of immigrants' characteristics and experiences before and after legalisation suggests that these are closely related. The three trajectories consist of different interactions between immigrants' access to and mobilisation of cultural, economic and social capital, their psychological and psychosomatic problems, and their attribution styles. Our findings show how interactions between these factors reinforced economic integration (in case of self-sufficient immigrants), undermined it (in case of isolated immigrants), or resulted in mixed outcomes (in case of dependent immigrants). As such, this study contributes to our understanding of how different factors previously found to be associated with the economic integration of amnestied immigrants relate to each other. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Based on a novel experimental design, the current study examines the impact of economic and cultural characteristics of potential immigrants on anti-immigrant sentiments. We investigate the extent to which individuating cues affect public support for individual immigrants in the USA and the Netherlands through a series of online survey experiments carried out by the YouGov online panel in 2010 and the Longitudinal Internet Studies for the Social Sciences Panel in 2011. Our findings demonstrate that individual immigrants elicit different levels of public support for their temporary and permanent immigration applications, and that support depends overwhelmingly on educational and occupational credentials of potential immigrants. Other individual attributes, such as presence of family dependents, country of origin and skin complexion also affect acceptance rates, but to a much lesser extent. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An increasing body of transnational family literature finds that transnational family life challenges relationships between migrant parents and their children in the home country. However, transnational families are not uniform and function differently according to their specific characteristics. The aim of this study is to investigate how different factors are associated with the quality of parent–child relationships in transnational families. Based on an extensive literature review, five factors are found to be of special importance: gender of the migrant parent; contact and remittances; characteristics of the caregiver; length of separation; and the age of the child and age at separation. There is no quantitative evidence on the relationship between these factors, and how parents assess the relationship with their child in the origin country. This study uses survey data collected among 131 Angolan and 134 Nigerian migrant parents in The Netherlands with children in the country of origin in order to analyse these factors simultaneously. The study finds that contact and a good relationship between migrant parent and caregiver are important factors associated with good transnational parent–child relationships. However, important differences are found between Angolans and Nigerians, attesting to the importance of the characteristics of a particular migratory flow. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Immigration and integration issues have become increasingly important in West European politics, partly as a consequence of the rise of anti-immigration parties. This article investigates how immigration and integration issues have become politicised in the Netherlands since the beginning of the 1990s, what role anti-immigration parties have played in this process and the extent to which party positions on these issues are structured by a left-right dimension. It examines changes in debates about immigration and integration issues by means of a content analysis of party programmes, measuring changes in frames, positions and salience. It concludes that (1) immigration and integration issues have been given more attention by parties since the early 1990s, (2) parties have replaced their discourse of socio-economic integration by a discourse of cultural integration and (3) parties have adopted a monoculturalist instead of a multiculturalist position in the immigration and integration debate. However, despite these changes to the immigration and integration debate, it remains structured by a left–right divide, with left-wing parties being in favour of more lenient, multiculturalist policies and right-wing parties being in favour of more restrictive, monoculturalist policies. Furthermore, the article demonstrates that many of the changes were already set in motion by mainstream parties prior to the successful electoral breakthrough of anti-immigration parties. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In this article we develop an empirically grounded typology of labour migration patterns among migrants from Central and Eastern Europe, based on two dimensions: attachment to the destination country and attachment to the country of origin. We conducted a survey (N=654) among labour migrants in the Netherlands from Poland, Bulgaria and Romania. We found four migration patterns in our data: (i) circular migrants (mostly seasonal workers) with weak attachments to the country of destination, (ii) bi-nationals with strong attachments to both the home country and that of destination, (iii) footloose migrants with weak attachments to both the home and the destination country, and (iv) settlers with weak attachments to the home country. Our findings demonstrate the relevance to the debate on transnationalism and integration of distinguishing different migration patterns. Successful integration in Dutch society can go hand-in-hand with ‘strong’ as well as with ‘weak’ forms of transnationalism. The bi-national pattern shows a tendency to strong transnationalism, while the settlement pattern demonstrates less transnational involvement with the country of origin. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]