Mobilities of the Highly Skilled towards Switzerland The Role of Intermediaries in Defining "Wanted Immigrants"

• Format: eBook
• Language: English
• Published: Cham Springer Nature 2019
• Series: IMISCOE Research Series
• Subjects: Emigration and immigration; Labor economics; Social sciences; thema EDItEUR::5 Interest qualifiers::5P Relating to specific groups and cultures or social and cultural interests::5PB Relating to peoples: ethnic groups, indigenous peoples, cultures and other groupings of people::5PBC Relating to migrant groups / diaspora communities or peoples; thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences::JB Society and culture: general::JBF Social and ethical issues::JBFH Migration, immigration and emigration; thema EDItEUR::K Economics, Finance, Business and Management::KC Economics::KCF Labour / income economics
• Online Access: Open Access: DOAB: description of the publication; Open Access: DOAB, download the publication

 This open access book analyses the strategies of migration intermediaries from the public and private sectors in Switzerland to select, attract, and retain highly skilled migrants who represent value to them. It reveals how state and economic actors define "wanted immigrants" and provide them with privileged access to the Swiss territory and labour market. The analysis draws on an ethnographic study conducted in the French-speaking Lake Geneva area and the German-speaking northwestern region of Switzerland between 2014 and 2018. It shows how institutional actors influence which resources are available to different groups of newcomers by defining and dividing migrants according to constructed social categories that correlate with specific status and privileges. This research thus shifts the focus from an approach that takes the category of highly skilled migrant for granted to one that regards context as crucial for structuring migrants' characteristics, trajectories, and experiences. Beyond consideration of professional qualifications, the ways decision-makers perceive candidates and shape their resource environments are crucial for constructing them as skilled or unskilled, wanted or unwanted, welcome or unwelcome.