Mobilities of the Highly Skilled towards Switzerland: The Role of Intermediaries in Defining “Wanted Immigrants”
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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. |
| Mots-clés |
Open access ; French-speaking Leman region ; Migration intermediaries ; German-speaking northwestern region of Switzerland ; Economic Interest ; Mobile Workers ; Migration and integration ; Highly skilled migrants ; Swiss territory ; Labour labor market |
| Citation | Sandoz Laure, Mobilities of the Highly Skilled towards Switzerland: The Role of Intermediaries in Defining “Wanted Immigrants”, IMISCOE Research Series, Cham, 2019, 244 p. |
| Type | Livre (Anglais) |
| Année | 2019 |
| Titre de la collection | IMISCOE Research Series |
| Editeur commercial | Springer (Cham) |
| Nombre de pages | 244 |
| URL | https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-030-21122-6 |