Temporary Transnational Youth Migration and its Mobility Links

Abstract

Going abroad to live, work, or study for a period when young has become increasingly widespread. An important aspect of this development is the longer-term consequences for mobility at the individual and population levels. The present article explores the specific connections -the 'mobility links' -between temporary stays abroad and other mobility events in the early life course. The paper is based on a retrospective study of transnational moves and mobility among young adults in Gothenburg, Sweden. The results identify two main forms of consequential mobility: first, 'secondary' travel during the stay between two places linked by a move and, second, patterns of regular travel back to the place of temporary stay in following years, mainly because of new social ties formed.

The Mobility of Young Japanese: The Travel–Migration Nexus

“…Further work established a three-factor linkage between temporary stays abroad when a young person travels and stays for other reasons, such as family migration, employment, or study (Frändberg, 2014). First, temporary moves abroad may be part of a long-term personal engagement and competence related to a particular place, country, and culture (including language), which may be sustained over the years through travel, repeated longer stays, or migration.…”

“…Ono (2009) and voluntarily living overseas. Three items measuring travel intention and three items assessing intention to migrate were developed from interviews with tourists and reflect findings regarding temporary migration to live, work, or study overseas (Frändberg, 2014;Nagatomo, 2009Nagatomo, , 2014Ono, 2009). …”

Global Change and Human Mobility

“…I'd like to go to the United States to do a postdoc and then return here. Students' mobility is thus composed of different decisions made within people's life course and academic career without any clear idea of settling down (see also Frändberg 2014). (Nina,29 years,Slovenia) These two interviewees have a temporary position in Spain but a permanent transnational life.…”

Between striated and smooth space: Exploring the topology of transnational student mobility

“…However, students' links to distant places in the past (e.g., the home country) or in a potential future (e.g., the workplace) may feel more important than many current links to the place in which they presently study (Frändberg, 2013;Ploner, 2015;Tran, 2015). The differential importance attributed to such links illustrates the need for a spatial concept that allows for the conceptualisation of the relationality of student mobility, i.e., a way of theorising proximity and distance, present and past, and flow and fixation in a single process (Lysgård, 2016).…”