Building new (temporary) lives across borders – key concepts to capture the experiences of highly skilled migrants

by Gregor Schäfer (University of Bath, University of Copenhagen) and Claire Maxwell
(Deakin University, University of Copenhagen)  

Working Papers WP 25-01
July 2025
ISSN 2192-2357 (MMG Working Papers Print)

DOI: https://doi.org/10.58002/nkdh-fr04           Full text: pdf

Abstract:

One of the central foci of migration studies has been to understand what happens when people move across borders and start new lives. In this paper we review the classic but also more recent conceptual developments for making sense of the processes that occur when people migrate and how well these concepts can capture the specific experiences of highly skilled migrants (HSM) – a growing, global phenomenon. Having defined HSM, we illustrate how the classic concepts of assimilation and integration do not adequately acknowledge the potentially temporary nature of their mobility to a new place, their transnational locatedness or their significant personal resources. Meanwhile transnationalism and superdiversity are central macrostructures, but are not analytically robust enough in and of themselves to capture HSM experiences and their trajectories within a new national space. Finally, embedding and anchoring – more recent innovations in the field – offer approaches that capture the fluidity and dynamism of migration, but are missing a foundational base from which to emplace HSM within processes that structure a space. We conclude by exploring the elements a concept that captures the experiences of HSM, in particular, requires, introducing satellite migration as a way of understanding HSM’s mobility across the life course.