Migration Motives of Non-Dutch Immigrants in the

Current Dutch family migration policies are among the most restrictive in the European Union. (Groenendijk et al 2007b) From the 1990s onwards, the conditions for admission and stay of foreign family members in the Netherlands have gradually been tightened. Most recently, the centre-right government under Premier Balkenende which was in office from 2002 to 2006 implemented a number of significant restrictive reforms. The Law on Integration Abroad (2005) in particular attracted a great deal of attention both within the Netherlands and internationally. This law makes the granting of entry visa to family migrants conditional upon their demonstrating a sufficient level of knowledge of Dutch language and society. The Netherlands were the first country in the world to introduce such integration requirements at entry for foreign family members. (Groenendijk 2005: 12) This paper provides an overview of the main developments in Dutch family migration policies, with a focus on recent years. By way of introduction, it sketches the main trends of immigration to the Netherlands since the Second World War and presents statistical data on migration flows, migrant population and family migration in the Netherlands. The second section traces the history of Dutch family migration policies from the 1950s until the end of the 1990s. Finally, the third section provides an overview of the current policy framework, as well as a discussion of the political debate about family migration in the Netherlands since 2002.

Population Studies, 2013

The present study examines the emigration intentions of native-born Dutch residents and their subsequent emigration behaviour from 2005-10. Data were collected from two surveys on emigration intentions, one conducted locally and one nationally. A number of novel results stand out. First, intentions were good predictors of future emigration; 34 per cent of those who had stated an intention to emigrate actually emigrated within the fiveyear follow-up period. Second, the personality of potential migrants and their discontent about the quality of the public domain in the Netherlands (e.g. mentality, crowded space and nature, pollution, crime) were the strongest driving forces for moving abroad. Third, the main difference between movers and those who stated intentions to emigrate but had not (yet) followed through was their state of health: healthy people were more likely to follow through with their migration intentions than those in poorer health.

Dutch SOPEMI-Report 2003, 2005

Journal of Immigrant & Refugee Studies, 2014

This study investigates settlement intentions of immigrants and refugees. We combine data from several large-scale surveys collected between 1998 and 2009 in the Netherlands, focusing on the population that has resided in the Netherlands 10 years or fewer (N= 4,151). Results show that Surinamese and Antillean immigrants and Somalian refugees are generally less likely than other groups to intend to stay permanently in the Netherlands. Moreover, results show individual differences in settlement intentions. Specifically, ties to Dutch majority members and cultural integration are important factors that are positively related to settlement intentions, while such intentions are not significantly related to economic integration.

Since 1850, thousands of publications have been written about migration to and from the Netherlands. Migration is an important topic for political and social debates, now as well as in the past. The nature of migration changes continuously, as does the way in which migration and integration issues are problematized, and changes are a reason for migration historians to take a fresh look at migrations in the past. Over time, the focus has moved from legal, to demographic, economic, sociological and emancipatory, and back to legal and economic. In recent decades, the analytical and comparative approach has been strengthened: between categories of migrants, between men and women, and between countries. This is the way forward.

Studies and Comments, 2002

119 Migration and Immigrants: The Case of The Netherlands Aslan Zorlu/Joop Hartog 1. Introduction In the early 1960s, the Netherlands switched from an emigration to immigration country, possibly for the second time since the Golden Age. The increase in prosperity in the Netherlands ...

Sight and Sound, 2003

Regional Studies, 2008

The initial settlement behaviour and the subsequent mobility of immigrants who arrived in the Netherlands in 1999 are examined using rich administrative individual data. The study considers the settlement patterns of immigrants from various countries of origin who entered the country as labour, family or asylum migrants. The evidence suggests distinct settlement trajectories for asylum and other non-western immigrants. The presence of co-ethnics and members of other ethnic minorities, but also socioeconomic neighbourhood characteristics, appear to play an important role in determining location choice. Differences in the settlement and spatial mobility patterns of immigrants with various degrees of distance from the native Dutch in terms of human and financial capital, proficiency in the relevant language(s), and religion confirm the main predictions of spatial assimilation theory.