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Central and Eastern European Migration Review

Central and Eastern European Migration Review

Description

Central and Eastern European Migration Review is published bianually by the Centre of Migration Research, University of Warsaw and the Polish Academy of Sciences as an online, open-access journal. Materials presented in the journal include original research articles and research reports. Priority is given to research addressing the CEE region perspective and comparative analyses. However, studies based on original empirical data devoted only to some country-cases also befit the scope of the journal. The language of the contributions is English. Before publication, each submitted paper is subject to a double-blind peer review by at least two independent experts. We invite sociologists, economists, demographers, political scientists, lawyers, psychologists, historians and anthropologists to submit their works.

IMPACT FACTOR 2022: 1.7

ISSN
ISSN 2300-1682
Publishers
Polska Akademia Nauk, Ośrodek Badań nad Migracjami UW

RADA PROGRAMOWA:


Marek Okólski (Uniwersytet Warszawski, Szkoła Wyższa Psychologii Społecznej)
Olga Chudinovskikh (Moscow State Lomonosow University, Higher School of Economics)
Barbara Dietz (Institute for East and Southeast European Studies in Regensburg, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA))
Boris Divinský (Bratislava)
Dušan Drbohlav (Charles University in Prague)
Elżbieta Goździak (Georgetown University, Uniwersytet im. Adama Mickiewicza)
Agnes Hars (KOPINT-TARKI Economic Research Institute Ltd)
Romuald Jończy (Uniwersytet Ekonomiczny we Wrocławiu)
Paweł Kaczmarczyk (Uniwersytet Warszawski)
Olga Kupets (National University of ‘Kyiv-Mohyla Academy’)
Solange Maslowski (Charles University in Prague)
Ewa Morawska (University of Essex)
Mirjana Morokvasic (University Paris X-Nanterre, Institute for Social Sciences of Politics in Paris)
Jan Pakulski (University of Tasmania, Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia)
Dorota Praszałowicz (Uniwersytet Jagielloński)
Krystyna Romaniszyn (Uniwersytet Jagielloński)
John Salt (University College London)
Dumitru Sandu (University of Bucharest)
Krystyna Slany (Uniwersytet Jagielloński, Akademia Górniczo-Hutnicza)
Dariusz Stola (Polska Akademia Nauk, Collegium Civitas)
Cezary Żołędowski (Uniwersytet Warszawski)

REDAKCJA:

Aleksandra Grzymała-Kazłowska (Uniwersytet Warszawski) - redaktor naczelny
Piotr Koryś (Uniwersytet Warszawski)
Yana Leontiyeva (Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic)
Magdalena Lesińska (Uniwersytet Warszawski)
Stefan Markowski (University of New South Wales in Australia)
Justyna Nakonieczna (Uniwersytet Warszawski)
Joanna Nestorowicz (Uniwersytet Warszawski)
Aneta Piekut (University of Sheffield)
Paolo Ruspini (International Migration University of Lugano)
Brygida Solga (Politechnika Opolska)
Paweł Strzelecki (Szkoła Główna Handlowa)
Anne White (University of Bath)
Renata Stefańska (Uniwersytet Warszawski) - sekretarz Redakcji

 

Ośrodek Badań nad Migracjami Uniwersytetu Warszawskiego
ul. Banacha 2b
02-097 Warszawa
tel.: 22 659 74 11

Central and Eastern European Migration Review is an open access journal with all content available with no charge in full text version.


The journal content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.


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Content

Central and Eastern European Migration Review | 2025 | vol. 14 | No 2

1 Contents
Central and Eastern European Migration Review | 2025 | vol. 14 | No 2 | 3
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2 The Origins, Development, and Characteristics of Central and Eastern European Diasporas
Magdalena Lesińska
Central and Eastern European Migration Review | 2025 | vol. 14 | No 2 | 5–16
Keywords: diaspora Central and Eastern Europe kin-minorities diaspora policy
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Abstract

The article examines the question of what shapes the process of creating diasporas in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE). It argues that a comprehensive understanding of the origins, development, and contemporary characteristics of CEE diasporas requires consideration of the region’s distinctive historical experience, characterised by a history of multiethnic empires, border changes, wars, authoritarian regimes, and recurrent waves of both forced and voluntary migration. Drawing on the conceptual framework proposed by Rogers Brubaker, it highlights the internal diversity of CEE diasporas. The distinction between classic emigrant diasporas and ‘accidental’ diasporas, which are formed as a result of border changes rather than physical migration, serves to emphasise the significance of kin-minorities residing in neighbouring states in conjunction with emigrant communities situated abroad. The article identifies four critical historical moments – the collapse of multiethnic empires, post-World War I and II border changes, the communist period and the Iron Curtain, and post-2004 European integration – as key determinants shaping the specificity of Central and Eastern European diasporas.
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Authors and Affiliations

Magdalena Lesińska
1
ORCID: ORCID
  1. University of Warsaw, Centre of Migration Research, Poland
3 The Kin-State and Sending-State Policies of Interwar Yugoslavia: The Issue of Julian March Immigrants in Their Yugoslav ‘Homeland’ and the Return of the ‘Tenth Banovina’
Miha Zobec
Central and Eastern European Migration Review | 2025 | vol. 14 | No 2 | 17–35
Keywords: The Kingdom of Serbs Croats and Slovenes/Yugoslavia Yugoslav diasporas kin-state and sending-state policies nation- and state-building
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Abstract

This contribution analyses the ways in which interwar Yugoslavia addressed two different diasporas, one comprising the emigrants and the other encompassing the external kin of Slovenes and Croats living in the Italian region of Julian March/Venezia Giulia. In addition, it examines how, on the one hand, the emigrants who ‘returned’ and, on the other, the Julian March migrants who fled the region to settle in Yugoslavia, were integrated into the Yugoslav nation-building project. It suggests that Yugoslavia’s diaspora-building was importantly linked to overcoming internal divisions in a complex country and restoring political legitimacy. Furthermore, it argues that diaspora-building was more part of a discourse than carried out in earnest, since Yugoslavia, occupying an unfortunate position in the international system, was ill-equipped to provide emigrant care or serve the return migrants and Julian March immigrants.
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Authors and Affiliations

Miha Zobec
1
ORCID: ORCID
  1. Research Center of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts, Slovenian Migration Institute and University of Primorska,Faculty of Humanities, Slovenia
4 Diaspora Engagement Policies as Global Nation-Building: The Karta Polaka in the Global Political Order
Bastian Sendhardt
Central and Eastern European Migration Review | 2025 | vol. 14 | No 2 | 37–54
Keywords: diaspora engagement global nation-building nation-state form Poland Karta Polaka sovereignty
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Abstract

This article conceptualises diaspora engagement policies as a form of global nation-building. While existing research has produced numerous typologies explaining why states engage their diasporas, it has paid limited attention to how such policies relate to the structural principles of the global political order. Addressing 3 analytical blind spots – the neglect of structural commonalities among policy types, the lack of attention to their relationship with the nation-state form and the omission of accidental diasporas – the article advances a theoretical framework that links diaspora engagement to the global principle of organising political communities. Using Poland’s Karta Polaka as a heuristic device, the article demonstrates how states seek to re-establish the ideal-type congruence between citizenship, territory and national belonging beyond their territorial and citizenship boundaries. Rather than eroding sovereignty, these policies illustrate the adaptive resilience of the nation-state form under conditions of globalisation. Framing diaspora engagement as global nation-building thus reveals how nation-states continue to reproduce and legitimise themselves as central actors of world politics through transborder practices of inclusion and belonging.
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Authors and Affiliations

Bastian Sendhardt
1
ORCID: ORCID
  1. German Institute of Polish Affairs, Berlin Office, Germany
5 Hybrid Regimes and Transnational Practices: The Illiberal Turn in Hungary’s Post-2010 Kin-State and Diaspora Engagement
Myra Waterbury
Central and Eastern European Migration Review | 2025 | vol. 14 | No 2 | 55–70
Keywords: Hungary kin-state politics diaspora politics hybrid regimes illiberalism
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Abstract

This article analyses the changes that have occurred in the nature of Hungary’s transnational engagement with both its cross-border and wider global diaspora in the years since 2010. State actors and policymakers in Hungary have shifted towards embracing a ‘global nation’ framework that encompasses relations with long-established migrant diasporas, and coethnic Hungarian minority communities in neighbouring countries. This shift has created an increasingly complex institutional environment and changed how and why states like Hungary preferentially target or exclude members of their diaspora, with more focus on finding loyal diaspora members within communities rather than differentiating among different types of external communities. Hungary’s diaspora engagement has become deeply intertwined with the Fidesz party’s attempt to maintain and legitimise incumbent control through a widening menu of illiberal and non-democratic practices, which I term ‘illiberal transnationalism’. This illiberal transnationalism has been produced, I argue, by the evolution of Hungary into a hybrid regime with highly constrained political competition. Almost 15 years of single-party rule since 2010 in Hungary has created a much more closed, more ideological, and less transparent policy system. The nature of the Hungarian political regime has, therefore, had a significant impact on the structure and content of its transnational practices, suggesting that scholars of kin-state politics and diaspora engagement need to pay more attention to regime type in their analyses.
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Authors and Affiliations

Myra Waterbury
1
ORCID: ORCID
  1. Ohio University, Athens, OH, US
6 Diasporic Mobilisation and Repositioning: The Ukrainian World Congress’ Responses to Critical Junctures and Events
Ivan Kozachenko
Central and Eastern European Migration Review | 2025 | vol. 14 | No 2 | 71–89
Keywords: diaspora Ukrainian World Congress critical juncture repositioning Russo–Ukrainian war
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Abstract

This paper explores the evolving engagements with the homeland by the Ukrainian World Congress (UWC), the leading organisation representing the Ukrainian global diaspora. Using Maria Koinova’s concepts of critical event and critical juncture, the study examines the UWC’s modes and types of involvement with Ukraine and its repositioning, identifying 4 distinct periods before and during the ongoing war with Russia. The paper also investigates the UWC’s persistent campaign for the recognition of multiple citizenship. To this end, it draws on a qualitative content analysis and link analysis of Congress’ official website and public Facebook page. This exploration from a top-down perspective demonstrates the repositioning of the UWC alongside the changing prevalence of symbolic, political, organisational and procedural types of involvement. The findings reveal that, despite the Russian existential threat to its homeland, the UWC has not resorted to radical or ‘transgressive’ rhetoric and actions.
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Authors and Affiliations

Ivan Kozachenko
1
ORCID: ORCID
  1. University of Warsaw, Centre of Migration Research, Poland
7 Introduction: Informational Autocracy and the Moral Panic Button – Using Migration Discourse as Manipulation at Master Level
Miklós Rosta , Endre Sik
Central and Eastern European Migration Review | 2025 | vol. 14 | No 2 | 91–96
Keywords: informational autocracy moral panic button Hungary Poland NLP manipulation
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Abstract

The articles in the special section concentrate on a particular form of governance (informational autocracy) and on its core technology to acquire hegemony for the ruling power over political communication (the moral panic button). The example is Hungary; Poland serves as a point of reference, and the Russian war against Ukraine provides the conditions of a natural experiment. The case studies demonstrate that the primary topic of MPB is migration as the ultimate threat, and how those actors accused of creating, maintaining, and using the migration flow to destroy the sovereignty of the Hungarian state are used as scapegoats.
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Authors and Affiliations

Miklós Rosta
1
ORCID: ORCID
Endre Sik
2
ORCID: ORCID
  1. Corvinus University of Budapest, Institute of Economics, Hungary; University in Almaty, Kazakhstan
  2. HUN-REN CSS Institute for Sociology, Hungary
8 Hungary as an Ideological Informational Autocracy (IA) and the Moral Panic Button (MPB) as Its Basic Institution
Endre Sik , Péter Krekó
Central and Eastern European Migration Review | 2025 | vol. 14 | No 2 | 97–113
Keywords: moral panic button informational autocracy Soros phenomenon migration discourse fearmongering
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Abstract

In this paper, we analyse the production, circulation and operation of narratives and the frames and themes of migration discourse through a case study in a bid to understand the role which the moral panic button (MPB) plays in creating simultaneous crisis- and fear-mongering campaigns against enemies (in our case, with the Soros phenomenon at the core) that are declared to be an existential threat to the ‘Nation’. We argue that the creation and fine-tuning of the MPB is a crucial aspect of building the Hungarian version of informational autocracy (IA), i.e., a non-democratic regime in which the capture of the media and professional control of information are the central elements of the de-democratisation process and of maintaining in executive power.
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Authors and Affiliations

Endre Sik
1
ORCID: ORCID
Péter Krekó
2
ORCID: ORCID
  1. HUN-REN CSS Institute for Sociology, Hungary
  2. Eötvös Loránd University of Sciences, Hungary
9 Similar but… The Trend of Xenophobia in Hungary and Poland
Ráchel Surányi , Endre Sik
Central and Eastern European Migration Review | 2025 | vol. 14 | No 2 | 115–136
Keywords: refugee hypocrisy xenophobia attitudes Hungary Poland
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Abstract

In 2015, immigration became a major source of concern (and perhaps fear) both for Hungary and Poland and for the EU at large. It then declined continuously until 2022, before starting to rise again in 2023. Concerning the fear of migration in relation to one’s own country, both the Hungarian and Polish trends deviated from the general pattern: while, in Hungary, the fear of immigration remained slightly more salient until 2018, in Poland, the fear of immigration was constantly (and, until 2022, significantly) below the EU average. However, like in Hungary and other EU countries, it increased again in 2023. In this paper, we compare these 2 countries in terms of xenophobia using Ipsos data which have not yet been examined by others in this regard. We looked first at attitudes and then at behaviour (i.e. activism immediately after the Russian invasion of Ukraine and then 1 year later). We also examined the differences between the socio-demographic variables in both groups.
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Authors and Affiliations

Ráchel Surányi
1
ORCID: ORCID
Endre Sik
2
ORCID: ORCID
  1. Eötvös Loránd University, Faculty of Education and Psychology, Hungary
  2. HUN-REN CSS Institute for Sociology, Hungary
10 The (Un)Changing Language and Sentiment Associated with the Moral Panic Button (MPB) in the Wake of the Russian–Ukrainian War: The Hungarian Case
Tamás Varga , Zsófia Rakovics , Endre Sik
Central and Eastern European Migration Review | 2025 | vol. 14 | No 2 | 137–156
Keywords: migrant refugee Moral Panic Button Hungary Ukraine
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Abstract

In Hungary, several studies have analysed how migration was framed following the events of 2015. In this paper, given the distinct characteristics of the Ukrainian refugee crisis, we investigate whether the Moral Panic Button (MPB) altered its language when referring to individuals arriving from Ukraine, compared to those from elsewhere. Content-wise, we raised 2 questions: Is it true that, after the outbreak of the war, in the framing of pro-government media, the refugee label once again became the majority term instead of the unofficial migrant, in contrast to the non-MPB-operated non-government media? Is it true that this shift was somewhat limited due to the continued presence in Hungary of migration waves, primarily originating from the Middle East and Africa? To address the research questions, we utilised 2 special datasets comprising articles and Facebook posts both before and after 24 February 2022. On the one hand, we analysed the occurrence of the terms ‘migrant’ and ‘refugee’ separately for articles and Facebook posts, distinguishing between non-governmental and pro-governmental outlets. Additionally, through sentiment analysis, we sought to investigate the attitudes and emotional responses associated with key terms related to the war. Our results imply that the pro-government media in Hungary adapted its labelling and emotional framing of displaced persons significantly around the outbreak of the Russian–Ukrainian war. Whereas this shift reflected a rapid and strategic language change in the short term, especially in contrast to non-government media, the long-term trend shows a gradual return to the earlier pattern.
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Authors and Affiliations

Tamás Varga
1
ORCID: ORCID
Zsófia Rakovics
2
ORCID: ORCID
Endre Sik
3
ORCID: ORCID
  1. ELTE Doctoral School of Sociology, Hungary
  2. ELTE Eötvös Loránd University, Hungary
  3. ELTE CSS Institute for Sociology, Hungary
11 157–175_(Un)Deserving Refugees: The Migration Discourse in Hungary, 2015 and 2022
Ráchel Surányi , Éva Bognár
Central and Eastern European Migration Review | 2025 | vol. 14 | No 2 | 157–175
Keywords: migration refugees Hungary deservingness media analysis qualitative research
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Abstract

The Hungarian government took an anti-immigrant and anti-refugee stance in 2015 and claims to have stuck to it ever since. However, in 2022, when many Ukrainians (including ethnic Hungarians) passed through Hungary after Russia started its invasion of Ukraine, the same government welcomed them. In this paper we illustrate how the Hungarian government’s approach shifted, without explicitly changing their main narrative but adding a new one to it: the aspect of deservingness. We also wanted to see the differences between the pro-government and the non-pro-government mediums. To illustrate this shift and the differences between the 2 platforms, we used qualitative methods: we analysed pro- and non-pro-government media during the 2015 and 2022 refugee crises and conducted expert interviews.
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Authors and Affiliations

Ráchel Surányi
1
ORCID: ORCID
Éva Bognár
2
  1. Eötvös Loránd University, Faculty of Education and Psychology, Hungary
  2. Central European University Democracy Institute, Hungary
12 Shaping Migration Discourse: A Text Analysis of Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s Speeches
Zsófia Rakovics , Zsuzsanna Boda
Central and Eastern European Migration Review | 2025 | vol. 14 | No 2 | 177–192
Keywords: Prime Minister Viktor Orbán Hungary migration discourse migrants natural language processing quantitative text analytics
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Abstract

Migration policies have been a highly contested issue in Hungary, with political actors playing a pivotal role in shaping public opinion. This study examines the discourse on migration in the 1,421 English-language speeches of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán from January 2014 to December 2023. The research aims to enhance the understanding of migration-related rhetoric in political communication by employing natural language processing and quantitative text analysis techniques. Grounded in a theoretical framework of political discourse and migration narratives, the study explores shifts in the relative frequency and temporal patterns of key migration-related terms. Specifically, it analyses the usage of the terms ‘refugee’, ‘immigrant’, ‘migrant’, ‘migration’ and ‘immigration’, comparing their prevalence in speeches delivered within Hungary and on the international stage. The findings reveal significant shifts in Orbán’s migration rhetoric – notably, a decline in the use of the words refugee and immigrant in favour of migrant (which was not commonly used before). These results provide empirical evidence of discursive changes over time, contributing to a broader understanding of how political leaders strategically adapt their language to influence public perception. By contextualising these linguistic trends within Hungary’s sociopolitical landscape and in relation to previous research on political communication, this study offers valuable insights into the evolving role of migration discourse in political rhetoric. The findings also serve as a methodological contribution to the study of political speech analysis through computational text analytics.
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Authors and Affiliations

Zsófia Rakovics
1
ORCID: ORCID
Zsuzsanna Boda
2
  1. Centre for Social Sciences, Faculty of Social Sciences, ELTE Eötvös Loránd University, Hungary
  2. Faculty of Social Sciences, ELTE Eötvös Loránd University, Hungary
13 Making the Temporary Permanent? Approaches to International Protection in the European Union, Türkiye and the United States
Alan Desmond , Talia Inlender , Kamila Kowalska
Central and Eastern European Migration Review | 2025 | vol. 14 | No 2 | 193–202
Keywords: international protection Temporary Protection Directive Refugee Convention non-refoulement voluntary
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Abstract

The question of temporary protection has risen in prominence and generated a growing body of scholarship since the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022 and the resulting activation of the EU’s long-dormant Temporary Protection Directive for the benefit of persons forced to flee Ukraine. In this special section we examine the practical implementation of temporary protection in Poland, a key host EU member state for Ukrainians. We also widen the scholarly inquiry into temporary protection beyond the EU to examine the approach of other important destination states, namely, Türkiye and the United States. The contributions to this special section illustrate a number of key features of temporary protection, including that it is neither a new response to forced migration, nor confined to the Global North. They also make clear that the increasing recourse to temporary protection for persons seeking refuge outside their countries of origin entails not only fixed-term protection statuses but also, often, an accompanying suite of rights that falls short of that traditionally associated with refugee status. While highlighting some key disadvantages endured by temporary protection beneficiaries, such as precarity and uncertainty, the contributions also identify the benefits of such protection, both for host states and some beneficiaries. Collectively, the contributions to this special section sketch the pitfalls that must be avoided if the increasingly widespread recourse to temporary protection is to unfold in a manner that benefits not only host states but also those in need of those states’ protection.
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Authors and Affiliations

Alan Desmond
1
ORCID: ORCID
Talia Inlender
2
Kamila Kowalska
3
ORCID: ORCID
  1. University of Leicester, Leicester Law School, the United Kingdom
  2. University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) School of Law, Center for Immigration Law and Policy, the United States
  3. University of Gdańsk, Institute of Political Science, Poland
14 How ‘Special’ is the Special Law? Temporary Protection and Migration Infrastructure in Poland Following the Outbreak of the Full-Scale War in Ukraine
Marta Kindler , Maciej Tygielski
Central and Eastern European Migration Review | 2025 | vol. 14 | No 2 | 203–225
Keywords: forced migration migration infrastructure Poland special law temporary protection status Ukraine
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Abstract

This article analyses how actors involved in migration infrastructure in Poland responded to the introduction of the Act of 12 March 2022 on Assistance to Citizens of Ukraine in Connection with the Armed Conflict on the Territory of the Country (referred to as the ‘Special Law’) and how Ukrainian migrants themselves interpreted its implications. Although this Act established new legal protection for forced migrants, its application revealed significant limitations, including ambiguous enforcement mechanisms. This resulted in operational uncertainty for implementing organisations. Organisations with existing connections to migration infrastructure and past refugee assistance experience were able to quickly understand the new requirements by using established networks. Meanwhile, migrant organisations and social-media platforms emerged as the most effective channels for communicating essential information to forced migrants.
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Authors and Affiliations

Marta Kindler
1
Maciej Tygielski
1
ORCID: ORCID
  1. Centre of Migration Research, Faculty of Applied Social Sciences and Resocialisation, Institute of Social Prevention andResocialisation, University of Warsaw, Poland
15 Revisiting the Concept of Flexibility in Temporary Protection Practices at the Intersection of International Refugee and Human-Rights Laws: The Case of Türkiye
Neva Övünç Öztürk
Central and Eastern European Migration Review | 2025 | vol. 14 | No 2 | 227–251
Keywords: temporary protection flexibility responsibility sharing Türkiye international protection
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Abstract

The absence of a comprehensive international law instrument regulating temporary protection has led to its flexible application, which has been deemed effective in managing large-scale forced migratory movements. By focusing on the intersection of international refugee law and human rights law, this article critically re-evaluates the concept of flexibility in temporary protection from a legal perspective, primarily based on current practices in Türkiye. By analysing the dual dimensions of flexibility – rule-making and implementation – it highlights how broad discretion can, when exercised without adequate legal safeguards to ensure legal certainty and consistency with the rule of law, risk disproportionately limiting fundamental rights and creating a legal limbo for displaced individuals. The analysis demonstrates that these challenges are exacerbated by the lack of effective international responsibility-sharing mechanisms and the reliance on temporary protection measures. These measures, which operate independently of the 1951 Refugee Convention, are designed to provide flexibility as a potential solution. Ultimately, by presenting the Turkish practice, the article argues that, while flexibility is essential in responding to emergencies, the unchecked application of flexibility risks threatening the integrity of the international protection regime, prioritising administrative convenience over legal accountability. This study underscores the need for a more balanced approach that aligns flexibility with robust legal safeguards, ensuring both state adaptability and the protection of individuals’ rights.
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Authors and Affiliations

Neva Övünç Öztürk
1
ORCID: ORCID
  1. Ankara University Faculty of Law, Ankara, Türkiye
16 The Temporality and Stratification of Refugee Governance in Turkey: An Analysis for Temporary and International Protection from Reception to Return
Nefise Ela Gökalp Aras
Central and Eastern European Migration Review | 2025 | vol. 14 | No 2 | 253–280
Keywords: temporary protection international protection Syrians under temporary protection temporality stratification migration governance migrant returns
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Abstract

Turkey faces significant challenges in managing refugee governance, hosting over 3 million protection beneficiaries across various categories, including ‘international’, ‘temporary’, ‘subsidiary’ and the distinct ‘conditional refugee’ status. This framework is characterised by legal ambiguities and a complex protection regime that relies on stratified legal statuses and temporality throughout all stages of refugee management. This paper analyses the temporary and international protection regime and its implications for Syrians and non-Syrians under these protection types, covering the 2018–2024 period, with a specific focus on the ‘return’ dimension. The paper questions how temporality and legal stratification operate as strategic governance tools in Turkey’s refugee regime, shaping the management of Syrians under temporary protection from reception to return. It argues that temporality is a deliberate governance strategy rather than a mere legal condition and that legal stratification institutionalises selective inclusion and control. Temporality and stratification are interconnected mechanisms that sustain governable precarity and they are also used to control the conditions for return. In this framework, the paper explores governance through temporality and its implications at the macro level by examining the legal and institutional frameworks and reflecting on the experiences or perceptions of relevant actors at the meso and micro levels. The research is based on a longitudinal study, desk research, multilayered analysis and multi-sited field research across 4 cities (Ankara, Edirne, Istanbul and Izmir), supported by 2 European Union-funded Horizon projects.
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Authors and Affiliations

Nefise Ela Gökalp Aras
1
ORCID: ORCID
  1. Swedish Research Institute in Istanbul (SRII), Turkey
17 Temporary Protection in the Shadow of the Refugee Convention: A View from the United States
Talia Inlender
Central and Eastern European Migration Review | 2025 | vol. 14 | No 2 | 281–311
Keywords: temporary protection humanitarian parole Refugee Convention United States
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Abstract

For more than 70 years, the 1951 Refugee Convention has provided a framework for assessing claims to international protection for those fleeing persecution, with the goal of seeking ‘permanent solutions’. Once found eligible, a grant of refugee protection generally opens a pathway to durable status in the country of refuge. Yet, in recent years, states – as well as those seeking protection – are turning less often to the legal framework set out by the Refugee Convention to respond to migration challenges and more to temporary forms of relief set forth in national laws and policies. This paper examines how the durable protections of the Refugee Convention have become less accessible to people seeking safety in the United States. It then argues that, in the shadow of declining access to the protection afforded by refugee and asylum law, temporary forms of protection – while long a part of US immigration law – were on the rise under the Biden administration. In particular it examines 4 country-specific humanitarian parole programmes, each of limited duration, that were created and operated by the US government between August 2021 and January 2025 for people from Afghanistan, Ukraine, Venezuela, Cuba, Haiti and Nicaragua. Before a change in political leadership led to their abrupt termination, over half a million people were granted temporary protection under these programmes, far outpacing grants of relief under the Refugee Convention and higher than the number of admissions through past humanitarian parole programmes operating over a similar time period. Grounded in an examination of these programmes, the paper proposes a framework for understanding the opportunities afforded and limitations posed by temporary protection programmes for those seeking safety, both in the United States and beyond.
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Authors and Affiliations

Talia Inlender
1
  1. Center for Immigration Law and Policy, University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) School of Law, the United States
18 Why Exit? Exploring the Motivations of Displaced Ukrainians Leaving Norway
Aadne Aasland , Oleksandra Deineko
Central and Eastern European Migration Review | 2025 | vol. 14 | No 2 | 313–332
Keywords: displacement return refugees Ukrainians belonging
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Abstract

What prompts people to leave a welfare state and return to a home country in war? This paper examines why Ukrainians who fled to Norway due to the war voluntarily returned home or moved elsewhere. Using an exploratory research design, the study investigates how characteristics of Norwegian society, emotional ties and networks influence these decisions. The article applies a framework of individual, structural and policy-related factors to show how conditions in both the home and the host country interact. Theories on transnationalism and belonging highlight how returnees and onward movers maintain their connections to Norway. The findings reveal that social obligations, such as caring for relatives and children’s well-being, often outweigh security concerns. Among structural factors, a ‘paradox of leaving’ emerges, where aspects of the welfare state, such as Norway’s healthcare system, can motivate departure due to cultural differences in medical treatment. Limited job opportunities also drive exit, compounded by public discourse reinforcing ‘limiting beliefs’ about employment prospects. Finally, the study highlights how many displaced Ukrainians adopt a transnational approach, maintaining multiple attachments that include Norway.
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Authors and Affiliations

Aadne Aasland
1
ORCID: ORCID
Oleksandra Deineko
1 2
ORCID: ORCID
  1. Norwegian Institute for Urban and Regional Research (NIBR), Oslo Metropolitan University, Norway
  2. School of Sociology, V.N. Karazin Kharkiv National University, Ukraine
19 Two Borders, Two Logics: Future-Oriented Narratives on Migration from Belarus and Ukraine to Poland
Jonathan Scovil
Central and Eastern European Migration Review | 2025 | vol. 14 | No 2 | 333–354
Keywords: Poland Ukraine Belarus migration refugees narratives
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Abstract

The article is focused on the main narratives prevalent in the Polish public debate about migrants arriving at the Polish–Belarusian border and those arriving at the Polish–Ukrainian border. The author seeks to answer the question of why a negative narrative about the former and a positive one about the latter became so popular during the same period and whether, over time, Poles’ attitudes toward refugees from Ukraine may become similar to their attitudes toward migrants from across the Belarusian border. The study is based on focus-group interviews conducted among Poles living in Warsaw, Wrocław, Rzeszów and Łowicz. The collected data were analysed using the theoretical concept of ‘narratives’ adapted for migration studies.
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Authors and Affiliations

Jonathan Scovil
1 2
ORCID: ORCID
  1. Centre for Public Opinion Research in Warsaw, Poland
  2. Centre of Migration Research in Warsaw, Poland
20 A Stranger in My Village: Ukrainian Refugees in Poland’s Rural Areas
Ruta Śpiewak , Maria Halamska
Central and Eastern European Migration Review | 2025 | vol. 14 | No 2 | 355–375
Keywords: Ukrainian refugees Polish rural inhabitants attitudes towards the Ukrainians
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Abstract

The attitude of inhabitants and representatives of local institutions towards refugees from Ukraine – and the possibility to include the latter in local social and economic life – plays a crucial role in a successful process of integration. A year after Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the authors carried out a quantitative survey among the inhabitants of one rural community in western Poland, investigating whether refugees were perceived as a potential factor of community development. This paper reveals the attitude of residents of that municipality towards war refugees from Ukraine. The predominant attitude is acceptance of the presence of Ukrainian refugees but there is also an element of opposition, albeit much weaker. Although there is demand for migrant labour in the municipality, and, without that labour, many farms and businesses would have to pare back their operations, at the same time the respondents do not fully see migrants as equal fellow residents, agreeing only reluctantly to the financial transfers involved.
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Authors and Affiliations

Ruta Śpiewak
1
ORCID: ORCID
Maria Halamska
1
  1. Polish Academy Of Sciences, Institute of Rural and Agricultural Development, Poland
21 Barriers to Higher Education for Beneficiaries of International Protection: A Policy Perspective from the Czech Republic
Amna Shafqat
Central and Eastern European Migration Review | 2025 | vol. 14 | No 2 | 377–394
Keywords: beneficiaries of international protection Czech Republic higher education barriers access to education policies frontline workers
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Abstract

The Czech Republic provides international protection to a small number of individuals. This research aims to study the barriers that beneficiaries of international protection (BIPs) face in accessing higher education and to examine which policies affect the opportunities that are available to them. The findings are based on the experience of frontline workers. According to previous studies, most of these barriers are embedded in institutional policies, which may contribute to exclusion from higher education. The barriers which BIPs encounter in accessing higher education have not been investigated in the Czech Republic. This study’s findings reveal many barriers to access to higher education and a lack of supportive policies. In addition to problems like a lack of language proficiency, the recognition of previous education and financing, BIPs have mental-health issues and face a lack of societal cooperation. These barriers make it difficult for them to pursue higher education. Frontline workers acknowledge all these barriers and agree that no strategies are in place at the national level or at higher education institutions to assist in the higher education of BIPs. To improve access, the government, higher education institutions and local stakeholders need to take action.
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Authors and Affiliations

Amna Shafqat
1
ORCID: ORCID
  1. Department of Social Policy and Social Work, Masaryk University, Czech Republic
22 Educational Choices and Migration Aspirations: How do Young People from a Peripheral Area in Croatia Imagine Their Future?
Željko Pavić , Mateo Žanić , Ivana Bendra
Central and Eastern European Migration Review | 2025 | vol. 14 | No 2 | 395–413
Keywords: young people education migration Croatia globalisation peripheral areas
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Abstract

This paper explores how young people from a peripheral area in Croatia combine their educational and migration plans concerning the desirability which they attach to the local, national and global environment. A survey research study involved high-school students from Vukovar-Srijem County in Croatia (N=681), with the intention of ascertaining where they would like to study and where to live after completing their secondary education. Cluster analysis identified 5 groups of students and a multinomial regression analysis showed that the perception of the local developmental potentials, the quality of life and the students’ value orientations significantly impact on their educational and life paths. The differences between young people who envisage their educational and migration paths leading them abroad and to other parts of Croatia and those who would like to stay in the local communities are particularly highlighted. Interviews with students confirmed that the differences between these groups indicate varying perceptions of the likelihood of developing a career in the local community, satisfaction with local higher-education possibilities and value differences that point to different preferred future lifestyles. The intention to stay in the local community is related to higher place attachment, traditionalism, and a lower preference for personal autonomy.
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Authors and Affiliations

Željko Pavić
1
ORCID: ORCID
Mateo Žanić
2
ORCID: ORCID
Ivana Bendra
2
ORCID: ORCID
  1. Josip Juraj Strossmayer University of Osijek, Croatia
  2. Institute for Social Sciences Ivo Pilar, Croatia
23 The Migration of Medical Graduates from Romania to EU Countries – Regulations as a Pull Factor
Marilena Nicula
Central and Eastern European Migration Review | 2025 | vol. 14 | No 2 | 415–429
Keywords: medical professional migration brain drain medical education healthcare Romania European Union
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Abstract

This article explicitly examines the migration of medical graduates from Romania, ensuring clarity in scope. The study draws on the 2023 European Commission State of Health in the EU: Romania Country Profile, ensuring the use of the most recent data. While the number of graduates has increased in the last decade, the medical workforce remains below EU averages (3.2 doctors and 7.5 nurses per 1,000 inhabitants compared to 3.9 and 8.4, respectively). Romania ranked fifth in generating medical graduates (4,967) and third in nursing graduates (17,549) within the EU in 2019. However, migration significantly reduces the domestic healthcare workforce, influencing access to care and quality of life. My analysis thus uniquely explores the role of regulatory frameworks in shaping migration flows, offering a novel perspective on how policies in destination countries act as pull factors. My findings reveal that countries with deregulated or minimally selective residency admission systems attract significantly higher numbers of Romanian medical graduates. Among the most preferred destinations, Germany, the UK, France, Sweden and Belgium collectively account for over 70 per cent of intended migration cases. Residency systems without national exams saw an average migration preference rate of 69 per cent, while those with strict entry requirements saw a preference rate below 1 per cent. Higher expected wages and shorter residency durations were also significant pull factors. Another significant pull factor identified in the top destination countries is that graduates have the freedom to choose their specialization, rather than having it assigned based on exam performance.
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Authors and Affiliations

Marilena Nicula
1
ORCID: ORCID
  1. Research Institute for Quality of Life, Romanian Academy, Romania
24 Between Returning from Abroad and Remigration: A Contextual Approach to the Case of Romania
Dumitru Sandu
Central and Eastern European Migration Review | 2025 | vol. 14 | No 2 | 431–453
Keywords: return migrants potential migrants migration motivation comparative analysis multiple regression
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Abstract

Why do Romanians go abroad? Higher salaries, better conditions for practising the professions known or desired, the dissatisfaction here, compared to the opportunities perceived there? How to explain remigration abroad, after returning? These are the research questions we address here. Since return migration and emigration are complex transnational relations, we are using multiple methods of analysis and national, community and individual data, all of which are subordinated to the idea of a context analysis for understanding the above-mentioned relation for the case of an Eastern European country, Romania. The key finding is that social justice is lower in places with many return migrants from abroad. This is another finding that could support the idea that re-migration abroad is not only economically determined but is also related to the quality of public institutions. The paper also supports the idea that a good understanding of the community context of emigration abroad – by considering accessibility to large cities, historical regions of the community location and the main destination countries – could contribute to better policies in the area.
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Authors and Affiliations

Dumitru Sandu
1
  1. University of Bucharest, Romania
25 Sticky Emotions and Homemaking: ‘The Emotional’ Mobilities of Lithuanian Queer Migrants
Artūras Tereškinas
Central and Eastern European Migration Review | 2025 | vol. 14 | No 2 | 455–470
Keywords: queer migration Lithuanian LGBTQ+ migrants migration motivations sticky emotions homemaking
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Abstract

By drawing on semi-structured interviews with Lithuanian LGBTQ+ individuals who have relocated to various European countries, this study examines the emotional dimensions that influence both migration decisions and homemaking processes. Utilising the theoretical framework of ‘sticky emotions’ and ‘homemaking’, the article highlights how queer migrants navigate their old and new social environments and invest them with emotions. The findings indicate that migration motivations are often intertwined with personal, affective and emotional dimensions, rooted in resistance to Lithuania’s conservative and heteronormative environment. Additionally, the article underscores the homemaking processes in host countries, where queer migrants encounter diverse queer communities that allow them to express their sexualities more openly. By analysing queer migration narratives, this article contributes to discussions on queer mobility, emphasising the need for detailed ethnographic research on the lived experiences of queer migrants, particularly those from post-socialist Central and Eastern Europe.
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Authors and Affiliations

Artūras Tereškinas
1
ORCID: ORCID
  1. Vytautas Magnus University, Lithuania
26 The Role of the Brexit Referendum and the COVID-19 Pandemic in the Changing Patterns of Hungarian Migration to the United Kingdom
Anna Sára Ligeti
Central and Eastern European Migration Review | 2025 | vol. 14 | No 2 | 471–490
Keywords: Brexit COVID-19 Hungary United Kingdom emigration return migration
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Abstract

Although the United Kingdom was the primary destination for Hungarian emigrants in the period following EU accession, since the second half of the 2010s there has been a considerable decline, while the number of Hungarian return migrants from the UK has been higher than ever. Using longitudinal administrative data spanning from 2010 to 2022, this paper investigates whether two historical events, namely the Brexit referendum and the COVID-19 pandemic, have contributed to the observed changes in migration trends and the structural shifts in the composition and patterns of migration that have resulted from them. The results show that the Brexit referendum has had a lasting negative impact on Hungarian emigration to the UK and has significantly encouraged the return of Hungarians. Meanwhile, the temporary shifts in Hungarian migration patterns towards EU Member States caused by the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic are not similarly reflected in migration patterns towards the UK. The social base of the post-Brexit emigration gradually broadened. Nevertheless, when compared to EU destination countries, emigrants to the UK are characterised by a younger and more positively selected group in labour-market terms.
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Authors and Affiliations

Anna Sára Ligeti
1 2
ORCID: ORCID
  1. HUN-REN Centre for Social Sciences, Hungary
  2. University of Pécs, Hungary
27 ‘Thanks Sis! I Am Praying for Your Work Permit!’: The Role of the YouTube Vlogger’s Performance Authenticity in the Game with the Migrant Job-Seekers’ Needs
Olga Wanicka
Central and Eastern European Migration Review | 2025 | vol. 14 | No 2 | 491–516
Keywords: Filipino international labour migration brokerage YouTube vlogger performance authenticity mediated intimacy formality and informality
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Abstract

Recently, online searching has become as important as more traditional methods of getting a job abroad. International labour migration is now influenced by new key actors – migrant micro-influencers who share international job opportunities and are increasingly trusted over established authorities. While media scholars analyse influencers’ self-presentation, their role in international labour migration remains underexplored. Migrant YouTube vloggers blend formal and informal brokerage and intermediary practices through ‘performance authenticity’ (Taylor 2022), achieved by a ‘mediated’ presence and intimacy, as well as the strategic ‘game with the expectations and needs’ of job-seeking viewers. It allows them to shift between formal and informal intermediation and brokerage, depending on the context and audience’s preferences. Through authenticity, migrant micro-influencers build trust and adapt their content to audience expectations in an online spectacle. This trust requires strategically blurring vloggers’ dual formal and informal roles. Using a visual and thematic content analysis of a Filipina vlogger’s YouTube channel, the study examines how migrant micro-influencers impact labour brokerage and intermediation. They do so by adapting to audience expectations and leveraging informal media conventions to enhance their credibility as brokers.
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Authors and Affiliations

Olga Wanicka
1
ORCID: ORCID
  1. University of Warsaw, Doctoral School of Social Sciences, Faculty of Applied Social Sciences and Resocialization, Poland
28 Transforming Paths of Integration: Kosovo Albanian Migrants and Their Descendants in Germany and Switzerland
Mimoza Dushi
Central and Eastern European Migration Review | 2025 | vol. 14 | No 2 | 517–538
Keywords: Kosovo Albanian migrants integration family reunification generational perspectives biographical interviews
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Abstract

This paper examines the integration experiences of Kosovo Albanian migrants and their children in Germany and Switzerland, highlighting evolving perspectives across generations. Initially, many first-generation migrants considered their stay to be temporary, thus limiting engagement with integration opportunities. However, economic and political instability in Kosovo spurred family reunifications, reshaping migrants’ attitudes towards settling permanently. Drawing on 53 biographical interviews conducted between 2014 and 2016, this study reveals that first-generation migrants often faced challenges with language acquisition, employment, and social integration, which impacted on their sense of belonging. In contrast, their children, benefiting from educational opportunities and wider social networks, experienced a smoother integration process. Economic stability within families enabled this second generation to become bilingual, succeed academically and secure better employment, leading to a stronger attachment to the host society and labour markets. Despite their integration, these younger migrants retain a strong Kosovo Albanian identity and connection to their heritage, balancing personal independence with cultural belonging.
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Authors and Affiliations

Mimoza Dushi
1
ORCID: ORCID
  1. University of Pristina, Republic of Kosovo

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