Presentation at a EURA-NET meeting in Budapest 16 October 2015.

1. UKRAINE VIA THE TEMPORARY MIGRATION
IN EURO-ASIAN DIMENTION.
COUNTRY PRESENTATION, BASED ON SEMI-STRUCTURED
INTERVIEWS WITH MIGRANTS AND NON-MIGRANTS
Ihor Markov and Danylo Sudyn

2. BACKGROUND
 Ukraine is “at the crossroads” of migratory flows
from Asia to Europe and in reverse direction
 At the same time, people from different regions of
Asia enter Ukraine, mainly using the territory of the
country for further movement towards the EU
 Ukraine is regard as the country of destination for
only a relatively small number of newcomers
 The territory of Ukraine is part of the Eurasian
corridor for irregular migration flows from East to
West

3. SAMPLE
 Our interviews are represented by respondents of
both sexes and ages from 19 to 55
 Languages of interviews were Ukrainian, Russian,
and English
 Interviews were taken it two ways - face-to-face
interviews and interviews via Skype
 Analysis of interviews provides a lot of information,
concerning migration processes per se, with
regards to the concept of temporariness of mobility
and different aspects of migrations: politico-legal,
socio-economic and socio-cultural

4. REGIONAL STRUCTURE OF SAMPLE

5. CATEGORIES OF INTERVIEWED MIGRANTS
Categories N
Entreprenuers 3
Family-based movers 2
Humanitarian movers 7
Highly skilled workers 5
Irregular migrants 4
Life-style seekers 2
Low-skilled workers 3
New tendencies 2
Students 5
Transit migrants 5
Categories N
Entreprenuers 2
Family-based movers 5
Circular migrants 3
Highly skilled workers 5
Life-style seekers 2
Low-skilled workers 5
New tendencies 1
Students 3
Return migrants 6
Non-migrants 9
Immigrants Emigrants

6. FINDINGS
 The results of Ukrainian section of study confirmed
our previous conclusion that:
 Ukraine is transit country for trans-border movements
from Asia to Europe and vise versa;
 Ukraine is a part of the Asian-European corridor of
migrations
 the growing migration activity in western and eastern
areas of Ukraine gives grounds to call our country a sort
of ridge of the flows of migrants to Europe and Asia
 Regarding Ukraine, the term “transitness” correlates
with the “temporary nature” of migrations through its
territory

7. POLITICO-LEGAL ASPECTS
 The visa system is rather replaced by a system of residence
permits.
 The flip side of the virtual absence of migration policy of the
Ukrainian state is almost total corruption of law enforcement
structures, which still accounts for the brunt of interaction with
immigrants
 Gaining official status does not always mean entry into clearly
defined rights – because of the contradictions in the Ukrainian
legislation. Often it depends on the actions of agents, who
deal with migrant.
 Transformation of Ukraine into a zone of migrant transit
networks, - not only in the meaning of the function of the traffic
of migrants, but also in terms of the movability of networks
itselves. These are interacting transnational ethnic networks.
 Irregular migrants in host countries create legal systems,
health, social security, internal networks parallel to the state
that allow them to adapt to the new society

8. POLITICO-LEGAL ASPECTS
 As for Ukrainian migration to the EU:
 most of migrants have legal status; they received it already
staying in the EU
 the number of irregular migrants from Ukraine has rapidly
been increasing – a new wave of Ukrainian migration to the
EU is inevitable
 it needs legal regulation at the EU level (not at the level of
individual countries of the Community), which must be based
on expanding opportunities for free and legal support of trans-
border movements of migrants, instead of setting national
quotas and strengthening border that add to social tension
within the EU
 the study of the “formula” of political impact of immigrants on
the host society, its prospects and reverse political influence
on the country of origin should be subject to expert phase of
our study

9. SOCIO-ECONOMIC ASPECTS
 According to the economic situation of members of
all groups of migrants they can be divided into two
categories:
 those who are forced to earn a living and to financially
support families in countries of origin
 Those, who consider migration as a vital strategy for
self-realization
 Entrepreneurs occupy intermediate position
between these categories
 All groups of migrants are involved in transnational
networks.

10. SOCIO-ECONOMIC ASPECTS
 The representatives of only two groups of migrants (highly skilled workers and students)
work in the specialty with prospects for professional and career growth. They also maintain
professional cross-border contacts.
 The movement of students going from east to west: Ukrainian students migrate to study in
universities in Europe and students from Asia come to study to Ukraine.
 Migration of highly skilled workers is often associated with vertical mobility: they are invited
as valued professionals. The representatives of all other groups of migants do not work in
the specialty.
 Low-skilled migrants from Ukraine are generally employed in jobs indicating downward
mobility comparing with their professional status at home. In turn, refugees, transit,
irregular and low-skilled migrants in Ukraine are engaged mainly in temporary auxiliary
works.
 Return migrants has various variants:
 some of them manage to start their own business or find a prestigious job at home
 others are satisfied with low-paid jobs
 many of them become actual migrants again
 Life style seekers are constantly changing jobs. The main criterion is the possibility to do
the work that matches their lifestyle
 Among other socio-economic aspects of migration the following is to be mentioned: 1) the
growth of entrepreneurship, 2) the networks as broad economic interchange within the
migration system; 3) the growth of economic culture of the country of origin.
 There is a decrease in the amounts of financial remittances. The networks used more for
exchanging of information and mobilization of non-migrants while earnings are means of
development of migrants’ activities

11. SOCIO-CULTURAL ASPECTS:
MIGRANTS AND NON-MIGRANTS
 the globalization of values ​​(the circulation of values,
cultural capital beyond borders)
 acquiring social capital, which in the country of
origin converts into the change in various aspects
of life (business, organization of life, change of
mentality, new forms of culture)
 Temporary migrations are characterized by the
entry into a socio-cultural environment of the
countries of residence, and interrelations with
socio-cultural environment of the country of origin,
particularly through ethnic networks of migrants

12. SOCIO-CULTURAL ASPECTS:
MIGRANTS AND NON-MIGRANTS
 Despite initial, mainly economic reasons for
mobility, there is a change in the motivations in the
migration process. Changing of the life style and
self-realization become its main factors for the
representatives of all groups. We note a mutual
transition of characteristics, that define belonging to
different mobility groups, at different stages of the
mobility of migrant trajectories of the same
respondents. Temporary migration becomes a
permanent way of life for its various groups

13. SOCIO-CULTURAL ASPECTS:
MIGRANTS AND NON-MIGRANTS
 Non-migrants (that is, the relatives of migrants who
remain at home) become a source of material
resources, moral support, help in establishing “chains”
of migrants' movement and their primary adaptation in
the host countries.
 The reverse impact of migration on non-migrants is in
“cancel of distance” (Bauman) between them and those
who left, through the involving of non-migrants into
horizontal communication networks, particularly through
the social media and further conversion of non-migrants
into potentially mobile ones.
 We can distinguish three main forms of communication
between migrants and non-migrants: 1) regular (daily,
weekly, monthly) communication through social media;
2) periodic financial remittances; 3) periodic return of
migrants to their homeland.

14. TEMPORARINESS
 Types of social communications of migrants related to
Ukraine falling into two concepts:
 "TRANZIT“: the contacts of temporary migrants (residents of
host countries – the compatriots in other states) are "off the
territory" and are aimed to meet by the displacements itself .
The “transit” network is linear and is formed by current needs
and each next element of communication is a step into an
“open space”.
 DESTINATION: migratory chains that form the social
environment of migration. These are social networks that
include the country of origin and the country of residence into
migration system within which a migrant moves. This system
may be open, but the principle of its enlargement also
reminds “chain migration” (movement together with the
creation of social “environment of movement”).

15. TEMPORARINESS
 Four key types of migrants that characterize the dynamics of
temporal mobility:
 “Territorial” (circular) migrant who leaves the country of origin for a particular host
country for a certain time and returns home. This type of migration is determined at an
interinstitutional level of the two countries. It is characterized by the frequency of migration,
that is, periods of migration and non-migration.
 “Network” (transnational) migrant. Migration takes place due to personal inclusion
into migrants’ networks that attract more number of citizens of the country of origin and
enable movement from one districts or countries to others in search of better living
conditions (in correspondence with the concept of “destination”).
 “Transit” migrant. This type of mobility characterizes the groups of migrants from one
country of origin, who move with the help of external agents, who are noted by
intermediate connections for moving, as well as relying on the representatives a relevant
group in the likely target countries.
 “Global migrant”. This type of mobility is caused by the presence of global social media
and takes place “at the crossroad” of institutionalized information flows and horizontal
social communications. Meeting with the “new” urges to develop new knowledge not
“related to the previous experience and status, and this, in turn, leads to the formation of a
”parallel” (that is, not related to previous) social space of self-realization. Here, migrations
are becoming self-evident condition of self-realization, a way of life.

16. TEMPORARINESS
 The mentioned graduation of migrants’ groups in relation to
dynamics of migration process and types of social
communications allow us to offer the following categorization
of temporal mobilities
 Territorial or occasional mobility;
 Spatial ( network) mobility; need to be highlighted according to
the concepts of social space
 Linear mobility. It is not associated with belonging to migrant networks,
remittances to families at home, or vice versa – to a migrant from the family.
The condition for “linear mobility” does not have institutional support from the
states or other external agents. Similarly “linear mobility” is characterized by
social communications that occur to meet current needs and intentions of a
migrant. However, it is distinguished from transit migrants and all previous
types of mobility in the way that a migrant “assimilates” into the social
environment of the host countries. Meeting with “new”, that is turn to receive
new knoladge and new occupation, wich bis not connects with prevous one.
This type of mobility is mostly represented by younger generation of migrants
from and to Ukraine.

17. TEMPORARINESS
 The proposed characteristics of the structures of
social communications and types of cross-border
mobility related to Ukraine allow us to offer the
following gradation of temporariness of migration:
 linear (historical) temporariness (typical for territorial,
circular migrants)
 temporariness as a way of being or social (spatial)
temporariness (typical for network and transit migrants)
 horizontal or parallel temporariness (global migrants)

18. THANK YOU!