Free movement? The onward migration of EU citizens born in Somalia, Iran and Nigeria

Abstract

Research into the mobility of European Union (EU) citizens has contributed to a better understanding of the social effects of European integration. A growing body of literature highlights that naturalised third-country nationals are also making use of their ‘freedom of movement’. This paper proposes a typology of ‘new EU citizens’ who onward migrate between member states. It draws on relevant statistics and qualitative empirical research carried out with Dutch-Somalis, Swedish-Iranians, and German-Nigerians who relocated to the UK. In contrast to research with native-born EU movers, our findings indicate that the majority of naturalised EU citizens onward migrated as a result of the discrimination and racism they experienced in their previous place of residence. In this paper, we conceptualise the interactions of integration and transnationalism as a potential trigger for onward migration. We illustrate how onward migrants are able to complete certain aspects of their integration process in a second member state. Moreover, we show how migrants maintain transnational ties across several destinations and therefore contribute to a broader understanding of transnationalism.