Based on the review of previous literature on the temporalities of migrant staying and the findings that emerged, results from the studies are organised under three headings: assets, changing biographies of people and places and anchors. Nevertheless, these themes overlap illustrating the complexities and multi-dimensionality associated with migrant’s experiences of staying. The relation of the three themes and their implications will be discussed and tied together by proposing a new conceptual framework in the concluding section.
Assets
The majority of the participants in our three case studies had migrated to their destination country in their early twenties. The relatively young age of initial migration situated our participants within early stages of the life course and allowed us to focus on exploring how decisions to stay were being renegotiated with the onset of new life course events. The transition for many from education to work impacted on the extent to which individuals were seeking to invest and acquire a range of assets during the initial stages of their stay in the destination country. Indeed, key reasons highlighted by individuals for extending their stay were often related to place-specific opportunity structures concerned with securing tangible assets (Moser 2007) and focused around access to education (e.g. learning the language, undertaking a Higher Education degree) or employment.
Over and above tangible assets, the acquisition of more intangible assets – particularly in relation to community networks, rules and ‘norms’ was also evident (Moser 2007, 2008). For example, in Tokyo, most interviewees were single and had entered Japan as students, working holiday makers or interns and only in few cases came directly with a work visa. This relatively flexible and transitional stage in the life cycle allowed them to travel the country, to acquire language proficiency in Japanese and to form close friendships; furthermore, a few migrants met their later spouse during this period of extended youth.
Thus emotional and practical investments – involving the generation of tangible and intangible assets - in individuals’ cities of residence generally accumulated over time and informed further decisions to stay or leave. Upon graduation from their university program or internship, migrants’ rationales to stay were reasonably uniform. For example, Anna, (Romanian, female), explained her job-hunting activities in Tokyo following graduation from a four-year bachelor program in Japan as follows: “Better you continue what you started than going back and later regretting because it’s harder to come back later.” Hence those who had obtained a degree or work experience in a Japanese institution highlighted how the efforts of learning the Japanese language, forming networks and obtaining knowledge of “how things work [ed] in Japan” would be ‘wasted’ upon return.
Similar to EU migrants in Japan, in the UK interviewees also highlighted the importance of assets as reasons to stay. With reference to tangible assets, EU migrants in Glasgow, Edinburgh and Birmingham highlighted how they had made significant investments in purchasing and renovating their current property and hence many felt there was no reason to move. Reference was also made to accessing further and higher education (e.g. acquiring a Scottish degree), access to the labour market, and ‘in place’ career / work experience opportunities in shaping practices of staying.
In relation to intangible assets, the expansion of migrants’ social networks via education, work or partners / friends helped to further embed individuals ‘in place’. In Birmingham, the importance of intangible and tangible assets was also apparent: migrants with families noted how place-specific social networks had served to ‘smooth’ the arrival process as family members had provided assistance with accommodation and initial orientation to the city. As their familiarity with the city grew and as participation in the labour market was secured, they moved into their own accommodation elsewhere in the city.
The risk of wasting accumulated tangible and intangible assets and the need to start life either back in the country of origin, or at a new destination “from scratch”, therefore played an important part in migrant decisions to stay. Interviewees in Birmingham highlighted how decisions to stay were informed by the perceived costs of moving away, as described by Manuel (Spanish, male): “If I ever move out of this house I am moving back to Spain. But it is unlikely as in Spain jobs are inaccessible. Jobs are a lottery!” Consequently, potential risks of leaving were also related to the feelings of the unknown, anxiety and uncertainty associated with starting life at a new destination or returning to their home country, as described by Marta (Polish, female) living in Glasgow: “I feel anxious about the idea of going back and had no idea what I would do there, I would need to start from scratch again, and I don’t have energy to do so.”
While interviewees in the UK highlighted the important role of acquiring and accumulating economic assets in shaping decisions to stay, in Tokyo finding employment was often challenging due to language barriers that limited job opportunities to sectors such as the language industry or headhunting where work was conducted in English. Nevertheless, after many years of working in Japan continuously most migrants had built a career that reduced concerns over the renewal of their (time-limited) work visa. As Emilio, who had become fairly knowledgeable of life in Japan after 7 years of staying and whose closest significant other was his Japanese girlfriend, remarked when his five-year work visa neared expiry “[I am] not worried, on the contrary I hope they’ll renew [my visa] to a 10 year one.” Thus, processes of staying were often being shaped by simultaneous processes of embedding and dis-embedding (Ryan 2018) and with challenges of being able to work and securing tangible economic assets being offset by the generation of more intangible cultural and social assets and a belief over time that they would secure a visa to stay in Japan long-term. Migrants’ belief in the trouble-free renewal of their visa was also encouraged by Japan’s increased intake of migrants and the relative ease with which so-called skilled work visa have become accessible to obtain or renew (Oishi 2020).
The findings from all three studies also demonstrated that when migrants’ biographies became entangled with those of significant ‘others’, this challenged notions of staying or returning as being a product of individual decisions. Staying decisions were often shaped by partners who had travelled insitu (England, Scotland), as well as partners, family or friends who were either already in the new country of residence or who they had met once they had migrated (all three case studies). Consequently, many interviewees articulated the importance of their partner, family or friends in decisions to migrate and in relation to their reasons for staying. These social relations created an intangible asset and were seen as a key emotional support mechanism without which they would have gone back ‘home.’ For example Marianne (French, female), who had moved to Tokyo independently, admitted that “[I think] quite a lot ‘why am I here?’” but had abandoned the idea of leaving Tokyo when her relationship with her South Korean partner grew stronger. With Japanese as the couple’s only common language of fluency and thus, Tokyo the only realistic option for a joint life where each could potentially forge a reasonable career, Marianne’s life became bound up with and linked to that of her future spouse whose place-specific employment in Tokyo’s banking industry was developing at the time.
Hence staying needs to be understood as a relational process that is informed by individual biographies that are entangled with the biographies of significant others, including partners but also children. For example, studies on Polish families in the UK (White 2011) emphasize the role of children in decisions about staying and settling in the UK and suggest that many families extend their stay in the UK because they do not want to disrupt their children’s education. This was evident in the case study areas in the UK where participants’ decisions to stay were related to the importance of stability of their children’s schooling, but also their perceived future economic prospects and established friendships. As stated by Agata (Polish, female) in Glasgow:
My children started school here, they have friends here, Glasgow is their home, so even though I don’t see it as my home, I will stay for them, for their future here. I don’t need to like it, they are my priority.
The importance of children for staying in Tokyo was not as clear. While children were a reason for several participants to plan their near future in the city, namely the period of nursery and kindergarten, the majority of interviewees had mixed feelings about schooling in Japan. In the words of Alexiou (Greek, male):
[I will] probably stay here in Japan, [I have] no plans moving for now. If I have kids, maybe [I would move to] an English-speaking country? [ … ] For sure I wouldn’t like my kids to be like average Japanese, like shy and not being fluent in foreign languages.
Consequently, Alexiou and many others commented on Japan’s perceived closeness which contrasted with their own experiences of travelling and fluency in speaking several languages as well as their own upbringing in (what was for them) more outspoken / individualistic societies; a bifocal view of culture in education often claimed by scholarship (Tobin et al. 2011).
In sum, the accumulation of a diverse range of tangible and intangible assets is a dynamic process which can shape the ways in which the biographies of individuals may unfold in the context of particular places. As such, assets can act as a ‘stock’ which provide individuals with the capability and agency to act and to use such resources in a diverse range of situations to make longer-term plans. Migrant staying was thus an ongoing reflective process that involved a ‘weighing up’ of migrant’s current position and assets ‘in hand’ in contrast to future opportunities and challenges of securing such assets. Our findings also illustrate the complex role of different types of assets in shaping migrant’s experiences of staying. As Emilio’s example illustrates, a potential lack of legal and economic assets (work visa and consequently, employment) was compensated by intangible assets in the form of social networks and familiarity with the norms of the host country and which served to contribute to staying processes. Similarly, the examples of Alexiou, Agata and Marianne illustrate that migrant’s linked lives may equally prompt desires to stay or to move on. Consequently, the relevance of linked lives flows through the evolution of migrants’ assets, as well as biographies and anchors, as we discuss further below.
Changing biographies of people and places
The importance of changing places on processes of settlement was evident in all three case study areas. For example, in Tokyo there has been a sharp rise of foreign tourists, international students and migrants from various countries in the past ten years and Japanese people’s gradual familiarization with the foreigners in their midst had in one respondent’s words created “significantly more comfortable” living conditions. Some participants with limited Japanese language proficiency also remarked how Tokyo’s rapid internationalization had now allowed them to handle more daunting issues of life in Japan (such as Doctors appointments), and which previously had required proficiency in the Japanese language. Their narratives therefore confirm that Japan’s efforts to internationalize have reduced at least some of the longstanding obstacles for migrant staying such as the limited offer of foreign language services or internationally trained medical doctors (Oishi 2012). That said, many of the EU respondents additionally relied on bilingual friends or family who formed part of the rapidly growing foreign and multilingual Japanese community in Tokyo when dealing with complicated bureaucratic issues such as tax matters. Others gratefully emphasized the patience and helpfulness of Japanese service personnel whom it was suggested were trying their best to support the rising numbers of foreign customers.
In the UK – and taking Birmingham as an example – the evolving nature of migrant-driven ‘superdiversity’ (Vertovec 2007) and the changing biography of the city had additionally served to shape processes of staying over time. Interestingly, few participants felt that the city had become too diverse and thereby avoiding dis-embedding taking place as a result of new migration flows. Rather, decisions to stay were being consolidated as a result of the increasing diversity of infrastructure (e.g. shops, specialist services, etc.): “it has certainly made things easier because the shops are now on my doorstep – they have Portuguese food so I don’t have to get this from Portugal” (Tiago, Portuguese male). Moreover, those more visibly different argued that it was too risky to move elsewhere given that they perceived that levels of discrimination and racism had increased since they had moved to Birmingham. Hence the increasing superdiversification of the population was also contributing to processes of staying.
Individuals’ biographies, too, were evolving and intersecting with the changing biographies of place. Given that most participants migrated at a young age, this was leading to a greater proportion of key life-cycle events taking place in their new country of residence (e.g. starting a relationship, birth of children, schooling) and increasing the importance of changing biographies on the settlement process. In essence, time, migration and processes of staying were intertwined in multiple ways, as described by Franciszek (Polish, male), living in Scotland:
Initially there was a period of professional interest and development … ..and that’s what kept me here … ..then it was related to the fact that my partner started studying … I didn’t consider moving to Warsaw (Poland) because I knew she would be studying for a period of time, even though my work was up and down at that time. Working as an architect, it all depends on the project … ..some were long-term and so I wanted to carry on working on them until they’re finished.
From this quote we can ascertain that Franciszek did not discuss his overall stay in Scotland but instead referred to a combination of biographical experiences. Franciszek’s testimony highlights the significance of temporal dimensions of migrants’ experiences for understanding staying. Whilst the relation between time and migration has been touched upon previously (e.g. Cwerner 2001; Robertson 2015; Sheller 2019), our research moves further by highlighting how staying – following migration - emerges as a set of temporal dimensions not directed towards permanent settlement; rather it involves the fulfilment of short-term goals or plans that in aggregation lead individuals to stay in the longer term. As such, the experiences of staying involved differentiated sequences of actions, experiences and encounters. These are contextualized in relation to the (also) changing biographies, values and aspirations of individuals and places, and which are often entwined. Exemplifying the latter, we see how migrant biographies in Birmingham evolved in relation to the on-going ‘diversification of diversity’ (Vertovec 2007) in the city:
I come from a little town in Spain … everybody there is white like me. When I came here first it was a big impact but now I’ve got used to being around people of different ethnicities, people speaking worse or better English than me, young people, old people … and how it constantly changed. And I love it (Manuel, Spanish male).
This was also true in Tokyo where many migrants noted how they had come to see life in the city as their “comfort zone” which they assumed would be difficult to discard as their resumes had been shaped by training in Japanese institutions and through work experience in Japanese firms. Kathrin (German, female) had left Tokyo after 3 years of working to return to Germany but had returned after only 2 years. While in Germany she had reflected on the attraction of Tokyo as a place to live and had also married her German boyfriend (who also had a Japanese degree). Both had subsequently secured well paid jobs in Japan and this was now viewed as a reason to stay. Hence it is evident that individual plans and aspirations change with time but also in the context of changing places: with ‘global jobs’ in Tokyo increasing rapidly, Kathrin’s rationale captures the overlapping temporalities of changing biographies and changing places. Her comment that “also financially, it makes more sense for us to stay [in Tokyo] if we compare with our friends at home” underlines how their biographies had adapted more to the new face of Tokyo rather than the domestic German labour market. It also alerts us – once again – to the importance of linked lives – in this case Kathrin’s partner but also the experiences of their friends – bringing the reciprocity between changing place and changing biographies to the fore.
Thus overall, it was evident that migrant staying was temporal as well as contextual and that processes of staying were dependent on how migrant biographies – as well as the places in which they lived – changed over time and in relation to others’ lives unfolding (also see Halfacree and Rivera 2012). But the research also provided new insights which demonstrated how staying was often incremental rather than a deliberate and ‘once and for all’ process – facilitated (and also undermined) as a result of a culmination of changing needs, values, actions and experiences, as well as assets. Sometimes staying was opportunistic or deliberate; at other times it was much more pragmatic and involving “learning to live with life in the city, whatever the problems” (Jolena, Polish female).
Anchors and sense of belonging
Migrants’ evolving assets and biographies can also inform more subjective feelings associated with social, emotional and psychological stability and feeling ‘settled down’. As explained earlier, Grzymala-Kazlowska (2016) refers to such ‘footholds’ as ‘anchors’. Anchors have some parallels with the psychological (intangible) aspect of migrant assets yet can be better conceived as a state of becoming that migrants may achieve over time and contribute to feelings of being ‘settled down’. Put differently, the sense of belonging that migrants may generate over time as a result of the changing biographies of individuals or places and/or the generation or loss of assets cannot simply be exchanged or replaced: for example, an intangible asset such as a community network may be replaced with the development of a different community network. However, this is not possible in terms of more subjective feelings of belonging and which may emerge over an extended period of time.
Moving beyond previous research on the different types of anchors of relevance in the context of settlement (Grzymala-Kazlowska and Phillimore 2018), our analysis demonstrates the relative importance of daily and weekly routines and ‘rhythms’ as anchors in connecting migrants to specific places and how these may change as individuals’ biographies and places of residence change. For some, ‘feeling settled’ set in once individuals had obtained sufficient assets that rendered existential anxieties redundant. But for many others, feeling settled was the moment from which they knew their neighbourhood or city ‘by heart’ and / or no longer needed a native speaker’s help and hence felt secure enough as to think about their life less as that of an outsider but as a ‘local’ to their current place of residence (Buhr 2018). Across all three case study areas it was apparent that feelings of security that anchored migrants to their place of residence related to familiarity, predictability and ways of ‘knowing the city’ or neighbourhood. For example, in Tokyo getting to know the city nurtured migrants’ sense of ease, independence and feelings of freedom and convenient living, as expressed by Lena (German, female):
When I was here in high school, I sometimes couldn’t sleep at night. At 2 am I thought “I’ll now go and get myself an ice cream.” [ … ] I left the house and went to the [convenience store], alone, as an under-aged girl. I bought the ice cream I wanted and sat outside [and] thought “this is the greatest freedom I have ever felt.” I got what I wanted, when I wanted it, and I was outside alone and felt safe. And this is what keeps me staying. This is the lifestyle I have here.
Likewise, in Birmingham a majority of interviewees highlighted that as their knowledge and experience of navigating the city had improved over time, this had also been fundamental in decisions to stay. In this context, a feeling of convenient living was also linked to issues of access. For example, Ania (Polish, female) in Birmingham noted how “when I first came here, I was totally lost. I am much more confident now”. Consequently, individuals’ increasing ability to travel elsewhere in the city was seen as being fundamental in shaping decisions to stay as they were able to access leisure services elsewhere, to meet friends and to access a range of services in the city centre.
Perceived freedom from ‘knowing the city’ and neighbourhood fostered a sense of ‘being home’ and became a powerful force in shaping staying. This was the case for many migrants in Glasgow, who emphasized the importance of daily routines, rhythms and / or the repetitiveness of everyday actions that made them feel familiar and secure: “this is where I go shopping, this is where I go for a beer, this is where I go to work … we find spaces which are familiar to us and where we like returning; it gives a sense of peace and order” (Szymon, Polish male).
Importantly, the place-specific daily routines and pace of daily interactions could also be understood as set of temporal experiences that migrants had to adjust to over time. As individual and place biographies changed in terms of access to the labour market, or in respect of their networks and relations with others, this shaped routines and rhythms of relevance to work, leisure or the home. Again, in the words of Szymon:
I like coming for a coffee here because there’s a nice man that has a chat with me, I can talk to a neighbour for a moment, I can bump into a friend, and over the years I’ve lived here certain places and faces became familiar and I think, yes, this is my town.
Therefore, it was through the development of everyday practices, rhythms and routines that participants like Szymon achieved a sense of familiarity that contributed to feelings of security and being ‘settled down’. These feelings, however, require the ability to navigate and master everyday life in a foreign language. Moreover, migrants’ considerations of return or onward migration introduced uncertainty about the future. A number of respondents across all three case studies noted how the idea of moving on and starting life at an unknown destination or returning to their country of origin would require them to develop new, place-specific assets and anchors, heightening feelings of anxiety and uncertainty. This, once again, meant that there was an on-going weighing up of influences associated with staying or moving.
To summarize, a prolonged period of time by migrants in their country of destination led to anchors being developed in relation to ‘ways of knowing’ their place of residence and which fostered feelings of familiarity of their country, city or neighbourhood. Ways of knowing and familiarity also shaped routines and the predictability of their actions and behaviours. It also influenced their perceptions of the actions and behaviours of others. Consequently, this highlights how anchoring can be shaped by the linked (everyday) lives of others – in this case, the ‘faces’ and rhythms associated with other migrants and non-migrants in the city – and which in turn contributed to their own processes of staying in respect of feelings of stability, security and “being settled”. These anchors became precious commodities over time and which migrants were often reluctant to trade in as part of ongoing deliberations and a ‘weighing up’ of their current position vis a vis return or onward migration. Thus, the unfolding of the changing biographies of migrants and the places in which they now lived – as well as those where they lived previously – shaped processes of anchoring. Footholds for socio-psychological stability and security were generated through their interactions with different dimensions of place and other individuals in their current residential context and which were perceived as allowing them to function effectively in their new life setting.