Recent Immigration from the Republic of Moldova and Arab Countries to Romania. A Stakeholders’ Perspective on Local Integration

Authors

  • Monica Roman Bucharest University of Economic Studies
  • Ioana Manafi Bucharest University of Economic Studies
  • Laura Muresan Bucharest University of Economic Studies
  • Elena-Maria Prada Bucharest University of Economic Studies https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7215-3207

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.59670/ml.v20i3.2822

Keywords:

Migration, stakeholders, asylum seekers, local integration

Abstract

Romania, a net emigration country, has witnessed a significant increase in immigration over the last decade. The objective of this paper is to highlight the facilitators and barriers to local integration faced by recent immigrants to Romania, as expressed by relevant stakeholders. Their often neglected views hold particular relevance for improving the well-being and integration of migrants in Romania. We focus on young immigrants from the Republic of Moldova and from Arab countries, relying on the data from 13 interviews conducted in 2021 with various stakeholders. The results of the paper reveal different integration mechanisms for the two groups. Some barriers are similar, being mainly related to document validation and lack of family support. Other factors act differently for the two groups of migrants. For Moldovan youth, language and cultural familiarity facilitate their access to the labour market and education, whereas asylum seekers from Arab countries need longer for achieving local integration.

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Author Biographies

Monica Roman, Bucharest University of Economic Studies

Dr. Monica Roman holds a position of Full Professor at the Department of Statistics and Econometrics of the Bucharest University of Economics. Since 2011 she is affiliated as research fellow at the Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA) Bonn and at the Central European Labour Studies Institute in Bratislava. Her research interests are related to the economics of international migration, labour economics, public policy evaluation. Monica Roman has coordinated as principal investigator five research grants on migration and labour issues financed by the Romanian Government or by the European Commission. She has published two books on Romanian migration and more than 40 articles in peer reviewed journals.

Ioana Manafi, Bucharest University of Economic Studies

Dr. Ioana MANAFI holds a possition of Associate Professor at the Department of Economic Informatics and Cybernetics at the Bucharest University of Economic Studies. Her research focuses on Macroeconomics, Migration, and Industrial Organization. She teaches Macroeconomics, Game Theory and Microeconomics, and she was involved as a researcher in international projects financed through Horizon 2020, such as MIMY (“EMpowerment through liquid Integration of Migrant Youth in vulnerable conditions”, GA 870700) and MOVE („Mapping mobility – pathways, institutions and structural effects of youth mobility in Europe”, GA 649263).

Laura Muresan, Bucharest University of Economic Studies

Dr. Laura-Mihaela Muresan is Professor of English at the Bucharest University of Economic Studies, where she leads an English-medium, Academic Development masters’ programme. She has coordinated European projects with a focus on quality improvement in language education and has been involved as an expert in the Horizon 2020 research projects MOVE and MIMY. Her research interests include the role of language and intercultural competences for academic/professional development and for the successful integration of young migrants.

Elena-Maria Prada, Bucharest University of Economic Studies

Dr. Elena Prada (female) holds a position of lecturer at  the Department of Statistics and Econometrics of the Bucharest University of Economics, where she teaches Business Statistics, Econometrics and Quantitative Research Methods. Her research interest are related to economics of migration, return migration and social welfare. She has published papers in Journal of Social and Economic Statistics, Romanian Statistical Review, Statistik

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Published

2023-05-24

How to Cite

Roman, M., Manafi, I., Muresan, L., & Prada, E.-M. . (2023). Recent Immigration from the Republic of Moldova and Arab Countries to Romania. A Stakeholders’ Perspective on Local Integration: . Migration Letters, 20(3), 375–384. https://doi.org/10.59670/ml.v20i3.2822

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