Interior frontiers and highly skilled migrants' work-related challenges in Japan.

In this opinion article, the author argues that highly skilled migrants in Japan face many challenges and are ineffectively used due to the existence of interior frontiers. Although interior frontiers are more subtle than the external boundaries these migrants have had to cross to enter the country, they have tremendous power over their everyday lives. Ethnocentric attitudes, influenced by Nihonjinron, have contributed to the existence of these frontiers. They emphasise homogeneity instead of flexibility and accommodation, and exist in the workplace. Employers want a homogeneous workplace and highly skilled migrants face strong pressures to assimilate. There is also an insistence on Japanese human resource practices such as seniority-based pay and promotion. An interior frontier also exists in the hiring process, and migrants are less likely to progress beyond the first round of interviews. With Japan's rapidly aging and declining population and acute labour shortages, there is urgency in addressing these frontiers.

Employment of highly-skilled migrants during the pandemic: Focus on internal migration in Indonesia.

This article examines whether highly-skilled migrants (HSMs) have better employment prospects compared to low-skilled migrants (LSMs), highly-skilled non-migrants (HSNMs) and low-skilled non-migrants (LSNMs) during the unsettling time of the COVID-19 pandemic. This question was explored by focusing on internal migration in Indonesia utilizing the August 2020 National Labor Force Survey, which includes several pandemic-related information. The study examined employment in terms of working status, change in hours worked and change in income. The results indicate that having high skills was very important in coping with the disruptions in the labor market, regardless of the migration status. The highly-skilled migrants were the second best (after the highly-skilled non-migrants) in coping with the crisis. As this study focused on migration, future research should focus more on short-term mobility, such as commuters, who were likely to have been more disadvantaged by mobility restrictions during the pandemic.

Preparing for online interviews during Covid-19: the intricacies of technology and online human interaction.

How can we guarantee that "extracting data" is realised most respectfully and reciprocally online? How can we receive the most relevant responses from the interviewee in online interviews? These questions have been even more pertinent during the Covid-19 pandemic. In this paper, we aim to demonstrate how the preparation of the research process that involves online interviews with highly skilled Italians abroad, functions when a group of social scientists come together, and take decisions on criteria and modality of virtual fieldwork. The intricacies of the online interviews are numerous. Yet, there is a research gap regarding the details of the process of conducting them. We find that the periods before, during and after online interviews indicate a whole learning process, which is neglected in the current literature. Hence, we argue that organisation, use of time, density of the themes, mindfulness, synchronisation and handling of sensitive issues are the main tenets of the art of doing online interviews. In this paper, we explore and explain each aspect, also in a chronological manner, benefiting from the previous literature and contributing to research with our anthropological and sociological insights about using technology whilst conducting online interviews with highly skilled Italians abroad.

Migration of highly-skilled workers: personal perspectives.

Recently, one of the authors and his family migrated from Nigeria to take up employment in the United States of America and the other from Spain to the United Kingdom. Both journeys have been ones of mixed feelings, as we have both reaped rewards, but have experienced significant hardships. The migration of skilled workers has been ongoing for centuries and seems set to continue. Individuals who embark on such journeys become entangled with a lot of hopes and expectations, some of which may be unfounded. However, there are several benefits and drawbacks to migration from source nations into any of the advanced receiver countries. In this paper, we share our experience as highly-skilled workers and hope that this will help stimulate other individuals who have embarked on this journey or are yet to commence the process. We also hope that this paper will inform policy direction, employers´ attitudes, and community response to highly-skilled immigrant workers.

Tolerance for Housing Unaffordability among Highly Skilled Young Migrants: Evidence from the Zhejiang Province of China.

Many studies have concluded that, since housing pressure affects the mobility of highly skilled young migrants (HSYMs) in Chinese cities and regions, it is necessary to apply corresponding housing policies to adjust housing unaffordability for HYSM. This study uses data from a survey conducted in China's Zhejiang Province, where specific policies have been implemented to attract talent. We found that housing crowds out HSYM from a city, but that the HSYM who have a master's degree or above, or who work in government organizations or state-owned enterprises, are more tolerant of housing unaffordability. Those who are unmarried or those staying in the city for a long period are less tolerant of housing unaffordability. Meanwhile, different factors have heterogeneous impacts on the HSYMs' tolerance for housing unaffordability across cities of different levels. Therefore, housing policies should highlight urban differences and intra-group differences, and more housing land should be provided to attract talent.

Navigating Uncertainties: Evaluating the Shift in Canadian Immigration Policies during the COVID-19 Pandemic.

Canada has a proactive immigration policy that invites individuals, mostly highly skilled ones, from around the world to make it their new home. The pandemic border closures severely affected the flow of immigrants from other countries, so the Canadian government turned to the temporary migrants who were already in the country and facilitated their transition to permanent status. Reviewing the relevant policy documents and analysing 22 semi-structured qualitative interviews with stakeholders in Ontario, we critically examine the impact of two transition measures: the amendments to Express Entry and the Temporary Residence to Permanent Residence Pathway Program. We also discuss the changes in the work permit program for international graduates. Moreover, we analyse Canadian migration management during the pandemic at three levels: the macro level (i.e., transition measures and attainment of national goals), the meso level (i.e., stakeholders' evaluations of the transition measures), and the micro level (i.e., stakeholders' perceptions of migrants' experiences with the transition measures).

Le Canada s'est doté d'une politique d'immigration proactive, par laquelle le pays invite les personnes de partout dans le monde, surtout les plus spécialisées, à venir s'y enraciner. Mais le flux migratoire ayant été sévèrement touché par la fermeture des frontières due à la pandémie, le gouvernement canadien a choisi de se tourner vers les migrants et migrantes temporaires qui étaient déjà au pays et de faciliter leur transition vers la résidence permanente. En nous basant sur l'analyse d'énoncés de politiques pertinents et sur 22 entrevues qualitatives semi-structurées d'intervenants et d'intervenantes de l'Ontario, nous examinons l'impact de deux mesures transitoires : les modifications apportées au système Entrée Express et à la politique Voie d'accès de la résidence temporaire à la résidence permanent. Nous considérons également les modifications apportées au programme de permis de travail pour étudiants étrangers et étudiantes étrangères. Enfin, nous analysons la gestion de la migration au Canada pendant la pandémie à trois niveaux : macro (mesures de transition et atteinte des objectifs nationaux), méso (évaluations des mesures transitoires par les intervenants et les intervenantes) et micro (perceptions des intervenants et des intervenantes à l'égard de l'expérience vécue par les personnes migrantes dans le contexte des mesures transitoires).

Exploring the trajectories of highly skilled migration law and policy in Japan and the UK.

Japan and the UK appear to have few commonalities in terms of their history of and approach to migration law and policy. However, strong similarities in their contemporary approaches can be detected. Migration sits at the very top of the national political agendas and both have undertaken successive, major policy reforms over the past decade. Both have governments publicly committed to policies to attract 'highly skilled' migrants, with a restrictive approach towards 'unskilled' migrants. This article draws out the similarities and differences of migration law and policy in Japan and the UK via their respective legislative structures and policy trajectories on highly skilled migration. The article argues that Japan and the UK promote a market-driven model which enables highly skilled migration to be 'sold' to publics believed to be hostile to increased migration. Yet, the rapid changes in policy and revising of applicable rules often prevents the successful recruitment of highly skilled migrants to both countries.

Welcoming talent? A comparative study of immigrant entrepreneurs' entry policies in France, Germany and the Netherlands.

This article explores the admission policies for self-employed non-EU immigrants wanting to start or move their business to the European Union (EU). Selecting immigrant entrepreneurs is a specific and understudied policy strand in the battle for talent. No common EU policy is available (yet) and although national policies do show some similarity, they differ in respect of how and who decides if an entrepreneur serves a national economic interest. By presenting a first-time model for defining the level of welcoming, this study adds an instrument to the toolbox of both scholars and policy makers for evaluating immigration policies. Whether a policy is welcoming depends on material criteria, such as entry conditions giving the entrepreneur a fair chance and on the formal criteria of the applicable procedures and the actors involved in the decision-making process. The body of the article constitutes of a legal comparison between French, German and Dutch entry policies for non-EU entrepreneurs. The article concludes that a future EU policy on welcoming immigrant entrepreneurs must set standards for a large variety of entrepreneurs, allow for the economic interest to be broadly defined and have, at the least, transparent and practical procedures.

Procesos de construcción de la identidad en jóvenes universitarios españoles migrados en el extranjero / Processes of identity construction in Spanish university students migrated abroad

RESUMEN La crisis económica iniciada en 2008 ha conllevado que el saldo migratorio español, tras más de dos décadas siendo positivo, volviera a partir de 2011 a ser negativo, como lo fue durante gran parte del siglo XX. Pero, a diferencia de los emigrados de antaño, los actuales son profesionistas entre 25 y 35 años y sin cargas familiares. El objetivo del presente artículo fue establecer cómo los jóvenes españoles reconstruyen sus identidades a lo largo de sus procesos migratorios y qué factores influyen en ello. Se realizaron una serie de entrevistas en profundidad, encaminadas a obtener los relatos de vida de 15 jóvenes con experiencias migratorias en el periodo de 2008 a 2014. El análisis de la información con seguida, siguiendo la Grounded Theory, posibilita la determinación de tres categorías dis cursivas en la evolución de las identidades de esta población migrante, las cuales se tipifican aquí como la españofobia (rechazo de la sociedad española), la españofilia (añoranza de la sociedad española) y la mutación a una nueva identidad híbrida, en la que los patrones culturales de origen se entremezclan con los de la nueva sociedad donde residen. Las sucesivas transformaciones en las identidades de los jóvenes migrantes, que se tratan de conceptuar a través de dichas categorías, están influenciadas por una serie de factores, tales como su nivel de conocimiento del idioma del país receptor, su grado de habituación al clima de dicho país, el estatus social logrado tras la emigración y las interacciones con la población autóctona, entre otras. Por lo tanto, dichas identidades no son esenciales o estáticas, sino construcciones sociales que se van definiendo y redefiniendo (construyendo y reconstruyendo), según las situaciones de interacción (sociocultural y/o psicológica) que el proceso migratorio propicia.

ABSTRACT The economic crisis begun in 2008 caused that the migratory balance of Spain, after more than two decades of being positive, in 2011 became again negative, as it was for much of the twentieth century. However, unlike the emigrants of yesteryear, today's university emigrants are between 25 and 35 years old and without family dependents. This article examines how these new Spanish emigrants rebuild their identities during their migration processes and the factors that influence them. For this purpose, in-depth interviews were carried out with the aim of knowing the life stories of 15 young people with migration experiences during the period from 2008 to 2014. The information obtained is analyzed following the Grounded Theory method, which enables the differentiation of three discursive categories in the evolution of the identities of the young university emigrants. So, these identities are named here as Spanish-phobia (Rejection of Spanish society), Spanish-philia (longing for the Spanish society), and the mutation to a new hybrid identity, in which cultural patterns of origin are intermingled with those of the new society where the migrants live. By means of the said three categories the successive transformations in the identities of young migrants are conceptualized. In turn, these transformations depend upon a series of factors, such as the degree of knowledge that migrants have about the host country language, their degree of habituation to the climate of that country, the social status they achieve after migration, their interactions with the local population, among others. Therefore, the above mentioned three identities are not essential or static, but social constructions that are defined and/or redefined (built and/or rebuilt) according to the situations of interaction (socio-cultural and/or psychological) entailed by the migratory process.

Dotação, habilidades sociais e bem-estar subjetivo / Giftedness, social skills and subjective well-being / Dotación, habilidades sociales y bienestar subjetivo

O objetivo deste estudo foi identificar possíveis diferenças e semelhanças em relação e habilidades sociais e ao bem-estar subjetivo associadas aos domínios de dotação (inteligência geral, criatividade, socioafetivo e sensoriomotor). Participaram 269 crianças dotadas e talentosas, de ambos os sexos, entre oito e 12 anos. Os participantes responderam ao Sistema de Avaliação de Habilidades Sociais (SSRS-BR), à Escala Multidimensional de Satisfação de Vida para Crianças e a Escala de Afeto Positivo e Negativo para Crianças. Foram encontradas diferenças em algumas classes de habilidade sociais e em alguns indicadores de bem-estar subjetivo para os domínios socioafetivo e sensoriomotor e subdomínios verbal e matemático, sendo este último subdomínio o que apresentou maiores diferenças. Os resultados alcançados trazem algumas contribuições para a área, uma vez que não foram encontradas pesquisas comparando crianças dotadas em diferentes domínios em relação às variáveis deste estudo

This paper aims to identify possible differences and similarities in relation to social skills and subjective well-being associated to the giftedness domains (general intelligence, creativity, socio-affective and sensorimotor). A total of 269 gifted and talented children, of both genders, between the ages of eight and twelve participated in this study. The participants replied to the Social Skills System of Evaluation, the Multidimensional Scale of Life Satisfaction for Children and the Positive and Negative Affection Scale for Children. Differences were found in some classes of social skills, and in some indicators of subjective well-being for the socio-affective and sensorimotor domains, as well as in verbal and mathematic subdomains. The latter subdomain being the one which presented the biggest differences. The results achieved bring some contributions to the area, since no researches comparing gifted children in different domains in relation to the variables of this study were found

El objetivo de este estudio fue identificar posibles diferencias y semejanzas en relación a las habilidades sociales y al bienestar subjetivo, asociadas a los dominios de dotación (inteligencia general, creatividad, socio-afectivo y sensorio-motriz). Participaron 269 niños dotados y talentosos, de ambos sexos, entre los ocho y los doce años de edad. Los participantes respondieron al Sistema de Evaluación de Habilidades Sociales (SSRS-BR), a la Escala Multidimensional de Satisfacción de Vida para Niños y a la Escala de Afecto Positivo y Negativo para Niños. Se verificaron diferencias en algunas clases de habilidades sociales y en algunos indicadores de bienestar subjetivo, para los dominios socio-afectivo y sensorio-motrices, y subdominios verbal y matemático, y este último subdominio es el que presentó mayores diferencias. Los resultados alcanzados traen algunas contribuciones el área, una vez que no fueron encontradas investigaciones comparando niños dotados en diferentes dominios en lo que se refiere a las diferentes variables de este estudio