Event Details

“Marriage migration” tends to be discussed as a single-instance, one-way migration and dealt with as a matter between the “sending/home country” and the “destination country.” In addition, much of the major research has focused on formally (legally) registered cross-border marriages and the resulting migration. However, in reality, marriage-related migration tends to be not a one-way migration but rather a dynamic and complicated migration chain.

Divorce migration, for example, is much more risky and difficult than marriage migration, but it has not garnered much attention from researchers compared to marriage migration. Several aspects of migration resulting from divorce need to be researched. Cross-border divorce may induce return migration to the home country or re-migration to a third country. Migration caused by cross-border divorce often causes more problems than cross-border marriage migration with regard to nationality/ citizenship status; financial hardships; social, cultural, and identity issues; and educational difficulties for the children involved. In many cases, people are much more likely to lose or weaken their citizenship status in divorce migration than in marriage migration.

Another seldom explored field for research is the following kin (child) migrants in marriage/divorce migration. Both cross-border marriage and cross-border divorce tend to produce family migrants, consisting especially of the children from the marriage. The children of marriage/divorce migrants also often suffer from a vulnerable legal, financial, and social status. Subsequent child migrants often face problems with obtaining or choosing their education, language, identity, or legal status.

Finally, the relationship between marriage migration and population dynamics in a region has not collected much attention compared to other reasons (economic, cultural, or social) causing the marriage migration flow. The population dynamics of a region?such as aging population, decrease in the birth rate, and an unbalanced proportion in the gender of newborn babies?is now and will continue to be a push/pull factor for marriage migrants.
his conference aims to enhance our understanding of the dynamics of migration patterns in marriage/divorce-related migration. Informal “marriage,” divorce and child migrants following to such marriage/divorce will be analyzed.