India Migration Report 2018: Migrants in Europe

365 Pages·2018·3.548 MB·English

by  S Irudaya Rajan

India Migration Report 2018
India Migration Report 2018 looks at Indian migrants in Europe and their
lived experiences. It looks at how over the last few decades, the European
Union has emerged as the preferred destination for Indian migrants surpassing
the United States of America – and is home to Indian students and high-skilled
professionals ranging from engineers to medical graduates, contributing to
the economy and society both at the countries of origin and destination.
The chapters in the volume look at a host of themes and issues, including
agreements India has signed with the EU, the Blue Card, the impact of Brexit
and the plight of unskilled workers.
The volume will be of great interest to scholars and researchers of development
studies, economics, sociology and social anthropology and migration studies.
S. Irudaya Rajan is Professor at the Centre for Development Studies,
Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, India. With more than three decades of research
experience in Kerala, he has coordinated seven major migration surveys (1998,
2003, 2007, 2008, 2011, 2014 and 2016) in Kerala (with Professor K. C.
Zachariah), led the migration surveys in Goa (2008) and Tamil Nadu (2015),
and provided technical support to the Gujarat Migration Survey (2010) and
Punjab Migration Survey (2011). He has published extensively in national
and international journals on demographic, social, economic, political and
psychological implications of international migration. Professor Rajan is
currently engaged in several projects on international migration with the
New York University, UAE Exchange Centre, India Centre for Migration of
the Ministry of External Affairs, International Labour Migration and World
Bank. He worked closely with the erstwhile Ministry of Overseas Indian
Affairs, Government of India, Department of Non-Resident Keralite Affairs
(NORKA), Government of Kerala and Kerala State Planning Board. He is
currently co-chairing the working group on NORKA for the 13th five-year
plan (2017–2022) of Kerala State Planning Board, Government of Kerala and
is initiating the Kerala Migration Survey 2018, funded by the Department
of NORKA, Government of Kerala. He is editor of the two Routledge series
India Migration Report (annual) since 2010 and South Asia Migration Report
(biennial) since 2017 and the founding Editor-in-Chief of the journal Migration
and Development.
India Migration Report
Editor: S. Irudaya Rajan
Centre for Development Studies,
Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, India
This annual series strives to bring together international networks
of migration scholars and policy-makers to document and discuss
research on various facets of migration. It encourages interdisciplinary
commentaries on diverse aspects of the migration experience and con-
tinues to focus on the economic, social, cultural, ethical, security, and
policy ramifications of international movements of people.
India Migration Report 2013
Social Costs of Migration
India Migration Report 2014
Diaspora and Development
India Migration Report 2015
Gender and Migration
India Migration Report 2016
Gulf Migration
India Migration Report 2017
Forced Migration
India Migration Report 2018
Migrants in Europe
India Migration Report 2019
Diaspora in Europe
For a full list of titles in this series, please visit www.routledge.com
India Migration
Report 2018
Migrants in Europe
Edited by S. Irudaya Rajan
First published 2019
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
and by Routledge
711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an
informa business
© 2019 selection and editorial matter, S. Irudaya Rajan;
individual chapters, the contributors
The right of S. Irudaya Rajan to be identified as the author of
the editorial material, and of the authors for their individual
chapters, has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and
78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted
or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic,
mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter
invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any
information storage or retrieval system, without permission in
writing from the publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be
trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for
identification and explanation without intent to infringe.
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British
Library
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
A catalog record has been requested for this book
ISBN: 978-1-138-49816-7 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-0-429-43455-6 (ebk)
Typeset in Sabon
by Apex CoVantage, LLC
Dedicated to the memory of my teachers at International
Institute for Population Sciences, Mumbai
Professor Malini Karkal
Professor Asha Bhende
Professor Tara Kanitkar

Contents
List of figures x
List of tables xiii
Notes on contributors xvi
Preface xix
Acknowledgements xxiv
1 The European Union as a preferred destination for
Indian migrants? Prospects, patterns, policies and
challenges 1
ALI MEHDI, DIVYA CHAUDHRY, PALLAVI JOSHI AND
PRIYANKA TOMAR
2 Social security agreements (SSAs) in practice: evidence
from India’s SSA with countries in Europe 31
ATUL KUMAR TIWARI, DHANANJAY GHEI AND PRERNA GOEL
3 “Blue Card”: a comment on the EU’s preferential
immigration visa for attracting human capital vis-à-
vis its own multilateral conundrum 56
BINOD KHADRIA
4 Short-term visa requirements for Indian nationals in
the European Union 62
S. IRUDAYA RAJAN
5 Social security benefits of Indian migrants in Europe:
loss or win situation in case of return? 73
PAULINE MELIN
viii Contents
6 Challenges and opportunities for the Indian migrants
in the EU: in the context of EU enlargement and Brexit 87
PUJA GUHA
7 Migration of Indian health professionals to the
European Union: an analysis of policies and patterns 108
AYONA BHATTACHARJEE
8 Brexit: did a perceived threat of immigrants divide
a country? 128
S. IRUDAYA RAJAN AND NIKHIL PANICKER
9 The new student migration regime: enhanced
opportunities for Indian nationals seeking to study in
the European Union? 160
ALEXANDER HOOGENBOOM
10 Have the “London dreams” of Indian doctors come
to an end? 175
BASANT POTNURU AND BINOD KHADRIA
11 Indians in Italy 192
BARBARA BERTOLANI
12 Trafficking and exploitation of Indian labourers in Italy 209
MARCO OMIZZOLO AND PINA SODANO
13 Skilled migration and the IT sector: a gendered analysis 229
GUNJAN SONDHI, PARVATI RAGHURAM, CLEM HERMAN AND
ESTHER RUIZ BEN
14 “Being Indian” in the city of Oxford 249
SHAHANA PURVEEN
15 Mechanisms triggering Indian students to the UK 260
TILOTAMA PRADHAN
16 When international migration is a failure: Panjabi
undocumented migrants in France 275
CHRISTINE MOLINER
Contents ix
17 All about my skills, not me or mine: vignettes of
precarity among skilled Indian professionals in the UK 280
SHOBA ARUN
18 Experiences of Indian “bachelors” in the Gulf 294
S. IRUDAYA RAJAN, CHITRA RANGANATHAN AND
SREELAKSHMI RAMACHANDRAN
19 Impact of migration on contemporary demographic
transformation in Kerala 304
S. IRUDAYA RAJAN AND K. C. ZACHARIAH
20 Out-migration and its economic impact on
households in Tamil Nadu 314
S. AMUTHAN
Index 331