Family makes a difference! New waves of skilled labour migrants and their intentions to stay in Germany

Confronted with declining labour force potentials as well as accelerating skill mismatches on their labour markets a growing number of European countries has adopted new migration policies. The sustainability of these policies depends largely on the migrants’ intentions to stay in their new host countries with a long-term perspective. However, little is known about the dynamics of this newest wave of skilled labour migration. Existing research with its focus on return intentions of earlier migrant generations – characterised by a fundamentally different socio-economic structure and institutional context – is hardly applicable today. Over the last decade, Germany has been one of the most prominent examples transforming its previously restrictive migration policy towards an active recruitment of international high potentials. This paper sheds light on the experiences of current labour migrants in Germany, making innovative use of three surveys originally developed by the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees to evaluate these policy developments. In particular, it tests existing hypotheses about economic, social, cultural and institutional determinants on the newcomers’ intentions to stay in Germany. Furthermore, the paper provides additional information on adjusting and strengthening Europe’s labour migration policies.