Process and Dynamics of Cross-border Marriage

Marriage migration across borders has been pervasive all over the world recently. Massive cross-border movements of both males and females to be workers or spouses in the countries of destination have received increasing attention from scholars and policy makers. Marriage immigrants increasingly constitute a significant part of the mainstream life in host societies.

The main purpose of this Scientific Panel is to facilitate research on the causes, processes and consequences of cross-border marriage migration. The scope of attention of the Panel covers both sending and receiving countries of marriage migrants. The Panel intends to provide a platform for researchers with diverse perspectives and expertise to discuss issues of concern and learn from each other about marriage migration.

The Panel wishes to contribute to better understanding of the process and dynamics of cross-border marriage. Topics of interest include but are not limited to the following: historical background and demographic trends, individual characteristics of married couples, motivation and process of marriage migration, spouse dissimilarity, marital stability and divorce, post-immigration settlement and social integration, fertility of marriage immigrants, education of the second generation, social and economic impacts in sending and receiving societies, legal and citizenship issues, and policy implications.

The Panel plans to organize scientific and policy oriented seminars or symposiums in the next three years (2010-2012), and stimulate the debate about the key issues related to cross-border marriage both in general terms and with reference to specific countries or regions. Efforts will also be made to secure fund for publication and dissemination of one or two monographs on this topic by the end of 2012.