Onward migration from Spain to other European countries in the context of recent crises: The intensification of mobility as a strategy

Abstract

This article analyses the onward migration processes of immigrants living in Spain to other European countries since the Great Recession of 2008, framing them in the general context of a change in the Spanish migratory cycle and a boom in intra-European migration.
The central objective is to study the strategic role played by the intensification of emigration to a second country to escape the consequences of the 2008 crisis; and how these strategies may have been affected by the immobilising effects of other crises, such as the process of the United Kingdom’s exit from the European Union (Brexit). It will also look at the central role of acquiring Spanish nationality in the onward migration trajectories of immigrants.
The research uses a mixed methodology that combines socio-demographic analysis of onward migration flows based on official statistical sources with qualitative interviews with onward migrants from Spain and emigrants to the United Kingdom, Germany and France. The analytical perspective combines the micro- (individual level) and meso- (transnational migrant household) scales to understand how mobility strategy is developed and articulated through migration to a second destination country.