Browsing by Author "Nurminen, Marisa"

Highly skilled migrants are an exception in otherwise tightening immigration policies in Europe, as they are welcomed and competed by most countries due to aspired effects to competitiveness and economic growth of countries. Meanwhile, the effects to shrinking and ageing population underline the need for immigration. However, policies to retain highly skilled migrants seem to lack concrete measures, and research regarding integration of highly skilled migrants seem to focus on their labor market and workplace integration as workforce and economic advantage, rather than on their integration as individuals with need to feel a sense of belonging to other parts of society, as well. Therefore, the objective of this master’s thesis is to increase the understanding of highly skilled migrants’ perceptions and experiences of the process of social integration, as well as the factors influencing to them. The theoretical and conceptual framework of this thesis is constructed around two key concepts: highly skilled migrant refers to a migrant with a tertiary education degree and specific skills, while the process of social integration is defined in this thesis as a dimension of the process of integration, which refers to the sense of belonging of the migrant, as well as to the role of society in accepting the migrant. The regional context of this thesis is Helsinki metropolitan area in Finland due to its large number of foreigners and the importance of the information and communication technology sector in the area. In order to achieve the objective of this thesis, four highly skilled migrants working in the ICT sector and living in Helsinki metropolitan area were interviewed and requested to write diaries. The gathered research material was then analyzed by applying thematic analysis. This thesis indicates that highly skilled migrants perceive social integration as a subjective process, which they experience mainly as their own responsibility. The process is, however, influenced by the attitudes, expectations and atmosphere of different levels of the society. The experiences of highly skilled migrants indicate that they are welcomed especially because of their social status as highly skilled, as the negative experiences seemed to be mainly related to their foreignness. The sense of belonging was also observed to be influenced positively by having a citizenship of a European country. Connections with Finnish people and cultural context particularly have a strong impact on the sense of belonging to society, and studies in Finland prior to working were perceived as having a positive impact to that. On the other hand, creating connections and relationships with Finns was perceived as difficult, especially due to challenges in getting to know Finns and to learn Finnish language. Although this thesis indicates that workplace can play a significant role in the process of social integration, work is perceived as only one part of life, and therefore, further examination of other dimensions of integration regarding highly skilled migrants is needed.