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When the Educated Leave the East: Romanian and Hungarian Skilled Immigration to the USA

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Abstract

In this study, we use quantitative and qualitative data to analyze how historical events shaped skilled emigration and integration of two Eastern European groups into the USA. Some of these migrants lost all interest in their country of origin and seek to fully assimilate to the new society. Others developed a new type of identity, as global citizens rather than of a particular country. They are willing to learn and understand the new society, but at the same time, they keep in touch with the home country. These two fundamental avenues of skilled migrant integration are related to individual characteristics as well as structural forces, and may highlight potential subsequent moves, addressing the global circulation of skilled international migrants.

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Notes

  1. The names of all our respondents were changed in this paper.

  2. Highly skilled workers are defined here as persons with a university degree or equivalent experience in a given field. It includes highly skilled specialists, independent executives and senior managers, specialized technicians or tradepersons, investors, business persons, “keyworkers,” and sub-contract workers (OECD SOPEMI, 1997 apud Iredale, 2001).

  3. In this paper, we use “Romanian” and “Hungarian” in the USA for people who were born in these countries. We do not imply that these people are currently citizens of Romania or Hungary.

  4. In 2008, Hungary signed an agreement with the USA allowing its citizens to travel without a visitor visa starting with 2009. Romanian citizens are still required to get a visa before traveling to the USA.

  5. Although the University of Bucharest, where the prime minister got his PhD, officially concluded that the Prime Minister thesis was plagiarized, he kept his title due to a law proposed and passed by the opposition party in 2011. After the scandal, the party led by the Prime Minister was voted overwhelmingly in both local and general elections.

  6. Her position as a faculty was kept for her and she was not fired until she finished her PhD.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Sociology, Anthropology and Social Work, Texas Tech University, Lubbock, MS 1012, Holden Hall, Room 158, TX, 79409-1012, USA

    Cristina Brǎdǎţan

  2. Department of Sociology, Anthropology and Social Work, Kansas State University, 202-D Waters Hall, Manhattan, KS, 66506, USA

    László J. Kulcsár

Authors
  1. Cristina Brǎdǎţan
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  2. László J. Kulcsár
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Correspondence to Cristina Brǎdǎţan.

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Brǎdǎţan, C., Kulcsár, L.J. When the Educated Leave the East: Romanian and Hungarian Skilled Immigration to the USA. Int. Migration & Integration 15, 509–524 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12134-013-0281-9

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