Migration from Kazakhstan to Europe: Latvian repatriates

Abstract

The European migration crisis, which began six years ago, is increasingly attracting the attention of the international community. Despite the current situation with arriving refugees, Europe remains an attractive destination for migrants from any part of the world. According to the UN, the number of migrants in Europe is 82 million migrants. In this regard, it became necessary to take measures to support the adaptation of migrants. A special Project has been developed by the European Union to support migrants arriving from third countries. In this research paper, an analysis was carried out to assess the process of socialization and adaptation of returnees in Europe. In particular, on the example of ethnic Latvians who arrived from Kazakhstan to their historical homeland Latvia. A qualitative approach was chosen to study the process of socialization with in-depth interviews used to collect the primary data and address the research question. The composition of the respondents included: two respondents are experts in the field of migration, two respondents are representatives of the diplomatic corps, three respondents are ethnic Latvians, and the remaining five respondents are citizens of Kazakhstan living in Latvia. Based on the responses of the respondents, we concluded that, despite the cultural characteristics and mentality, the process of adaptation of migrants proceeded quite easily and took on average 2-3 1Migration from Kazakhstan months. However, it is important to take into account that this process depends on several factors: gender, age, purpose of arrival, etc. Respondents who arrived for family reasons or for studies received support not only from the state, but also from close relatives, friends and the university. However, for repatriates, this process is longer, since the retrieval of archival certificates to confirm the status of a repatriate takes a lot of time. Knowledge of the language is one of the key factors for the further successful socialization of a migrant of any category, since all documentation (correspondence with the competent authorities, medical insurance), as well as for employment, it is necessary to learn the state language. The main conclusion is that for holders of repatriate status, expand the range of support and develop a separate program for this category.