ABSTRACT

The paper presents findings regarding the motivations of Romanian migrants from the qualitative research carried out by the Romanian project team under the Work Package 4 of the international research project “Growth, Equal Opportunities, Migration & Markets (GEMM)”, founded by the European Commission under the HORIZON 2020 program. It is based on a structure-agency approach, analyzing both individual and contextual factors with relevant impact on migrants’ motivations. It argues that formation of migrants’ motivation is a multi-faceted process, in which economic factors (such as incomes and living conditions) do not always play the main role, but often personal life goals (such as professional development and career advancement, but not only) take over the leading role, sometimes without eliminating the role of economic factors. Besides, the paper highlights the role of contextual and institutional factors in the formation of migrants’ motivation, which often make the difference between desire and actual action and presents significant data regarding migrants’ preparations for departure.

Keywords: prospective migrants, actual migrants, migration, motivation, decision-making.

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