This study analyses the composition of outmigration flows regarding migrants’ characteristics such as family situation, educational attainment and labour market situation. To expand our research, out-migrants are separated into return and onward migrants. Results indicate that the labour market situation of immigrants (unemployment and uptake of social benefits) in the destination country is an important determinant in the decision to out-migrate. However, the effect varies among countries due to the political situation in the source country, the migration costs and the extensive welfare benefits in Sweden. Labour immigrants are more likely to return to their country of origin whereas refugee immigrants are more likely to move to another country. Other findings demonstrate that emigrants are negatively selected regarding educational attainment. High-educated individuals have a higher probability of returning home than moving to a third country. The likelihood of emigration also depends on other characteristics such as the family situation of immigrants and the duration of residence in the destination country. All in all, labour market outcomes are the most important factors in the decision of out-migration.

Onward migration is an understudied process whereby people leave their country of origin, settle in a second country for a period of time, and then migrate on to a third country. This dissertation explores the transnational trajectories of one specific group of onward migrants. These are highly educated people who moved from Iran to Sweden as refugees following the Iranian Revolution in 1979. Then, after settling in Sweden for a period of time they subsequently moved on to London, England. Melissa Kelly explores how people live their lives across places. Using life history interviews conducted with individual onward migrants, Kelly draws out and contex-tualizes the individual and shared experiences of these migrants in specific space-time contexts, and highlights the meaning of both settlement and mobility in their lives. In doing so, she explores the circumstances that underlie the onward migration phenomenon, drawing attention to different geographical levels of scale, and linking social, economic and cultural perspectives. The main argument of the dissertation is that while place continues to be of sig-nificance, a broader understanding of migrant integration processes is required. Onward migration disrupts the categories usually used to comprehend the integration of migrants in narrowly defined nation state contexts, and encourages a more nuanced understanding of how we conceptualize both migration and settlement.