Summary

This chapter examines the experiences of two young Filipinas who entered Ireland as ‘dependents’ of their migrant parents. Once they turn 18 they do not have the right to remain in Ireland unless they are accepted as international students or obtain permission to work. By addressing the liminal positions of these two Filipinas, a deeper analysis can be made of notions of return, and the intersections of everyday experiences engendered by social policy and the dynamics of migration. While there has been a growing body of work on the formation of diasporic communities, activities and socialization patterns, this increasing interest, however, deserves more specific attention when it comes to the practices of making ‘home’ in the host society. Many studies still seem to maintain a sedentarist bias, rooted in one physical location or another. In order to move scholarship forward, migration research needs to look at connections not only within the destination country, but also among other members of the diaspora and those (still) in the homeland, and specifically how these affect practices and orientations towards feeling ‘at home.’ Since migrants do not always (wish to) return home, the chapter problematizes how Irish immigration policies conceptualize migrants as temporary and that they will eventually return to their country of origin. Furthermore, the chapter complicates this by discussing the ways in which the two Filipinas construct a sense of home in the relation to the contradictions caused by their immigration status, affecting their ability to plan long-term and become rooted in Ireland. The lack of a transparent policy for ‘dependents’ and family rights dismisses any possibility of long-term planning, leaving the migrant family in a vulnerable position.

Introduction

Previously known as a country of mass emigration in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, Ireland in the last 15 years has been perceived as a ‘new’ immigration country. The economic growth during the years of the ‘Celtic Tiger’ saw the unprecedented and substantial return of Irish emigrants and a rise in numbers of international students, EU citizens and residents, asylum seekers, as well as an increase of migrant labourers, many of whom were recruited from outside the EU.