Transit migration is generally defined by migrants having the intention to move onwards to a third country. Based on an empirical investigation in Izmir, a transit migration hub in Turkey, this paper critically discusses intentionality as a valid dimension in conceptualisations of transit migration. The study found that migrants’ intentions in this transit migration hub are highly fluctuating because of their embeddedness in socioinstitutional environments, which continuously affect migrants’ social capital, risk perceptions and coping strategies, causing new migration intentions to arise. The study argues that intention is a problematic criterion in conceptualising transit migration, due to a conceptual fallacy where transit migration flows are taken as the unit of analysis whereas intentions are individual attributes.
Düvell, F., Wissink, M. and van Eerdewijk, A. (2013) 'Dynamic Migration Intentions and the Impact of Socio-Institutional Environments: The Case of a Transit Migration Hub in Turkey', Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 39(7): 1087-1105