Forced Moves, Chosen Moves: How Reception-Center Stay(s) Shapes Internal Migration for Asylum-Seekers in Norway

Ane Tømmerås , Stockholm University & Statistics Norway

This paper connects (forced) residential mobility before being granted asylum to (chosen) residential mobility after asylum-seekers are granted asylum and resettled in Norway. We ask whether relocations between reception centers change long-run mobility, and whether the site of settlement relative to prior reception experience (same vs. different municipality) shapes subsequent internal migration. We leverage complete register data (2005-2024, N=59 947) linking the reception period (2005-2016) to the years after recognition for all individuals granted asylum. We identify the location of the reception-center municipalities; relocations between centers; and merge this register with post-recognition population registers, including settlement municipality, Introduction Program participation, and later moves. We estimate discrete-time event-history models for the first ten years after resettlement. Preliminary results show higher probability of inter-municipal moves among individuals whose settlement municipality does not match their longest reception center’s municipality. Preliminary findings support the hypothesis that place familiarity anchors individuals to a place. Next, we will analyze selection into “matched” settlement—who is resettled after granted asylum in their reception center municipality—by incorporating family composition and other demographic factors that may jointly predict matching and low mobility. We will also extend the event-history models to account for more complex pathways, including the number of reception relocations, post-program employment, and heterogeneity by settlement centrality, to understand the variation in internal mobility for asylum-seekers.

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 Presented in Session 100. Heterogeneity of Internal Migration Patterns