‘If You Are Moving Forward Then You Are Not Going Backwards’: Reconfiguration of Family and Migration—A Longitudinal Study of Polish Migrants in Ireland

Traditional approaches to migration often focus on the external factors that lead people to move. They tend to provide a static image of spatial mobility, with subsequent integration, or lack of it, a consequence of the move. More recent studies of migration highlight its complexities and dynamism. They emphasise the possibility of multiple movements, circular mobility and return migration. There is also an increased focus on the individualisation of migration, particularly among skilled categories of migrants. This chapter adopts a life course approach and considers family as central to international mobility. Different stages in the life course, and changing family circumstances, are often intertwined with different stages of the migration journey. The chapter is based on a longitudinal qualitative study that consisted of repeated interviews with a small number of Polish migrants who came to Ireland after the 2004 EU enlargement. Of these, four individual stories will be presented, to allow an examination of the connections between individual pathways, family configurations and macro-economic shifts that shape the mobility context. These stories reveal the complexity of the migration process and argue for a more holistic approach to the study of international mobility.