Migration and State Concerns about the Emigration & Welfare of their Citizens

This chapter discusses sending states’ concerns for the well-being of citizens abroad. Using the concept of transnationalism, I will first discuss the historical evolution of sending’s states involvement in emigration decisions and their relations with citizens residing abroad members of the diaspora. Second, focusing on a trend of the literature on “diaspora policies”, I will demonstrate that —while sending states most frequently develop economic and political programmes towards citizens— diaspora policies now increasingly include welfare. This, I argue in the third part of the chapter, contributes to transnationalization of welfare. Developing the concept of transnational social protection from below and from above, I show that immigrants’ access to social protection goes beyond welfare policies adopted by receiving states but also include numerous sending states policies as well as informal strategies developed by immigrants together with market, community and family actors. Finally, this chapter concludes with a discussion on the implications of sending states involvements in expatriates’ welfare for future research on migration.