How long do you have to wait for an appointment to apply for a visa at a German diplomatic mission abroad? How big are the differences between the various countries in which the visa is to be applied for? And how can these differences be explained? These questions are addressed in the latest analysis by a research group led by Emanuel Deutschmann, Assistant Professor of Sociological Theory at the University of Flensburg, Germany, and Associate at the Migration Policy Centre of the European University Institute in Florence, Italy. In this interview, he explains what prompted the analysis, how the research team approached it methodologically, what he considers to be the most important findings of the analysis, and whether these findings can be applied to other countries.
Andreas Genoni is a sociologist working at the Federal Institute for Population Research (BiB) in Germany. Together with his colleague Didier Ruedin, he recently published an analysis entitled ‘When expectations backfire: Unmet migration expectations and changes in the destination attachment of recent immigrants to Switzerland’. In their paper, the two authors examine the relationship between immigrants' expectations of Switzerland as a country of residence and their emotional attachment to Switzerland over time. In an interview with us, Genoni explains what the important ‘integration paradox’ is all about, what he considers to be the key findings of the analysis, and what conclusions can be drawn from this for political practice.
