A Case Study of Personal Experiences of Undocumented Eastern European Immigrants Living in the United States

• Main Authors: Titanilla KISS, Shaki ASGARI
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: University of Oradea, Research Centre on Identity and Migration Studies-RCIMI 2015-11-01
• Series: Journal of Identity and Migration Studies
• Subjects: Eastern European immigrants; immigrant assimilation; immigrant psychosocial adjustment; migration; undocumented immigrants
• Online Access: http://www.e-migration.ro/jims/Vol9_no2_2015/JIMS_Vol9_No2_2015_pp42_61_KISS.pdf

Existing research on undocumented migration has focused predominantly on Latin American and Mexican immigrants and largely overlooked the experiences of immigrants originating from other parts of the world. As such, very few studies have considered how the lack of legal residency status can influence life opportunities of undocumented immigrants from Eastern Europe. The overarching aim of the present study was to explore the personal experiences of unauthorized Eastern European immigrants in the United States in order to: (a) augment research on undocumented migration, and (b) highlight the experiences of undocumented Eastern Europeans who remain an understudied group of the undocumented immigrants. Comprehensive personal interviews were conducted with a small group of unauthorized immigrants to explore: (1) reasons for immigration and prior expectations, and (2) psychosocial experiences (i.e., status related anxiety, experience with prejudice and discrimination, job satisfaction, sense of belonging, family relations, and future plans). Some of the results are presented in terms of similarity and differences between the current study's sample and the undocumented immigrants from other regions of the world, namely, Mexico and Latin America.