The future is the prerogative of the young and a field open to imagination and aspirations. Based on 79 in-depth interviews with young people of Chinese, Brazilian and Ukrainian descent living in Portugal, we examine the influence of migratory background on future-making, at the level of (im)mobility aspirations. What kind of aspirations do these young people put forward, and do they have the capabilities and resources available to realize these aspirations (de Haas, 2021), in terms of where (they imagine) they will live in the future? Based on their narratives, we have distinguished three prevalent imagined trajectories: (a) "returning" to their parents' country of origin, (b) onward (intra-European Union (EU)) mobility or remigration to a third country or (c) remaining in Portugal. Examining the aspirations of migrants' descendants gives us insight into their subjective sense of belonging and their perceived potential for upward social mobility within the structure of opportunities available in Portugal, given their family migration heritage as well as their personal life goals.

Portugal has become one of the most popular countries for digital nomadism in Europe, with Lisbon being a top-rated destination. The global digital nomad hotspots are usually more affordable destinations in which people can live better with their salaries, escaping the high cost of living in Western countries. As such, digital nomads, similar to other types of lifestyle movers, engage in geoarbitrage - the utilization of opportunities for affordable costs of living in foreigner destinations. In Portugal, governmental policies have been developing favorable conditions for these types of travelers. The launch of the digital nomad visa to attract an even greater number of digital nomads supports the growth of this social phenomenon. The aim of this paper is to examine the ways Portuguese government policies are driven by the logic of geoarbitrage, targeting affluent visitors or migrants. Despite the growing relevance of these developments, a comprehensive understanding of how geoarbitrage is constructed and practiced through public policies remains underexplored. This article addresses this gap by exploring the interrelationship between digital nomad visas and geoarbitrage practiced at an institutional level by the Portuguese government. The focus is on the recent Digital Nomad Visa (D8) as well as other residence permits such as the D7 visa previously used by digital nomads. The study shows a pathway of digital nomadism in Portugal from 2007 to the present that has been shaped by strategic policy development of the national government and targeted initiatives like the Digital Nomad Village in Madeira. Moreover, the analysis demonstrates the ways the Portuguese government enacted a geoarbitrage strategy envisioning a logic of immigration of wealthy and highly skilled digital nomads.

This paper examines the practice of geoarbitrage, as carried out by middle-level private actors when engaging with Chinese migrants aspiring to access the Golden Visa programme in Portugal. Based on interviews with experts and Chinese migrants, content analysis of migration policies as well as of online promotional materials produced by migration consultants, we investigate the role of intermediaries in the (re)production of Portugal's desirability as a mobility destination for relatively wealthy Chinese migrants. While the concept of geoarbitrage has been mainly used regarding the micro-level of mobility decision-making, we hereby extend it to shed light on how intermediaries act as geoarbiters between legal frameworks and migrants' aspirations and resources. By examining the role of the meso-level actors involved in the geoarbitrage between Portugal and China, we aim to edify the enduring appeal of Portugal as a desirable destination for wealthy Asian migrants and to discuss key policy implications.

This article examines the disappointment experienced by affluent Chinese migrants in Portugal, revealing the discrepancy between their premigration expectations and post-arrival realities and how they overcome this mismatch through recalibration practices. Despite their financial advantage, Chinese migrants often express disappointment and discontent with their migration project, mostly stemming from frustrations with public service inefficiencies, insufficient infrastructure, and a lack of cultural stimulation compared to their experiences in China or other global cities. Drawing on 27 in-depth interviews with Golden Visa, D7 passive income visa, work and student mobility migrants, this paper shows how discontent often manifests as boredom in their daily lives in Portugal, as well as a byproduct of privilege and mediated expectations. However, this study indicates that feelings of disappointment upon arrival are not necessarily negative or incapacitating but instead can prompt a proactive reassessment of aspirations and result in adjustment practices such as revision of expectations and priorities, financial recalibration or onward migration.

This special issue explores the shifting landscape of global middle-class migration within and from East Asia by taking the relationship between mobility, parenting ideals and changing educational desires as its focus. Contributions explore how East Asian middle-class families balance the emergent emphasis on their children's well-being with the demands of global competitiveness as these often-antagonistic desires are projected onto old and new migration destinations against the background of global geopolitical and economic power shifts. Instead of reifying the simplistic binary of hierarchical, achievement-oriented East Asian 'Confucian educational norms' versus democratic, well-being-focussed Western ideals, the contributions offer a nuanced understanding of how these educational ideals coexist within the social, cultural, political and economic contexts of families. By carefully assessing the dialectically entwined intimate experiences of parents and children, the articles collected here set out to broaden our understanding of how middle-class families in Singapore, South Korea, Japan and China attempt to negotiate the tension between prioritizing children's happiness and maintaining global competitiveness result in a variety of strategies from migrating to less obvious international destinations to crafting domestic alternatives. Taken together, the articles reveal consistent patterns of middle-class migration and child-rearing decisions that contest and reshape conventional notions of success, attesting to a shift in global middle-class migration trends and to the importance of child-rearing in migratory decisions.

This article examines how middle-class families from China are using 'golden visa' investment schemes to settle in Portugal and Hungary to pursue postmaterial motivations: instead of seeking capital accumulation, they set out in search of a more meaningful life and improve their quality of life by securing less stressful education for their children. By reviewing lifestyle migration literature, we introduce the concept of 'lifestyle exiles' which shifts the perspective from narratives of leisure to narratives of escape. We base our argumentation on qualitative research conducted with Chinese golden visa migrants in Lisbon and Budapest, as we analyse their aspirations to move. Our findings suggest the need to understand lifestyle migration from an 'exile' perspective which enables us to theorise these privileged middle-class families as 'educational exiles'. In the conclusion, we revisit the notion of lifestyle exiles, discussing its potential contribution for migration theory.

El objetivo de este artículo es analizar la centralidad teórica de un tema clásico en sociología —las «consecuenciasno intencionales de la acción» (CNI)— a través de una incursión en la obra de Norbert Elias. En primerlugar, se procura delimitar los presupuestos analíticos subyacentes a las CNI, teniendo como base la revisióncrítica de Ramón Ramos, quien procura revitalizar su carácter operativo en la sociología contemporánea.A continuación, se analizan en dos apartados, en articulación con la propuesta de Ramos, el modo como Eliasemprende en su proyecto académico la tarea de orientar el objeto de la sociología hacia la superación de ciertosdualismos tradicionales —individuo/sociedad, acción/estructura, micro/macro—, introduciendo para tal elconcepto de figuración en el centro de su análisis, como promesa de síntesis operativa en la teoría social. Estetérmino integra en sí mismo dos niveles analíticos frecuentemente diferenciados uno del otro: estructuras intencionalesy no intencionales. Para Elias, en el proceso de figuración existen: a) interdependencias no intencionalesentre acciones intencionales; b) prevaleciendo estas interdependencias no intencionales sobre lasacciones intencionales de los individuos cuando se analizan los procesos sociales. Así pues, intenciones e individuosson constituidos por interdependencias no intencionales en el proceso de figuración. Para finalizar, secuestionan las potencialidades y limitaciones teóricas de la obra de Elias, y su persistente tentativa en distanciarsetanto del holismo como del individualismo metodológico.

In this Editorial to the Special Issue, Góis, Oliveira and Gaspar offer a critical exploration of international migration, particularly in the Portuguese context. They challenge traditional perspectives, arguing that simplistic dichotomies are inadequate to understand the complexities of migration and integration. The authors delve into Portugal’s changing migration landscape, advocating for an appreciation of the diverse motivations and experiences of migrants. Emphasizing the need for inclusive, multicultural policies, the article highlights the importance of recognizing the heterogeneity within migrant communities. Central to the discussion is the interplay between knowledge, politics and migration policies. The authors analyse the influence of institutions in shaping public perception and policy formulation, stressing the need for a nuanced approach in migration studies. The challenges in measuring immigrant integration are addressed, with a focus on the multifaceted nature of integration within sociology. The article also tackles the complexities of racial categorization in the context of migration, emphasizing the fluidity of identities and calls for more inclusive approaches to understanding racial dynamics. Through its critical examination of migration phenomena, the article aims to enhance understanding and inform the development of more effective and inclusive migration policies.

The idea that the acquisition of and proficiency in non-hegemonic languages can be pivotal to international student mobility has thus far been insufficiently addressed. In this paper, we draw on 23 in-depth interviews with Chinese students to explore this question, showing how the perception of Portuguese-language learning and practice at Lusophone Higher Education Institutions (e.g., in Portugal, Macao, Angola, and Brazil) represents a decisive trigger for studying abroad, and an alternative strategy for acquiring linguistic capital in a non-dominant language in which skills can be converted into competitive resources on future professional paths. We conclude by arguing for the need to address this blind spot in transnational student mobilities, and by positioning “language acquisition and proficiency” as a structuring dimension, not just of the processes by which students decide to move, but also of their imaginaries of preparedness for their future career trajectories.

Since the 2010s, Portugal has experienced a considerable growth in the number of Chinese international students, who have been attracted by the country's image of tolerance and openness for diversity. However, as it was reported in other contexts, throughout the health crisis, these students were blatantly confronted with racial microaggressions in their daily routines inside and outside their higher education institutions' facilities. Drawing on evidence from 30 in-depth interviews conducted with Chinese international students in Portugal and following a thematic analysis approach, this paper analyses how they frame and perceive their encounters with racism in their daily lives during the pandemic. We argue that Chinese international students resort on distinct discursive strategies to negotiate their encounters with racism during their sojourns in Portugal throughout the health crisis and to negate their "otherness" as a racial minority in the country.

Partindo de uma perspectiva interseccional, este artigo analisa como certas categorias sociais - origem étnico-racial, nacionalidade e contexto socioeconômico - determinam os percursos de jovens descendentes de imigrantes no acesso a carreiras profissionais artísticas. Os dados baseiam-se em entrevistas semiestruturadas realizadas a jovens de diferentes origens (África, Brasil e Europa de Leste) a residirem em Sintra, Portugal. Os resultados indicam diferenças entre o acesso a profissões relacionadas com as artes, derivadas do entrecruzamento destas categorias sociais. Se, nalguns casos, a intersecção das categorias reproduz a sua posição social desfavorecida e bloqueia o acesso a estas carreiras; noutros casos, a sua posição social é mitigada e o acesso a estas carreiras acaba por ser facilitado. Na conclusão, sugere-se a necessidade de adotar em estudos futuros um paradigma interseccional nos percursos profissionais artísticos de jovens descendentes de imigrantes.

While academic research has focused on binational marriages (i.e., marriages between partners of different national origins), transnational divorce is still under-researched in the field of migration and family studies. Drawing on qualitative data, this paper analyses the testimonies of Brazilian and Cape Verdean migrant women concerning their experiences of marriage and divorce from Portuguese partners. We adopt an intersectional approach to highlight how some central categories-gender, social class and migration status-influence their agency and consequences of marital disruption. Contrary to studies in which migrant women are victimised after divorce, our results reveal that, for these women, marital dissolution is an empowering strategy to end up their unhappy marriages.

This paper examines the Non-Habitual Residents (NHR) tax regime from a sociological perspective. This analysis is twofold: it explores the social conditions for its emergence and next conceptualizes the political rationality that determines it, and the type of individual subjectivity regulating it. Methodologically, the analysis is developed according to the principles of Foucauldian governmentality studies. The paper is structured in three sections: 1) characterization and analysis of the evolution of the beneficiaries applying for this tax regime; 2) analysis of the emergence of NHR regime within the scope of 2008 financial crisis; and 3) the definition of the political rationality that inspires the regime. We conclude that this is a program conceived according to a neoliberal political rationality, and also a procedure to reproduce such rationality through the promotion of an “economic citizen” model.

This book brings together works by specialists from various areas of the social sciences to reflect on the presence of China in Portugal and in Portuguese-speaking territories. From the first Chinese coolies that migrated to the former Portuguese colonies more than 100 years ago, to the current investments along the Belt and Road Initiative, we take the pulse of this historic, social, political and economic presence and flows, that continues to renew and reinvent itself in the face of the challenges of contemporaneity.