WWW.IPPR.ORG Returnmigrantsin Pakistan byMartaBolognaniwithRehanZahidKhawaja,NidaHaseebKhanandAhmedWaheed July 2009 ©ippr2009 InstituteforPublicPolicyResearch Challengingideas– Changingpolicy 2 ippr|ReturnmigrantsinPakistan Contents Aboutippr............................................................................................................................................ 3 There-migration project...................................................................................................................... 3 1.Background:PakistanisintheUK ................................................................................................... 4 2.Aboutthisreport.............................................................................................................................. 5 3.MovingtotheUK ............................................................................................................................ 7 4.LivingintheUK............................................................................................................................... 9 5.‘Nocountryforoldmen’:leavingtheUK ....................................................................................14 6.LifebackhomeinPakistan............................................................................................................ 17 7.IdentityandlinkstotheUK .......................................................................................................... 20 8.Livinga‘globallifestyle’ ................................................................................................................ 21 References.......................................................................................................................................... 22 3 ippr|ReturnmigrantsinPakistan Aboutippr TheInstituteforPublicPolicyResearch(ippr)istheUK’sleadingprogressivethinktank,producing cutting-edgeresearchandinnovativepolicyideasforajust,democraticandsustainableworld. Since1988,wehavebeenattheforefrontofprogressivedebateandpolicymakingintheUK.Through ourindependentresearchandanalysiswedefinenewagendasforchangeandprovidepractical solutionstochallengesacrossthefullrangeofpublicpolicyissues. WithofficesinbothLondonandNewcastle,weensureouroutlookisasbroad-basedaspossible, whileourinternationalandmigrationteamsandclimatechangeprogrammeextendourpartnerships andinfluencebeyondtheUK,givingusatrulyworld-classreputationforhighqualityresearch. ippr,30-32SouthamptonStreet,LondonWC2E7RA.Tel:+44(0)2074706100E:[email protected] www.ippr.org.RegisteredCharityNo.800065 ThispaperwasfirstpublishedinJuly 2009.©ippr2009 There-migrationproject ThiscasestudyofreturnmigrationfromtheUKtoPakistanwasconductedaspartofippr’sre- migrationresearch,exploringemigrationamongtheUK’simmigrants.Casestudieswerealso conductedinGhana,NewZealand,NigeriaandSriLanka.Thesecountrieswereselectedinorderto ensuretheresearchreflectedacrosssectionofreturnexperiencesandamixofmigrationprofiles. Eachresearchteamcasereviewedexistingrelevantliteratureanddataonreturnmigrationtothe country,especiallyfromtheUK.Theyconducted20lifehistoryinterviewswithreturnees.Allthe studiesaimedtorecruitarangeofrespondentsthatbroadlyreflectedtheprofileofreturnedand onwardmigrantsfromtheUKintermsofage,gender,ethnicity,nationality,employmentstatus, reasonformigratingtotheUKandreasonformigratingtothecasestudycountry. Thecasestudiesprovideaqualitativeinsightintomigrants’motivationsandexperiencesofreturn, anddonotseektoprovideacomprehensiveanalysisofthedynamicsandimpactsofreturntothese countries. Theinterviewsexploredthefollowingareas: • Participants’motivationformovingtotheUK • Participants’experiencesofliving,workingandstudyingintheUK • Participants’motivationsforandexperiencesofleavingtheUKandreturningtohomecountry • Participants’lifeintheirhomecountrysincereturning • Participants’senseofidentityandlinkstotheUK. 4 ippr|ReturnmigrantsinPakistan 1.Background:PakistanisintheUK Accordingtoippranalysisof2006LabourForceSurveydata,thecountrythatsendsthefourth highestnumberofmigrantstotheUKisPakistan(ippr2007). WithalargesettledpopulationofPakistanioriginintheUKalongwithnewcomers,thosewith PakistaniheritageinBritainareamongthemostconspicuousgroupsofoverseasorigin. ThefirstgenerationofPakistanimigrantstotheUKmainlysettledinthe1960s(mostenteringviaa vouchersystem);thenextgroupismadeupoftheirUK-bornchildrenandtheirspouses,manyof whomcomefromPakistan,followedbymanynewmigrantswhocomewithworkpermits,studyvisas orasdependants. TheImmigrationActof1971,whichcameintoeffectin1973,introducedasystemofannually renewableworkpermitsfornon-Britonsgrantedentrytowork.Thisrepresentedasignificantchange fromtheautomaticrighttosettlethatNewCommonwealthworkershadenjoyedunderthevoucher systemofthe1960s(Ahmad2008a).Forsome,thechangeinimmigrationpolicyin1973,together withtherecessionandthesubsequentwaveofredundanciesaffectingtheUKtextileindustry,in whichmostPakistaniswereemployed,signalledtheendofanera. ButalthoughthenewlawsimpactedonthewayinwhichPakistanischosetomovetotheUK,they didnotabatetheflow.In2004,forinstance,212,000PakistaninationalswereadmittedintotheUK. Aroundhalfwerevisitors;6percent(12,600)werestudents;3.5percent(7,590)werespouses;and 1.5percentwereworkpermitholdersandtheirdependents(3,265)(Ahmad2008a).Accordingto Ahmad(ibid)thenumberofUKworkpermitsgiventoPakistanisisincreasingtotheextentthatitis higherthaninthe1960s,popularlyconsideredthe‘eraoftheworkpermit’. In2004,1,710PakistanisappliedforasylumtotheUK,thefifthhighestnumberamongtheapplying nationalgroups(HomeOffice2004,quotedinAhmad2008b).Currently,alongsidetheregulated flows,therearealargenumberofirregularmigrants,roughlyaround10,000(ibid). ThePakistanipopulationresidentinUKhasthereforequiteavariedcomposition. Pakistanin2009remainsadevelopingcountry,bornfromoneofthebiggestmigrationsinhistory:in 1947,followingpartitionfromIndia,millionsofpeoplemovedintothenewstate.AlthoughPakistan hasahighGDP,itseconomyisplaguedbymanyotherproblems.Forexample,inflationincreased from6.9percentin2007to11percentinthefirstfewmonthsof2008.Thecountryhasbeen heavilyaffectedbyitsongoingconfrontationwithIndiaandmorerecentlywiththeAfghancrisis,and thePakistanigovernmenthasinthepasttriedtouseemigrationasarelieffromsocialemergencies (Noman1991). TheGulfboominthe1970s,whichoccurredalongsidemanycrisesinPakistan,gaveworktomanyof thecountry’sunemployed,providingaflowofremittancesofsuchlargeextentthatsomebelieved theywouldcounteractthenegativeeffectsonurbanworkersoftheZia-ul-Haqdictatorship. Inthe1970smigrationfromPakistanwasmuchmoreheterogeneousthanmigrationthatoccurredin the1960s,whenmostlyPunjabisandKashmirismovedtoBritainthroughthevouchersystem(see Bolognani2007).Inthe’70sPathanswereoneoftheethnicgroupsthatmadeupasignificantpart oftheworkersmovingtotheGulf.ManyofthemreturnedtoPakistaninthe1980sfollowingtheir dismissalasGulfcountrieslookedformoreskilledmanpower. 5 ippr|ReturnmigrantsinPakistan 2.Aboutthisreport Thisreportpresentstheresultsof21interviewswithindividualswhowerepartofthenewwave ofmigrationtoBritainfollowingthe1973ImmigrationAct(apartfromoneindividualwhojoined herfatherbeforethatyear)andwhohavenowreturnedtoPakistan.Thereisnostatisticaldataon theextentofreturnstoPakistanavailable.(AlthoughthelastPakistaniCensus[1998]provides thedetailsofmigrationtoeachdistrictthiscombinesinternalandforeignmigrationandisnotof usetothisstudy.) Mostinterviewshavebeenanonymisedattherequestsoftheintervieweesandtheirquoteshave notbeensignificantlyaltered,inordertoretaintheflavouroftheirspokenEnglish. Thisqualitativestudytriestoreflectasmuchaspossibletheethniccompositionofthenew migrationwavetoBritain.Butduetosecurityissuesposedbytheunstablepoliticalsituationin Pakistanatthebeginningof2008,mostoftheNorthWestFrontierProvincehadtobeexcluded fromtheresearch,togetherwiththeinteriorSindhandBalochistanprovinces.Mostofthe researchpopulationcamefromurbanareas:KarachiinSindh,Islamabad,Lahore,Multanand SarghodainPunjab,andAbbottabadintheNorthernFrontierProvince.Allofthepopulationfrom ruralareascamefromtheMirpurDistrictinAzadKashmir:thiswasdecidedbecausepeoplefrom thisregionmadeupmostofthefirstwavemigration,linkedtothevouchersystemandthetextile industryintheUK,anditisstillacentreofemigrationduetotheveryhighratesofmarriage betweencitizensfromtheMirpurDistrictandpeopleinBritain(Bolognani2007). Theintervieweespresentavarietyofmigrationexperiences,rangingfromwork-relatedmigration, tostudying,tohavingdependentsinBritainandevenbeingdeported.Theinterviewswere conductedinEnglishinLahoreandKarachi,andinEnglishandPunjabiinKashmir.Inthecities theyweremainlyconductedwithmiddleandupperclasspeople,andintheruralareasmainlywith workingclasspeople. TheresearcherattemptedtofindadditionalindividualswhohadgonetotheUKforworkby networkingandusinga‘snowballeffect’throughprivatehomeservantsbutthisapproachproved unsuccessful.MostofthoseworkershadrelativesorfriendswhohadbeentotheMiddleEastor SouthAfricaforwork,buttheydidnotknowanybodywhohadrecentlymigratedtotheUK(and hadcomeback)forwork.TheythoughtthiswasbecauseBritishimmigrationlawsarenowdifficult tonavigateandhowmucheasierandbetter-paidunskilledworkisintheGulf,forinstance. TherearenumberofillegalPakistanimigrantsinLondon.Theseindividualswereunsuitableforour researchbecausetheirstateofillegalitymakesitdifficultforthemtoreturntoPakistan.Ahmad (2008b),describestheworkinglivesofmanyofthesemigrants,andconfirmstheHomeOffice’s projectionsoftheirnumbers(HomeOffice2004). Thesampleshowsastronggenderbias,withonlyfivewomenoutof21interviewees.Asmost womenmoveforreasonsofstudyortojointheirhusbands,theyprovidealessvariedsamplethan