Voting with Their Feet? The Political Drivers of Noncitizens Onward Mobility.

Migration studies have been largely criticized for a too static perspective on mobility patterns. To circumvent this bias, mobility studies help to grasp more diverse mobility patterns – such as circular or return migration. However, little is known about the effects of policy reception contexts and their influences on these mobility behaviours. Therefore, this study aims at apprehending the non-citizens’ mobility responses to regional integration and naturalization policies. The main argument made here claims that more inclusive policy reception context tends to make non-citizens more immobile. The multilevel analyses rely on three main data sources from Switzerland, where a pronounced variance in regional policies exist. First, the STATPOP registry data (2010-2016), from the Federal Statistical Office, contains the entire resident population of Switzerland. These big data ensure the exhaustivity of the analyses. Second, the first main independent variable draws on a comprehensive index ranging cantonal integration policies regarding the ease and difficulty to access civic, political, socio-structural and cultural-religious rights and obligations. Third, the Swiss Citizenship Index also ranks cantons according to their inclusiveness regarding citizenship requirements. This article addresses an important gap in the literature, which is the lack of understanding on how policy reception contexts influence mobility patterns. First findings indicate that inclusive regional integration policies decrease directly emigration from Switzerland. Over time, inclusive policy contexts seem to make immigrants staying more in the cantons they live in.