Emigration can be defined as a situation when a person leaves their permanent place of residence for some time or forever. It is the movement of people outside the borders of a given territory, temporary or permanent departure from the country. There are various causes of emigration. The first one is the desire to improve one’s living conditions. Unable to find employment in their country or dissatisfied with the reality of a specific place, many people decide to emigrate for economic reasons. Some of them, unable to choose their career path in their homeland, try to find something abroad. A frequent form of economic emigration is one related to seasonal work. Emigration is also driven by the need to see new places. Curiosity about the world, various cultures, totally different opportunities for earning a living and building one’s career – this is something that may appeal particularly to young people. The main cause of economic emigration is the desire to improve one’s living standards. A higher salary and a better standard of living are important. However, we should also remember additional factors – the quality of education, better healthcare, totally new standards in social care. Other countries do not only offer a higher salary. They can also guarantee better conditions of life “after work”.
The concept of international migration is associated with migrants, i.e. all those who live in a foreign country for more than a year, regardless of the reasons. International migration is associated with its various forms:
- emigration means that people leave their current country of residence (native) and move permanently or temporarily to another country,
- immigration is the influx, the arrival to a foreign country permanently or temporarily of people previously residing in another country, in order to settle there,
- re-emigration – return to the emigrants’ homeland,
- repatriation is a special form of migration, it means the return to the homeland of people who were forcibly staying outside the borders or people who, as a result of changes in national borders, ceased to be part of a given country,
- refugeeism – forced emigration accompanied by unfavourable economic or political conditions, e.g., resulting from armed conflicts, wars, revolutions, etc.
