Au-pair Migration. Geographical and Social Mobility of Young Women between Russia and Germany

[互惠移民方案最初是通过安排外国青年在当地寄宿家庭逗留一年来支持文化交流的。虽然最近的出版物认为，互助者移民一方面被当地家庭滥用为雇用低工资的家庭工人，另一方面被互助者滥用为永久定居的“跳板”，但迄今为止对这一现象的移民研究很少。本研究以俄罗斯在德国的互助者为例，探讨互助者移民作为女性移民的一种具体形式的基本特征。根据跨国移民的理论方法，互助者为了实现人生计划而移民的行为将被解读为一个跨国传记的过程。通过采用定性研究的方法，将在微观分析层面上提出以下研究问题：互惠移民对俄罗斯年轻妇女生活的意义和影响是什么？应注意身份通道--进入工作和伙伴关系--如何在互惠移民的传记中执行，以及身份通道如何或是否与在东道国定居、返回母国或更高级别有关，从而促进跨国社交空间的创造。此外，还将揭示宏观一级结构(特别是移民和就业条例)和中观一级结构(特别是正式和非正式网络和组织)的参与及其在个人传记中的表现。因此，对互助性移民的调查将重点放在个人在结构条件背景下发展、谈判和执行其机构的动态和过程。]

[The au-pair migration programme was originally founded to support the exchange of cultures by arranging a one year sojourn of foreign young people in a local host family. Although recent publications assume that au-pair immigration is misused on the one hand by local households as employing low-wage domestic workers and on the other hand by au-pairs as a "springboard" to permanent settlement only very few migration research on this phenomenon has been carried out as of yet. Taking Russian au-pairs in Germany as an example, this research project aims to explore the fundamental characteristics of au-pair immigration as a specific form of female migration. Based on the theoretical approach of transnational migration, the au-pairs' act of migrating in order to fulfill life plans will be interpreted as a process of transnationalizing biographies. By employing methods of qualitative research the following research question will be raised on a micro level of analysis: What is the meaning and impact of au-pair migration in the life of young Russian women? Attention shall be paid to how statuspassages - the entry into work and partnership - execute in a biography of an au-pair migrant and how or if statuspassages relate to settlement in the host country, return to the home country, or above that foster the creation of transnational social spaces. Furthermore the involvement of macro level structures (especially immigration and employment regulations) and meso level structures (especially formal and informal networks and organizations) and their manifestations in individual biographies will be revealed. Hence, the investigation of au-pair migration sets a strong focus on dynamics and processes in which the individual develops, negotiates and executes her agency against a background of structural conditions.]