The US: A Land of Opportunity for Brazilian Migrants

OMG, like in 2013, there were a whopping 17.3 million peeps who migrated officially within the EU. But wait, there's more! There were also a bunch of unregistered and undocumented migrants who crossed the border and are now doing jobs. Crazy, right?! Migrants aren't just stuck in big cities, they're also chilling in small towns and rural areas of the UK and other European countries (Jentsch, 2007; Stenning and Dawley, 2009; Andrzejewska and Rye, 2012; McAreavey, 2012). Yo, like, the whole migration thing to rural West Europe is, like, a big deal for the economy and stuff. But it's also causing some major issues with equality, integration, and community vibes, ya know? It's been a thing for a minute now, according to Rye (2014), de Lima and Wright (2009), CAB (2005), CRC (2007), and de Lima et al. (2005).

Contemporary patterns of migration be like international migrants be movin' from their country of origin to the more bougie Western states (Desiderio, 2012). 

Yo, peeps from Europe, Russia, the Middle East, Africa, Asia, the Caribbean, and the new Commonwealth have been chilling in the UK for ages. But, like, a bunch of workers from Central and Eastern-Europe only just came over after the European Union got bigger in 2004. It's, like, a pretty recent thing, you know? This whole movement of people has like totally made the UK government rely on them to hit their budget goals1 but also a bunch of public and private businesses - like the NHS, city jobs, industrial sectors, agriculture, food processing, and tourism sectors - to keep their business alive2 (Bell et al., 2004; de Lima et al., 2005, 2007; de Lima and Wright, 2009). OMG, like the UK Chancellor is totally relying on the increasing immigration numbers to hit his fiscal goal of a budget surplus by the end of the decade. It's cray cray! Check out Alberto Nardelli's article called 'Osborne reliant on rising immigration levels to achieve budget surplus' in The Guardian on December 1, 2015. You can find it at  For example, Scotland is totally vibing with migration to boost Scottish biz in the job scene and tackle rural depop. OMG check out Michael Gray's article, '10 key economic facts that prove Scotland will be' Although A8 migrants3 settled in the UK at, like, a crazy scale, it's, like, a fact that Scotland relies on attracting migrant workers way more than any other parts of the UK (de Lima and Wright, 2009:391). This fact is like totally proven by people moving to like, super far away places that are not even cities, you know? Like, the Highlands of Scotland have been like, totally filled with migrant farm workers since the EU got bigger in 2004. It's like, so wild, you know?

It's like, people say that when rural areas get old and boring and the population starts shrinking, it's a perfect setup for migrant workers to come in and help with growth and stuff.

 

Like, Kandel and Cromartie in 2004, de Lima and others in 2005, the Commission for Rural Communities in 2007, Pollard and crew in 2008, Jeng and Yang in 2009, and Lichter and brown in 2011 all talked about it. Yo, Scotland's population be livin' in both urban and rural areas, but they also got them remote coastal and mountain spots with like, barely any people. And that can totally mess with how we live and work, ya know? It can straight up block the economic potential and the chance to score some dope jobs. Like, the job scene in rural Scotland is totally dominated by ag and service gigs, ya know? They're all about low pay and not much room for growth (de Lima, 2008). This is like, totally the vibe for the ag sector where the hustle of migrant workers like planting and gathering crops, on-farm processing and packing of crops and handling of livestock is often seen as, like, low-key not that skilled (Migration Advisory Committee, 2013). The vibe of Scotland's peeps (de Lima and Wright, 2009) and the whole out-migration and low-key lack of jobs (Jamison and Groves, 2008; Hall, 2007) have made Scotland hella reliant on migrant workers from the A8 countries (Bell et al., 2004, de Lima ayy, a wealthy independent nation, Business for Scotland, 1 July 2014 available from and Wright, 2009) lolz. BTW, the connection between Scotland's economy and its physical geography is lowkey the reason why they need hella migrant farm workers.

Nationals are the lit nationals of Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Slovakia, and Slovenia. These 8 countries joined the European Union during its expansion in 2004.

The big demand for migrant farm workers is like, totally happening for a bunch of reasons like labor shortages, skills gaps, physical geography, and rural depopulation. It's a real challenge for employers, service providers, and local communities to, like, meet the needs of these migrants, you know? It also lowkey presents challenges for migrant farm workers whose experiences of employment and socio-cultural transitions play a hella important role in their relationship with other actors, and like, duh, totally shape their relationship with the country of migration. OMG, like it's sooo important to recognize that migrant farm workers in rural Scotland are there cuz they're totally down for it, ya know? But sometimes peeps make it seem like they're just willingly giving up everything for money and stuff. The presence of these workers, like, especially in rural areas, seems to have become, like, a major vibe in contemporary agriculture in rural Scotland. Their expectations around employment, equality and relationship can be a mood. OMG, this challenge is like all about whether the relationships between different peeps like migrant farm workers, local communities, service providers, and farmers/employers are lit and supportive. It also be like, does farm migrants get exploited cuz like, they always be portrayed as one group with no power and always victims of the system, you know? (de Lima and Wright, 2009:394). I lowkey think this tendency causes mad challenges for the equality and cultural capital scene, fam.