abstract: 'Much research to date has shown that migrants from the Global South to

  the wealthier nations of the North often experience a devaluation of

  their educational credentials, notably because their initial

  qualifications are not recognised in their host countries. The limited

  validity of educational achievements is often identified as the main

  cause of the relatively unfavourable labour market outcomes of highly

  skilled migrants, who tend to be concentrated in the least prestigious

  employment sectors and to bare an unequal share of precarious jobs. In

  this article, we adopt a slightly different approach to this issue, by

  focussing on the professional and personal trajectories of migrants who

  acquired education credentials in their host country. Although previous

  research has stressed the difficulties faced by non-EU students in Swiss

  HE institutions, both in terms of successfully completing their

  educational programme and in finding qualified jobs afterwards, the aim

  of the article is to better understand the gender dynamics that are

  associated with post-graduation employment trajectories. By examining

  the employment outcomes of Peruvian graduates, from Swiss Higher

  Education (HE) institutions, we are able to reveal the influence of

  educational credentials on their subsequent life-course is mediated by

  events in other life spheres. Using a gender-sensitive approach, we

  analyse the effects of legal barriers and family dynamics on the

  employment trajectories of migrant graduates. We show that obtaining a

  Swiss HE qualification is rarely enough to guarantee access to the upper

  reaches of the Swiss labour market. In most cases, such qualifications

  need to be combined with marriage to a Swiss (or EU) citizen before

  these highly qualified migrants are able to settle legally in the host

  country and start a career that is congruent to their educational

  credentials. However, the family reunification route into legal

  residency is not without its own hazards. For women in particular, it

  may cancel out some of the advantages associated with having a Swiss

  qualification and lead to precarious or under-qualified positions on the

  labour market.'
affiliation: 'Seminario, R (Corresponding Author), Lausanne Univ, Social Sci Inst,
  CH-1015 Lausanne, Switzerland.

  Seminario, Romina; Le Feuvre, Nicky, Lausanne Univ, Social Sci Inst, CH-1015 Lausanne,
  Switzerland.'
author: Seminario, Romina and Le Feuvre, Nicky
author-email: rominaseminarioluna@gmail.com
author_list:
- family: Seminario
  given: Romina
- family: Le Feuvre
  given: Nicky
da: '2023-09-28'
doi: 10.1007/s12134-019-00730-8
earlyaccessdate: DEC 2019
eissn: 1874-6365
files: []
issn: 1488-3473
journal: JOURNAL OF INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION AND INTEGRATION
keywords: 'Highly skilled migration; International student migration; Education to

  employment; Transition; Bi-national marriages; Peruvian migration;

  Switzerland'
keywords-plus: 'SKILLED MIGRATION; LIFE COURSES; GENDER; FAMILY; MOBILITY; WOMEN;

  EXPERIENCES; IMMIGRANTS; STUDENTS; POLICIES'
language: English
month: MAR
number: '1'
number-of-cited-references: '75'
orcid-numbers: Le Feuvre, Nicky/0000-0002-8107-9341
pages: 205-226
papis_id: 43c88d3947d56e17f1b2b597b56fc508
ref: Seminario2021combinedeffect
researcherid-numbers: Le Feuvre, Nicky/AAJ-4759-2020
times-cited: '2'
title: The Combined Effect of Qualifications and Marriage on the Employment Trajectories
  of Peruvian Graduates in Switzerland
type: article
unique-id: WOS:000500722100001
usage-count-last-180-days: '0'
usage-count-since-2013: '6'
volume: '22'
web-of-science-categories: Demography
year: '2021'