Determinants of later-life transnational migration: will Chinese parents join their adult children in Australia?

ABSTRACT

With the number of working-age migrants to Australia, their ageing parents may intend to move to Australia to join their adult children. The paper examines the determinants of later-life transnational migration for Chinese parents to live with their adult children who have already migrated to Australia. The later-life transnational migration decision is an interplay between the characteristics of Chinese parents and their adult children, and the nature of Australia’s migration system. This paper is the first to investigate the transnational migration decisions of Chinese parents by examining how their adult children in Australia perceived a family reunion and intergenerational trade-off in Australia as a collective family decision. This exploratory study used a multinominal logit model to identify the factors of later-life transnational migration decisions with a sample of adult children living in Sydney, Australia. The results show that the adult children’s perception of living with their parents in Australia and the mediating role of the mother, not the father, significantly affects the Chinese parents’ transnational migration. The intergenerational transfer of wealth and household support is also crucial.

KEYWORDS:

• Transnational migration
• immigration
• intergenerational transfer
• ageing migration
• population ageing
• China

Acknowledgements

This research was supported by the University International Postgraduate Award from the University of New South Wales (UNSW) and the PhD Publication Award from the School of Built Environment, UNSW.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 Under the Australian migration program, applicants must score a minimum of 65 points to gain a General Skilled visa. Points are awarded based on applicant’s age, education background, English skill, work experience, study experience within Australia etc.

2 The cost of a Contributory Parent Visa for one parent is from AUD 47,825, which will enable the applicant to gain PR in four to five years. The cost for an Aged Parent Visa is much lower from AUD 6,490, but the waiting period can be as long as 30 years (Australian Government Department of Home Affairs).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by University of New South Wales: [Grant Number PhD Publication Award].

Notes on contributors

Xueying Xiong

Xueying Xiong is a Senior Innovation Associate at National Innovation Centre Ageing at Newcastle University, UK. She has particular interests in later-life migration, senior housing and ageing wellbeing studies.

Hoon Han

Hoon Han is Associate Professor of City Planning at University of New South Wales in Australia. His research interest is in spatially integrated social science research that is place-based economic, societal, governance and technological challenges.