Who is allowed to stay? Settlement deservingness preferences towards migrants in four European countries

Following the refugee crisis, European countries have tried to stimulate the integration of migrants into local society. However, the public, influenced by negative framing of migrants by media and political actors, may feel that not all migrants are equally deserving of settlement. In this study, we obtain greater insight into the public's attitudes towards migrants by applying the deservingness framework to migrant settlement in four European countries: Belgium, France, the Netherlands, and Sweden, using the CARIN typology (control, attitude, reciprocity, identity, need). We use data from the European Social Survey Round 1 (2002) and Round 7 (2014), and online survey data from 2017. We can draw four main conclusions: 1) (at least) three out of five CARIN-criteria (attitude, reciprocity, and identity) apply to settlement deservingness, 2) the identity criterion is considered the 'least' important criterion, while attitude is considered most important, but 3) identity has become increasingly important over time, and 4) there is significant variation in deservingness preferences between countries and over time. Findings indicate that older respondents, men, and Christians are more restrictive towards accepting migrants than younger respondents, women, and Muslims. The role of education is twofold: lower educated individuals value identity more, highly educated individuals value attitude and (future) reciprocity.