Does cross-border engagement shape emotional identification? Exploring the link between dimensions of transnational engagement and the feeling of belonging among intra-European migrants

Public debates increasingly link immigrants’ national belonging to their cross-border engagement. Using survey data on six intra-European origin groups in Switzerland (first and second generation), we examine how four dimensions of transnational practices and relations —return intentions, social, political, and economic ties—relate to identification with the country of residence (CoR) and the country of origin (CoO). Unlike previous research, that has often led to inconclusive findings, we study different dimensions of transnational engagement and their heterogenous logics separately in their relation to both the identification with the CoO and the CoR based on representative data. Our findings demonstrate that the diverse dimensions of transnational activities and relations differ in their association with identification. This underscores the need to analytically separate these dimensions. In addition, several of these dimensions covary with identification with the CoO, but only one clearly covaries with identification with the CoR. This indicates that transnational engagement with the CoO and integration into the CoR are to a considerable extent, different worlds for intra-European migrants.