Temporariness and Post-migration Adaptation of Chinese Grandparenting Migrants in Singapore

Post-migration adaptation has been one of the major themes in migration studies. Yet, extant studies typically focus on the case of long-term migration and tend to neglect the experience of those who undergo temporary migration. While long-term migrants are expected to acculturate to the host society, temporary migrants have a limited duration of stay in the host society. The framework of acculturation, therefore, might not be applicable to temporary migrants. This might be especially the case for older migrants, as they are often considered a welfare burden to the host society and have gloomy prospect for long-term migration despite their wish to settle down with their children and grandchildren abroad. Drawing on the experiences of 72 Chinese grandparenting migrants in Singapore (41) and Australia (31), this study aims to delineate an alternative approach to understanding the post-migration adaptation experiences of older temporary migrants. We do so by examining their experiences of life as temporary migrants ageing between countries, looking into the key aspects that they have to adapt to the host society albeit their limited period of stay, as well as the constraints they encountered and the strategies they used to cope with that. Moreover, we compare the experiences of grandparenting migrants in Singapore and Australia to reveal how the institutional (immigration regimes and their prospects of long-term migration) and socio-spatial (the demographic composition of the neighbourhood they reside in and accessible co-ethnic networks available) contexts of reception lead to diverse adaptation patterns among older temporary migrants.