A refugee enters the European Union in Italy and is temporarily housed in Germany. He is then granted asylum and is permanently settled in Sweden. Which of the following describes this type of migration that is facilitated by the European Union’s open border policies?
a) Chain migration within the refugees family and social network
b) guest worker migration based upon the free movement of labor
c) as an internally displaced person within a single state
d) step migration across member states to a final destination
e) as a rural to urban migrant seeking employment opportunities

Explanation:

Step migration is a pattern of migration which was first propounded by Ernst Georg Ravenstein in 1885. He observed that modern migration involves step by step pattern where migrants from rural places slowly moves closer and closer to urban places.

In modern times, transnational migration mostly occurs through step migration. For instance, international students are granted citizenship in the countries where they study if they prove to be skillful and productive. It is a step by step process.

Similarly, permanent citizenship is granted to migrants if they prove to have settled and worked in a member state country of a particular region or union. Here, the refugee entered the European Union in Italy and was housed in Germany for sometime. This shows that he/she has been living in Germany for sometime and therefore, gets asylum and citizenship in Sweden as these countries all belong to the same union and region.

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