Truck drivers and intermediaries of migration between Central Asia and the EU

Migration from Central Asia to European Union (EU) countries has increased rapidly over the past years. Intermediaries play an important role in this migration. This paper focuses on migrant truck drivers from Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan in the EU and their experiences with intermediaries, which may be acquaintances willing to help in the search for occupation abroad, organized informal brokers, or licensed agencies. Thematic analysis of 20 interviews with truck drivers shows that their experiences with intermediaries are influenced by infrastructural constraints, but that there is also a degree of self-organization through digital means on the part of the drivers. By sharing information and advice through social media channels, workers help newcomers bypass business-oriented intermediation. This is made possible by the high labour demand for this profession, by the availability of alternative intermediaries, and by the workers’ ability to find independent sources to finance migration. We conclude that migrants’ experiences with intermediaries on the new corridor between Central Asia and the EU are shaped by contextual factors. Those factors are connected to the characteristics of the social networks in which both migrants and intermediaries are embedded, and to the distribution of resources within the social networks.