Pathways to occupational inclusion in host societies

Abstract Immigrants’ access to relevant jobs is crucial for social integration and better life chances. For migrants in regulated professions, occupational reintegration depends on accreditation of previous learning by national, sectorial authorities. These migrants face complex systems that both enable and hinder occupational reintegration. In this article, we examine skilled migrants’ pathways to their vocations in Norway and Sweden, with a special emphasis on the role of bridging programmes to this end. Our analysis is based on interviews with migrants who have enrolled in or completed occupational requalification programmes. We explore how institutional opportunity structures shape their access to their professions and use four case portraits to illustrate how programme pre-requisites, timing, location and life-circumstances affect participation, and how such programmes are adapted to the candidates’ life situations. The portraits also show how the two countries offer varying support for reacredditation: Norway’s system appears more formalized and less integrated across immigration statuses compared with the Swedish system. Migrants in both countries call for a more systematic and coordinated intersectoral approach from public authorities to facilitate access to licensed occupations.