Temporality and acquiescent immobility among aspiring nurse migrants in the Philippines

Abstract

While there is a considerable literature on how people decide to move from their places of origin, few studies have examined how aspiring migrants cope with immobility and eventually decide to let go of their migration aspirations. This paper uses the lens of migration temporalities to show how Filipino nurses unable to emigrate overseas eventually chose to remain in the Philippines. In particular, we discuss how nurses formulated these decisions as they experienced different forms of temporality: from an optimistic period of ‘becoming a migrant’ in nursing school to the precarious temporality of building work experience in a context of staggered employment and short-term contracts. We discuss how interviewees who chose to let go of their migration aspirations came to view emigration in temporal terms as well: a short-term venture which may bring ‘quick’ benefits yet provide little opportunity for long term stability. We conclude the paper with a discussion of how a focus on time and temporalities can further complicate the discussion on immobility.