The women we interviewed had complex reasons for migrating. It is not sufficient to label women as ‘migrant’, ‘refugee’ or ‘asylum seeker’. Individual stories explain the diverse reasons that force women to leave their countries of origin. The reasons women leave are inexhaustible and often several interrelated situations have led to women seeking to settle in Mid-Ulster.

Many cited personal reasons such as seeking a better way of life, education for their children and wider issues as conflict and violence or poverty and lack of opportunity in the countries they had left. Family reunification was a recurring motivation with women explaining how husbands and other family members had originally arrived in NI first to seek work and to provide for their families in their home countries. Job security and greater opportunities eventually allowed workers to receive settle immigration status and thus the opportunity for family reunion in their new host country.

Women also explained how they wanted to facilitate their children’s access to new educational opportunities and to improve their English language skills. Some of those interviewed also were impacted by the Russian war in Ukraine, the on-going conflict in Syria, related humanitarian crises and violence against women worldwide. Several of the women interviewed arrived in NI under the Syrian Vulnerable Persons Resettlement Scheme and similarly under the Homes for Ukraine scheme, both designed to provide pathways for those fleeing war in their countries and to find safety in the UK and NI.