Acta geographica Slovenica, 62-1, 2022, 21–36 FROM FLUID MIGRATION TO STABLE CIRCULAR MIGRATION: A CASE STUDY FROM HUNGARY Sándor Illés, Áron Kincses, Péter Simonyi O H T 2. 2. O H T 2. O H T O H T 2. The circular migration system from the Hungarian point of view. S Á N D O R IL LÉ S 62-1_acta49-1.qxd 20.6.2022 10:43 Page 21 Sándor Illés, Áron Kincses, Péter Simonyi, From fluid migration to stable circular migration: A case study from Hungary 22 DOI: https://doi.org/10.3986/AGS.9537 UDC: 911.3:314.15(439) COBISS: 1.01 Sándor Illés,1 Áron Kincses,2, 3 Péter Simonyi1 From fluid migration to stable circular migration: A case study from Hungary ABSTRACT: This article provides insight into long-term international migration flows to Hungary from 2006 to 2012. The article distinguishes territorial systems embedded in migration and circular inflows. It discusses the concept of international circular migration from an inward perspective. Second, it studies the spatial and temporal changes in the structure of first-time international migrants and circulators using unique tables. Finally, it maps circular migration around this new immigration country. The patterns are generated by the practice of international migrants in combination with the migration policies of the receiv- ing governmental actors. It concludes that circulators lend a sort of stability to the immigration system. Based on an analysis of statistical tables, circular immigration flows remained relatively stable even from a spatial perspective. Exploring stability in the context of circular migration is one of the main innovative approaches of this article. KEY WORDS: international migration, circular migration, geographic system, economic crisis, Hungary Od fluidne migracije do stabilne krožne migracije: Študija primera Madžarske POVZETEK: Članek obravnava mednarodne migracijske tokove na Madžarskem od leta 2006 do 2012. Najprej smo opredelili teritorialne sisteme, ki so vključeni v migracijske tokove in podrobneje obravnavali koncept mednarodne krožne migracije. Nato smo na podlagi statističnih podatkov razčlenili prostorske in časovne spremembe v strukturi migrantov, ki so se na Madžarsko priselili prvič in krožnih migrantov. Na koncu smo migracijske tokove prikazali tudi kartografsko. Ugotovili smo, da na vzorce priseljevanja vpliva tako praksa mednarodnih migrantov kot tudi državna imigracijska politika. Raziskava je pokaza- la, da so krožni migracijski tokovi v prostorskem smislu relativno stabilni, s čimer prispevajo k stabilnosti sistema priseljevanja. Raziskovanje stabilnosti v kontekstu krožne migracije je ena glavnih novosti tega članka. KLJUČNE BESEDE: mednarodne migracije, krožne migracije, geografski sistem, gospodarska kriza, Madžarska The article was submitted for publication on January 24th, 2021. Uredništvo je prejelo prispevek 24. januarja 2021. 1 Active Society Foundation, 1095 Budapest, Hungary dr.illes.sandor@gmail.com (https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9436-8719), sapi109@gmail.com 2 University of Miskolc, Institute of World and Regional Economics, Budapest, Hungaryy kincsreg@uni-miskolc.hu (https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9948-9525) 3 Hungarian Central Statistical Office, Budapest, Hungary aron.kincses@ksh.hu (https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9948-9525) 62-1_acta49-1.qxd 20.6.2022 10:43 Page 22 1 Introduction International migration to Hungary was very limited during the communist era. The annual emigration flows of Hungarian citizens fluctuated between three and four thousand people after the 1956 revolution. In parallel, the annual immigration flow ranged between one and two thousand, dominated by return migra- tion. Immigration of foreign citizens was sporadic and mainly came from communist countries due to labor and intermarriage, except for about one thousand refugees from Chile in 1973. In the sense of net inter- national migration, Hungary was a country of emigration (Szoke 1992). Quantitative and qualitative changes began in 1988, after four decades of Hungary’s highly controlled migration regime. Due to the opening of borders and the collapse of communism in central and eastern Europe, the international migration flows took a radical turn. Hungary integrated into the regional and global international migration systems. The initial phase correlated with regional historical events, the col- lapse of East Germany, the last phase of Ceaușescu’s rule in Romania, and the civil wars in the former Yugoslavia. In 1990–1991, the number of foreign immigrants to Hungary reached a peak of ten thousand people annually. After the fall of the Berlin Wall, the emigration of Hungarian citizens to the global west rose sharply, reaching an estimated one hundred thousand people by 2000. The annual influx of foreign citizens fluctuated between fifteen and twenty thousand people in the 1990s. Under the combined influ- ence of immigration and the change of status of foreign residents, more than 150,000 long-term immigrants were living in Hungary at the turn of the millennium. Their share in the total population rose to over 1.5%. All in all, Hungary was classified as both a receiving and transit country, after having been a sending area for a long time (Dövényi and Tóth 2008). From a quantitative point of view, the inflows and outflows continued in a similar way in the first half of the 2000s. Hungary’s accession to the European Union in 2004 generated significant attraction for for- eign immigrants. The share of immigrants increased to 2% within the total Hungarian population. Hungary became one of the new immigration destinations of foreign citizens among the countries of the former East Bloc (Egedy, Kovács and Szabó 2018). The label »new immigration country« pales in comparison (Winders 2014) with the massive emigration flows of Hungarian citizens since 2006 (Gödri, Soltész and Bodacz-Nagy 2014). Paradoxically, the immigration of foreigners has played a substitute role in relation to the country’s population size, but to a lesser extent (Dabasi-Halász et al. 2019). All in all, the change- able nature of migration is having an effect in Hungary as well. This study examines international circular migration using the host country database. Using the migra- tion system approach and cartographic visualization, Hungary is conceptualized as part of the regional and global system, avoiding the approach of the simple national container (Wimmer and Glick Schiller 2002). The general aim of this article is to distinguish territorial subsystems embedded into migration and circulation inflows around Hungary. The specific aim is to quantify the influences of the last major eco- nomic recession on the spatial patterns of circulatory subsystems compared to the pre-crisis period. The following section discusses the concept of international circular migration as a part of human spa- tial circular mobilities using some elements of migration systems theory. The rest of the article is organized as follows: first, the original dataset of international migration is clarified in relation to Hungary, as are the data-processing methods for international circular migration. Second, it analyzes the flows of first-time immigrants and circulators and visualizes circular immigrants (Dodge 2016) from a territorial point of view. Third, it discusses the impact of economic crises on migratory flows in general and their implica- tions for the research findings. Finally, the article concludes by embedding the findings in possible explanatory frameworks and mechanisms. Other related topics, such as integration of immigrants and multilevel gov- ernance of migration, are beyond the scope of this article (King and Lulle 2016; Valenta and Drbohlav 2018; Durnik 2020). 2 Conceptualizing international circular migration First, official statistical data are considered as facts in the form of discrete numbers. Later, the original data are transformed into circular and non-circular data and these new constructions are visualized carto- graphically. Moreover, the results in the maps are recognized as a new quality far from the simple statistical Acta geographica Slovenica, 62-1, 2022 23 62-1_acta49-1.qxd 20.6.2022 10:43 Page 23 Sándor Illés, Áron Kincses, Péter Simonyi, From fluid migration to stable circular migration: A case study from Hungary 24 description and analysis. The maps reflect the complete and comprehensive situation of Hungary’s inter- national circular migration, reflecting the territorial systems around it during two time periods. From the spatial, statistical, and demographic points of view, circulation consists of repeatable events, and the analysis of their parity (the number of times that a given individual migrates, or in other words serial migration) is a solvable problem. Multiple migrations of individuals show systematic features. Even the simplest migration system consists of at least two elements. A return migration, typical of this pattern, necessarily includes the previous migration (Nadler et al. 2016). Multiple moves of individuals link two or more geographical units. When a migrant explores more than one new territory, this is a case of onward or serial migration (Ciobanu 2015). Circular migration involves a system of more than two repeating spa- tial movements by an individual (White 2014). The gross volume of international circular migration has undoubtedly increased, and many new types of circulation have begun to emerge (Czaika and de Haas 2014; Hugo 2014; Górny 2017). However, schol- ars have not yet reached a consensus on how to conceptualize the newly emerging multiple and recurrent migratory and circulatory movements (Skeldon 1997; UNECE 2016). Mobile people do not completely abandon their links with their countries of origin. They develop partial affiliations to their destination coun- try through their work, housing, and other activities that are now part of their lifestyle (King 2002; Williams et al. 2011). Individuals might adopt a strategy of dual or multiple residence. In real life, this settlement strategy involves back-and-forth movements (Skeldon 2012). From a transnational perspective, advocat- ed mainly by anthropologists and sociologists, this type of strategy results in an »in-between« situation for individuals (Glick Schiller and Salazar 2013; Khadria 2013). Scholars of the transnational-translocal nexus, mainly represented by geographers and demographers, emphasize the existence of double or multiple ties rooted in locality (Deshingkar and Farrington 2009; Brickell and Datta 2011; Cresswell and Merriman 2011). Figure 1 illustrates multiple moves by individuals with three and four international migration events. The linked movements show systematic features at the individual level. For a sophisticated concept of circulat- ing spatial movements, we developed the necessary elements of the circulation system from the perspective of the receiving country. The migration system is more than the sum of migration processes; that is, a set of moves associated with each other. The simplest example is the two-center system (Figure 1, part A). In this system, the flows occur between the two centers. In this two-residence case, the first movement is immigration to the destination country, with parity number 1. The return movement to the country of origin is nothing but a simple return migration. However, the next immigration of the same individual to the same receiving country has parity number 2 (in other words, second immigration). These three steps are sufficient for the 2. O H T 2. O H T 2. O H T O H T 2. A B C D Figure 1: The concept of international circular migration from an inward perspective (O = origin country, H = Hungary, T = third country, 2 = second immigration to Hungary). 62-1_acta49-1.qxd 20.6.2022 10:43 Page 24 occurrence of circular migration between two poles. This is the simplest case. Other possible configurations of the circular system with at most two immigrations are drawn in Figure 1, parts B, C, and D. In his seminal work, Akin Magobunje (1970) contributed to migration theory by creating the term migration systems. He dealt with rural–urban migration, and his scope was limited to one continent, Africa. The systems approach was extended to international migrations under the aegis of the United Nations (Kritz et al. 1992). The parts of the systems were countries that were favored by international migration flows. The creation of migration systems was fruitful from both the structuralist and constructivist perspectives (Panke 2018) and, as such, they became popular among geographers and researchers in other disciplines (Skeldon 1997; Hugo 2014). The availability of country-specific international immigration data opens up the possibility of constructing systems at regional, national, and subnational levels. This article explores a new magnet-county system in which we attempt to avoid the drawback of »methodological national- ism« by combining territorial series and mapping visualization (Wimmer and Glick Schiller 2002; Dodge 2016). The variety of real spaces combined with actors and practices (Kis 2019) creates different territo- rial levels of migration systems, which are presented in the concluding section. Unfortunately, few circular movements have been documented quantitatively worldwide, making data collection essential (Parusel 2017; Weber and Saarela 2017). This case study seeks to enrich the knowl- edge of human circulation in a long-term international migration context. The focus is on Hungary as a receiving country and on the inward type of international circular migration of EU citizens and also third- country nationals. Naturally, Hungary is a  unique case and may be an exception among countries worldwide. Nevertheless, its statistical system makes it possible to create a unique macro-level database on international circular migrants and to analyze it. 3 Data and methods The data analyzed below are from the continuous registration system at Hungary’s Immigration and Nationality Office. Those considered immigrants were natural persons with a legal right to residence in Hungary and the intention to stay there for at least one year. This dataset was sent as a national report to international organizations (the United Nations, European Union, and International Organization for Migration). The data- base had an unavoidable limitation. The dataset only contained information on immigrants for administrative reasons and interests. However, its fully comprehensive nature was its main advantage (Illés and Kincses 2018). The innovative feature of the research was the reconstruction of these facts by serial numbers based on the demographic table method (Valkovics 2001). In the absence of a personal identification number, we used multilevel data processing to distinguish the immigrants studied in this article from the first-time immigrants in each year from 2006 to 2012. At the first level of disaggregation, we linked international immigrants with the same last name, first name(s), sex, date of birth, and place of birth. Spelling errors were corrected individually after automation. This was an initial step in identifying circular immigrants. The initial results were separated from the original dataset. In the next stage, we processed the residual dataset. In the second stage, we linked the residual immigrants with the same last name and first name(s) without diacritics on the letters, sex, date of birth, or place of birth. This stage was necessary due to the wide variety of languages and the spelling errors made by the case- workers that recorded the information with or without documents available for inspection. At the third stage, we shortened the last name to the first five letters without any diacritics. At this stage, we excluded the first name(s). This mass was combined with the sex, date of birth, and place of birth information. The next stages did not use the names, but included all other variables. Finally, after the seventh or eighth levels of com- paring the residual datasets, we did not find the same individuals. All in all, we obtained a reconstructed new dataset. In this dataset, the natural persons that returned to Hungary different numbers of times (1+) were identified as first-time immigrants or as international circulators based on the serial numbers (2+). This article also provides empirical evidence from the crisis period of 2009–2012. We use a one-year shift in the crisis interval due to the side effects of reaction time between potentially mobile people. We quantify the impact of the economic crisis on international circular migration relative to the pre-crisis peri- od of 2006–2008, suggesting that the effects of the impact of the economic crisis are embedded in the differences in indicators between periods (Connolly 2012; Kiss 2012). We recognize that structural changes and the consequences of other forces play a role in the development of differences (Darvas 2011; Kocziszky, Acta geographica Slovenica, 62-1, 2022 25 62-1_acta49-1.qxd 20.6.2022 10:43 Page 25 Sándor Illés, Áron Kincses, Péter Simonyi, From fluid migration to stable circular migration: A case study from Hungary Benedek and Szendi 2018). However, according to the literature, the biggest macro force was the effect of the economic crisis (Galgóczi, Leschke and Watt 2012; Roos and Zaun 2016). On the one hand, the upheaval affected the Hungarian population, and on the other hand it happened to internationally mobile people. Moreover, the rapid structural changes from year to year were partially eliminated by adding pre-crisis and downturn years. Given these methodological shortcomings, we interpret the spatial differences (Aalbers 2009) with great caution when separating the spatial systems of international circular migration around Hungary. This article provides a range of information on sending countries that study their own international circular migrants. Further insights into the processes of long-term international circular migration could also be gained from the perspective of sending countries (Moreh 2014). However, it is difficult to measure international circular migration from the perspective of sending countries, and conducting cross-country comparisons (Strockmeijer, de Beer and Dagevos 2019) is even more complicated due to the inherent com- plexity of circulation. One possible solution is for international organizations to collect country-specific data on international circular migration and produce »mirror statistics« that develop the innovative prac- tice of the United Nations (1998) on the simple bipolar flows of international migration. 4 Analysis and cartographic visualization The statistical classification by citizenship and parity (number of entries) shows, in all the time periods studied, that circular migration was typical for citizens of neighboring countries such as Romania, Ukraine, and Serbia. These migrants were mainly from the Hungarian minorities living in these countries (Gödri, Soltész and Bodacz-Nagy 2014). According to Table 2, more than half of the international circular migrants in 2006–2012 originated from Romania (43.6%), Ukraine (9.3%), and Serbia (5.1%). Citizens of western 26 Table 1: Number and share of immigrants (1+) and circulators (2+) by sex in Hungary between 2006 and 2012 (Source: Hungarian Central Statistical Office; authors’ own calculations). Year All immigrants (1+) Circulator (2+) Circulator share (%) Male 2006 10,684 1,820 17.0 2007 12,753 1,904 14.9 2008 20,972 2,321 11.1 2009 14,589 2,150 14.7 2010 13,446 2,433 18.1 2011 12,576 1,901 15.1 2012 11,550 1,665 14.4 Total 96,570 14,194 14.7 Female 2006 8,683 1,536 17.7 2007 9,854 1,560 15.8 2008 14,575 1,766 12.1 2009 10,993 1,686 15.3 2010 10,438 1,799 17.2 2011 9,938 1,453 14.6 2012 8,790 1,274 14.5 Total 73,271 11,074 15.1 Together 2006 19,367 3,356 17.3 2007 22,607 3,464 15.3 2008 35,547 4,087 11.5 2009 25,582 3,836 15.0 2010 23,884 4,232 17.7 2011 22,514 3,354 14.9 2012 20,340 2,939 14.4 Total 169,841 25,268 14.9 62-1_acta49-1.qxd 20.6.2022 10:43 Page 26 Acta geographica Slovenica, 62-1, 2022 27 European countries or other more distant countries rarely returned to Hungary as circular migrants. The exceptions to this pattern are German (4.1%) and Chinese people (5.2%). The inclusion of German citi- zens can be explained by the observation that former Hungarian emigrants and German pensioners moved back and forth between their first and second homes (Illés and Michalkó 2011). The role of Chinese inter- national circular migrants was explained by the emerging Chinese diaspora and was mainly linked to the attraction of the capital, Budapest (Irimiás 2012). The creative industries are mainly located in the Budapest Metropolitan Region. In 2015, 48.3% of the creative and knowledge-intensive firms were located in the capital and its surroundings (Egedy, Kovács and Szabó 2018; Kozina et al., 2019), with a potentially high share of international circulators. The share of US citizens among circulators was 2.9%. These were main- ly amenity-seekers, and work- and healthcare-related circulators, just like multiple Russian and Israeli immigrants (1.8%, 1.1%). Both Turkish (1.3%) and Japanese (1.0%) circulators were strongly connected with an economically active life in Hungary (Hárs 2016). Circulators from Turkey were mainly self-employed people in catering and trade. Japanese citizens were employed in multinational companies. Ethnic Hungarians fluent in Hungarian returned as multiple immigrants from neighboring countries. Their circular migrations functioned as an original solution to the problem of staying in their home coun- try or going to Hungary for work or education. International circular migration, as a repetitive spatial process, has functioned since the 1990s as an effective solution to the situation of Hungarian minorities from neigh- boring countries channeled by the rapid development of transportation (Dövényi and Tóth 2008; Gellér-Lukács 2011; Tóth, Dávid and Vasa 2014). International circular migration mediates between the migrants’ multiple engagements in their home countries and in their destination countries. Table 2: Distribution of international first-time (1) and circular (2–4) immigrants by country of citizenship within each parity of entrance category in Hungary between 2006 and 2012 (%) (Source: Hungarian Central Statistical Office). Citizenship Number of entries 1 2 3 4 Together (2–4) Total Romania 25.0 58.8 29.5 4.7 43.6 27.8 Serbia 8.3 4.0 6.0 7.9 5.1 7.8 Ukraine 8.8 7.5 12.5 11.6 9.3 8.8 Germany 9.5 2.7 3.6 10.2 4.1 8.7 China 5.6 3.8 6.4 9.0 5.2 5.5 Slovakia 4.7 1.5 2.2 4.8 2.2 4.4 United States 3.9 2.0 3.0 6.0 2.9 3.8 Austria 2.4 0.9 0.8 2.4 1.1 2.2 Turkey 2.1 0.8 1.5 3.2 1.3 2.0 Israel 1.3 0.9 1.2 1.9 1.1 1.3 Japan 1.4 0.7 1.1 2.2 1.0 1.3 Russia 1.6 1.5 2.0 2.7 1.8 1.6 Italy 1.2 0.4 0.4 1.3 0.6 1.1 United Kingdom 1.2 0.4 0.6 1.5 0.6 1.2 Croatia 0.7 0.3 0.4 1.0 0.4 0.7 France 1.1 0.3 0.4 1.5 0.5 1.0 Netherlands 1.1 0.2 0.4 1.4 0.4 1.0 Switzerland 0.5 0.2 0.2 0.5 0.2 0.4 Sweden 0.5 0.1 0.2 0.7 0.2 0.5 Norway 0.5 0.6 0.2 0.6 0.5 0.5 Syria 0.2 0.1 0.2 0.4 0.2 0.2 Other 18.3 12.2 27.3 24.7 17.5 18.2 Total 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 Figure 2: Spatial distribution of international circular immigrants to Hungary by country of citizenship between 2006 and 2012 (%) from European countries. p p. 28 Figure 3: Spatial distribution of international circular immigrants to Hungary by country of citizenship between 2006 and 2012 (%) from non-European countries. p p. 29 62-1_acta49-1.qxd 20.6.2022 10:43 Page 27 Sándor Illés, Áron Kincses, Péter Simonyi, From fluid migration to stable circular migration: A case study from Hungary 28 2. 3 0. 5 50 .6 13 .8 6. 6 1 .6 0 .1 0. 2 0. 1 0. 1 0 .9 0. 2 0. 4 0. 4 0. 3 0. 1 0. 5 0 0. 4 0. 3 0. 7 0. 6 0. 8 0. 4 0. 8 0. 6 5. 5 3. 2 1 .3 0 .4 2 .6 1 0 .7 0 .6 0. 7 0. 3 3. 9 – 2. 7 38 .3 – 12 .3 5. 8 – 8 Romania Italy United Kingdom France Sweden Norway Ukraine Slovakia Austria Croatia The Netherlands Switzerland Germany HUNGARY Scale: 1 : 23,500 000 Content by: Sándor Illés Map by: János Horváth , Legend 2006 2008– 2009 2012– Difference 0 210 420 630 840 km Serbia 62-1_acta49-1.qxd 20.6.2022 10:43 Page 28 Acta geographica Slovenica, 62-1, 2022 29 U SA C h in a Ja p an R u ss ia S ca le : 1 : 20 0, 00 0 00 0 C o n te n t b y : S án d o r Il lé s M ap b y : J án o s H o rv át h , L eg en d 2 00 6 20 08 – 20 09 20 12 – D if fe re n ce 0 18 00 36 00 54 00 72 00 k m T u rk ey Is ra el Sy ri a M id d le E as t 5.7 4.9 –0.8 0.6 1.4 0.8 1.9 1.7 –0.2 1.5 3.9 2.4 0.6 1.9 1.3 0.1 0.2 0.1 1.1 1.1 0 62-1_acta49-1.qxd 20.6.2022 10:43 Page 29 Sándor Illés, Áron Kincses, Péter Simonyi, From fluid migration to stable circular migration: A case study from Hungary We have shown the pre-crisis and crisis periods separately on maps in European and global contexts. The red columns in Figure 2 reflect the difference between 2009–2012 and 2006–2008. The share of cir- culators from Romania, Ukraine, Serbia, Russia, and China decreased during the economic recession in Hungary (Figure 2). The share of citizens from the remaining sixteen countries increased under the influ- ence of the downturn. The degree of circularity of individual sending countries to Hungary decreased from Norway, Russia, Ukraine, Romania, and Syria. Citizens from the remaining sixteen countries studied showed an increasing degree of circularity to Hungary during the crises (see Figure 2). Circular migration is most typical for single individuals of productive age from Romania (23.3%), Ukraine (15.6%), and Serbia (9.6%) among the immigrants of each country. Table 3 shows another aspect of circular immigrants from the perspective of the sending country. Individuals circulate primarily within well-established ethnic Hungarian networks. In addition to the main countries of origin, Norway, Russia, China, Israel, Syria, Japan, the United States, and Turkey represent relatively signif- icant shares of circular immigrants among all immigrants to Hungary. The high proportion of circulators among the immigrants from Norway (16.5%) and Syria (12.0%) are consistent with the mass international immigration of doctoral students to Hungary (Császár and Wusching 2016). However, this scope is outside the short-term Erasmus mobilities of university students to Hungary (Teperics and Czimre 2013; Dabasi- Halász et al. 2018). The relatively significant shares of Russian (16.5%), Israeli (12.6%), and US (11.4%) circulants can be seen in the context of the phenomenon of international pension migration to Hungary. However, eco- nomic activity would be the predominant source of international circulators from China (14.1%), Japan (11.5%), and Turkey (10.0%; Galgóczi, Leschke and Watt 2012; Strockmeijer, de Beer and Dagevos 2019). 30 Table 3: Distribution of international first-time (1) and circular (2–4) immigrants by parity of entrance by country of citizenship in Hungary between 2006 and 2012 (%) (Source: Hungarian Central Statistical Office; authors’ calculations). Citizenship Number of entries 1 2 3 4 Together (2–4) Total Romania 76.7 19.5 3.4 0.4 23.3 100.0 Serbia 90.4 4.7 2.5 2.4 9.6 100.0 Ukraine 84.4 7.8 4.6 3.2 15.6 100.0 Germany 93.0 2.8 1.3 2.8 7.0 100.0 China 85.9 6.4 3.7 3.9 14.1 100.0 Slovakia 92.6 3.2 1.6 2.6 7.4 100.0 United States 88.6 5.0 2.6 3.8 11.4 100.0 Austria 92.5 3.8 1.1 2.6 7.5 100.0 Turkey 90.0 3.6 2.5 3.9 10.0 100.0 Israel 87.4 6.1 3.0 3.4 12.6 100.0 Japan 88.5 5.0 2.6 3.9 11.5 100.0 Russia 83.5 8.4 4.0 4.0 16.5 100.0 Italy 92.2 3.8 1.1 2.8 7.8 100.0 United Kingdom 91.9 3.4 1.6 3.1 8.1 100.0 Croatia 90.2 4.2 2.0 3.6 9.8 100.0 France 92.6 2.7 1.2 3.5 7.4 100.0 Netherlands 93.3 2.1 1.2 3.4 6.7 100.0 Switzerland 92.0 3.8 1.3 3.0 8.0 100.0 Sweden 92.7 2.8 1.2 3.3 7.3 100.0 Norway 83.5 11.6 1.5 3.3 16.5 100.0 Syria 88.0 5.0 2.5 4.5 12.0 100.0 Other 85.7 6.2 4.8 3.3 14.3 100.0 Total 85.1 9.2 3.2 2.4 14.9 100.0 Figure 4: Regional distribution of international circular immigrants by country of citizenship in Hungary between 2006 and 2012 (%), from European countries. p p. 31 Figure 5: Regional distribution of international circular immigrants by country of citizenship in Hungary between 2006 and 2012 (%), from non-European countries. p p. 32 62-1_acta49-1.qxd 20.6.2022 10:43 Page 30 Acta geographica Slovenica, 62-1, 2022 31 4. 9 28 .1 23 .5 16 .1 7. 5 6 .0 2. 4 4. 9 2. 3 3. 8 6. 3 7. 3 6. 7 7. 1 8. 5 1. 2 12 .9 – 15 .2 8. 4 4. 6 7. 8 5. 5 8. 4 1. 3 8. 1 3. 2 8. 1 3. 2 8. 4 2. 1 8 .3 2 .3 14 .0 11 .6 8. 4 1. 7 15 .1 7. 6 23 .2 – 0. 3 14 .8 – 1. 3 Romania Italy United Kingdom France Sweden Norway Ukraine Slovakia Austria Croatia The Netherlands Switzerland Germany HUNGARY Scale: 1 : 23,500 000 Content by: Sándor Illés Map by: János Horváth , Legend 2006 2008– 2009 2012– Difference 0 210 420 630 840 km Serbia 62-1_acta49-1.qxd 20.6.2022 10:43 Page 31 Sándor Illés, Áron Kincses, Péter Simonyi, From fluid migration to stable circular migration: A case study from Hungary 32 U SA C h in a Ja p an R u ss ia S ca le : 1 : 20 0, 00 0 00 0 C o n te n t b y : S án d o r Il lé s M ap b y : J án o s H o rv át h , L eg en d 2 00 6 20 08 – 20 09 20 12 – D if fe re n ce 0 18 00 36 00 54 00 72 00 k m Is ra el M id d le E as t T u rk ey Sy ri a 22.3 13.4 –8.9 8.5 12.7 4.2 6.4 15.6 9.2 12.6 15.7 3.1 11.0 14.0 3.0 5.5 12.5 9.0 13.0 11.8 –1.2 62-1_acta49-1.qxd 20.6.2022 10:43 Page 32 In further examining the spatiotemporal patterns of each country, we used two different perspectives. First, we analyzed the circulators from the perspective of Hungary as the receiving country (see Table 2 and Figure 2). However, from the perspective of the sending countries – that is, from the perspective of their own citizens – we obtained a different aspect of the analysis (see Table 3 and Figure 3). The mean- ing of this indicator was the following: the share of circulants in the context of the same national immigrants to Hungary. We can conceptualize this type of indicator as the »degree of circularity.« We visualized the differences between two periods in each country. Based on the directions of change (increase, stagnation, and decrease), some specific groups of countries emerged. According to the increase in frequency of cir- culators within the entire geographical system from both perspectives, the following subsystems crystallized (Figure 3). 1. Growing levels of circularity during the crisis period: a) All European Economic Area (EEA) coun- tries studied in 2006: Germany, Slovakia, Austria, Italy, the United Kingdom, France, the Netherlands, Switzerland, and Sweden; b) Global expansive economies with an immigration tradition: the United States and Israel; c) Global expansive economies with emigration and no immigration traditions: China and Japan; d) Regional expansive economies with an emigration tradition: Turkey; and e) Potential EEA2006 acces- sion countries with Hungarian minorities: Serbia and Croatia. 2. On the other hand, the shares of circulators decreased among the following citizens of countries, which can be described as countries with decreasing circularity to Hungary: a) Romania with decreasing circularity of immigrants to Hungary (either ethnic Hungarians or other Romanian citizens) due to EEA2006 membership (for both subgroups) and the new Hungarian citizenship law (ethnic Hungarians), but the decrease rate of circulators was higher than the decrease rate of first-entry immigrants; b) Ukraine as a third country from the EU perspective, with decreasing circularity of ethnic Hungarian immigrants to Hungary due to the new Hungarian citizenship law, but the decrease rate of first-entry immigrants was lower than the decrease rate of circulators; c) Russia, with a decreasing share of immigrants to Hungary, but with a decreasing degree of circularity in the crisis period; and d) Norway and Syria with relatively small num- ber of immigrants to Hungary with a decreasing degree of circularity. 5 Discussion The economic recession resulted in fewer new immigrants arriving in receiving countries (Çağlar 2013; Domínguez-Mujica, Guerra-Talavera and Parreño-Castellano 2014; Roos and Zaun 2016) and more emi- grants moving to their home countries or onward (Galgóczi, Leschke and Watt 2012; Baláž and Williams 2018). Between 2006 and 2012, 169,841 foreign immigrants arrived in Hungary according to the Continuous Statistical Register. Of these immigrants, 25,268 had already been staying in Hungary with immigrant sta- tus for more than one year. This means that on average of 14.9% of all immigrants were long-term circulators (multiple returnees) that already had personal experience of the country (see Table 1). However, if we dis- tinguish the indicators of the pre-crisis period (14.7%) and the crisis period (15.1%), we conclude that the incidence of circular immigration remained relatively stable under the influence of the decline. According to Figures 2 and 3 above, the level of circular immigration to Hungary became higher in the years of economic recession among Swedish, Dutch, French, German, American, Turkish, Israeli, Chinese, and Japanese. A  moderate increase was observed in the following countries: the United Kingdom, Switzerland, Italy, Austria, Slovakia, Croatia, and Serbia. A narrowing of the gap in indicators took place in Norway, Russia, and Syria. Two quasi-massive exceptions to this general growth pattern could be found in the neighboring countries with Hungarian minorities, where we did not measure the so-called crisis resistance, in combination with the spatial resilience of economic upheaval: Romania and Ukraine. In 2011, the new citizenship law was introduced, which made it easier for ethnic Hungarians living near the bor- der, especially in Romania, Ukraine, Serbia, Croatia, Slovenia, and Austria, to acquire Hungarian citizenship. Due to this new legal regulation, many potential and actual migrants and actual newcomers from these coun- tries became Hungarian citizens. The status upgrade from foreigner to citizen was a rational individual choice among ethnic Hungarians. However, the practice of individual status change reduced the likelihood of becom- ing international migrants and circulators from a legal perspective in Hungary. Thus, the new Hungarian citizens fell outside the scope of international migration statistics, which, based on the United Nations rec- ommendations (United Nations 1998), covered only foreign nationals. It is likely that the annual proportions Acta geographica Slovenica, 62-1, 2022 33 62-1_acta49-1.qxd 20.6.2022 10:43 Page 33 Sándor Illés, Áron Kincses, Péter Simonyi, From fluid migration to stable circular migration: A case study from Hungary of circulators would not have decreased since 2011 if the new citizenship regime had not been introduced by the Hungarian government (Çağlar 2013). The international circular migrants that came to Hungary from various countries were partly resis- tant to migrating out of Hungary and they were resilient to returning to Hungary (Michalkó et al. 2014; Zsótér and Kaliczka 2014). Stability in international circular migration processes was strongly correlated with the specific capital and knowledge migrants acquired through their previous immigrations (Kaufmann, Dubois and Ravalet 2018; Illés and Kincses 2018). 6 Conclusion This article studied a specific population subgroup from the global, regional, and national perspectives: people with immigrant status in Hungary. We separated immigrants into two parts: first-time (»pioneer«) immigrants and multiple immigrants (circulators) during the pre-crisis and crisis periods. A slight increase in circulators was measured (from 14.7% to 15.1%). We concluded that circulators’ resilience to the neg- ative consequences of crises was higher than that of pioneer immigrants. In other words, circulators lent a kind of stability to all immigrants. According to the analysis of statistical tables, circulatory immigra- tion flows also remained relatively stable in spatial terms. Exploring stability in the context of circular migration was one of the main innovations of this article. We mapped the circular systems around Hungary with cartographic representations at the global, region- al, and national levels. We pointed out that spatially and temporally stable circular patterns developed around Hungary as a new immigration destination with a short history of immigration flows. We distinguished many subsystems depending on the direction of quantitative changes, according to the nationality of cir- culators: a) countries with globally expansive economies; b) countries with regionally expansive economies far from Hungary; c) some EEA member states with weak force of geographical distance dependence; d) regionally expansive countries geographically close to Hungary; and e) neighboring countries with eth- nic Hungarian minorities and some special countries. 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