Journal of China in Global and Comparative Perspectives

Abstract:This article attempts to provide a comparative analysis of new Russian and Chinese skilled immigrants in the United Kingdom. Russia and China share important national economic, political and cultural similarities and differences, which has implications for Russian and Chinese migration patterns and their communities in the UK. Russia and China are widely referred to as being among the BRIC countries, which represent emerging powers in terms of their economic capacity and potential impact on global development. Chinese migration to Europe, although a relatively new trend compared to migration to North America and Australia, has received increasing coverage in the literature. However, little research has specifically focused on Chinese migration to the UK or provided a comprehensive overview of the Chinese immigration community in this country. The phenomenon of Russian migration flows overseas, which resulted from the collapse of the Soviet Union, has also attracted considerable interest among researchers. To our knowledge, however, Russian migrants in the UK have not been thoroughly examined in the literature, and no research has compared China and Russia in relation to corresponding migration patterns in the UK. This paper aims, therefore, to fill a gap in this research area by examining Russian and Chinese migrants in the UK in a comparative perspective. It draws an overall comparison of China and Russia with regard to economic, political and cultural aspects and, based on this, provides an overview of Russian and Chinese migration patterns and analyses similarities and differences between Chinese and Russian immigrant communities in the UK. The article also presents the legal framework of British immigration policies and discusses their implications for non-EU immigrants, including Russian and Chinese, and further explores their future options.