‘The Concept of a Better Life’: The Transit of Bangladeshi Migrants to the Schengen Area via Central and Eastern Europe

Abstract

This article investigates recent patterns of Bangladeshi migration to Central and Eastern Europe (CEE), focusing on the Czech Republic and Poland as emerging destinations and transit spaces within broader European mobility systems. Drawing on long-term ethnographic research and 74 semi-structured and in-depth interviews conducted in Bangladesh, the Czech Republic, and Poland between 2018 and 2024, the study examines how aspirations, capabilities, and perceptions shape migration trajectories among young, educated Bangladeshis. The findings reveal that contemporary migration is increasingly driven by a middle-class culture of emigration, linked to aspirations for social mobility, security, and freedom. CEE countries are perceived as attainable and affordable entry points to Europe, often serving as temporary stops on the way to Western Europe. Three distinct modes of transit are identified: long-term strategies combining study and employment; interrupted trajectories resulting from debt, unmet expectations, or precarious work; and broker-mediated transits facilitated by recruitment agencies and informal networks. The analysis highlights the central role of intermediaries and digital platforms in shaping migrants' imaginaries and practices, leading to fluid transitions between categories such as student, labour migrant, and asylum seeker. The article argues that CEE countries function simultaneously as destinations and corridors, and that migrants' trajectories are deeply influenced by their moral obligations, indebtedness, and access to capital for mobility. Transit migration should therefore be understood as a dynamic and relational process, reflecting the fragmented and evolving nature of contemporary mobility from Bangladesh to Europe.