Exploring links between internal and international migration in albania: A view from internal migrants

Over the last 20years, Albania has experienced sweeping economic and social changes, caused in part by increasing internal and international migration flows. Migration trajectories of Albanians represent a combination of internal, international, and returnmigration. Whereas scholars have previously focused mainly on internationalmigration, the current research explores the dynamics between internal and internationalmigration. Typically, the internal migration of a family is supported, psychologically and financially, by the internationalmigration of other household members. This paper reports on the influence that social and economic remittances have on the livelihoods of internalmigrants. Using an ethnographic approach, financial and social remittances were shown to improve internal migrants’ quality of life, assisting their adjustment process.