Hein de Haas studied at the University of Amsterdam, where he obtained an undergraduate degree in anthropology in 1989 and a M.A. degree in environmental and social geography in 1995, and at the University of Nijmegen, where he acquired a Ph.D. in social sciences in 2003. From 1998 to 2005, De Haas worked as a postdoctoral researcher and lecturer in Nijmegen and Amsterdam, including a position as visiting scholar at the American University of Cairo. In 2006, De Haas became a founding member and - from 2011-16 - a co-director of the International Migration Institute at Oxford University. Since 2015, De Haas has been a Professor of Sociology at the University of Amsterdam, in addition to a position as Extraordinary Professor of Migration and Development at the University of Maastricht/United Nations University. In terms of editorial duties, he e.g. sits on the editorial board of Migration Studies.
Research
Hein de Haas' research covers a broad range of issues related to migration and development, including the determinants of migration, migration policies, and the linkages between migration and development, transnationalism and rural-urban transformations, with particular emphasis on the Middle East and Africa.
Research on the determinants of migration and migration policies
In his research, Hein de Haas repeatedly emphasized the key role of Europe's demand for cheap migrant labour in informal sectors as a main determinant for migration from Africa to Europe and characterized migration as "inevitable". More recently, De Haas has drawn attention to the importance of migration processes' internal dynamics in general and the indirect feedback dynamics affect both countries of origin and destination. Hein de Haas conceptualizes the effects of migration policies as a set of stated policy objectives and corresponding laws, regulations and measures whose implementation affects the direction, volume, composition and timing of migration. The effectiveness of these policies is mitigated by gaps regarding their implementation and efficacy, with a further discursive gap persisting between the public policy discourse on migration and the policies that are actually set. Within that framework, the effect of restrictive immigration policies is reduced by migrants' diversion to less restrictive countries, migrants' diversion to less restricted channels of immigration, "now or never" migration based on expectations on upcoming restrictions, and decreases in return migration flows due to restrictions on circular migration. In particular, Haas and Mathias Czaika have questioned the effectiveness of immigration policies in e.g. reducing the number of immigrants, arguing that their effects are often dwarved and overcompensated by non-migration policies, and may have unintended effects; for instance, the restriction of immigration through travel visa policies not only significantly decreases immigration but also return migration of existing immigrants.
Research on migration and development, transnationalism and rural-urban transformation
De Haas' research has emphasized the positive role that migrants' remittances can play in communities' development, e.g. in southern Morocco, as well as in financing social development,. At the same time, De Haas has also criticized bad investment environments and especially restrictions on circular migration for keeping remittances' potential from being fully realized and warned against celebrations of migration as "self-help development 'from below'", as this perspective draws away attention from the structural constraints faced by many developing countries and their governments' responsibility to address them. Instead, De Haas has argued for politics' engagement of diasporas with regard to supporting the development of their countries of origin. Based on the example of Morocco, De Haas has also studied the transition of migration patterns, their adaptation to and circumvention of immigration restrictions, and the scenario for countries to become simultaneously a source and a destination of migration. With regard to the link between migration and development, De Haas has been notably critical of the notion that the socioeconomic development of countries with net emigration rates will decrease migration, arguing instead that - at least in the short and medium term - such development tends to increase people's ability and desire to emigrate. De Haas has also been critical of the idea that migration is accelerating, pointing instead - in work with Czaika - to changes in the nature and direction of migration, with most emigration in the early 21st century originating from non-European countries and being directed at a shrinking number of destination countries, thereby reflecting globalization patterns. In recent research on immigrants' return migration intentions, De Haas and Tineke Fokkema find that these intentions decrease in their sociocultural integration, whereas economic integration and transnational ties have more ambiguous and sometimes postivie effects.
Political views
Since the mid-2000s, Hein de Haas has criticized restrictive immigration policies and described migration as "inevitable". More recently, Hein de Haas has criticized that "much conventional thinking about migration is based on myths rather than facts",, arguing that - in the face of "systematic demand for labor migration or conflict in origin countries" - "to a certain extent, migration is inevitable". Hein de Haas has been openly critical of the inability of EU Member States to agree on a response as well as of the incompatibility between economic liberalization and labour market deregulation on one hand and calls for less migration on the other.
