Training, labour and migratory trajectories of skilled Romanians in Spain: key elements explaining successful careers

© 2017, © 2017 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group. Based on a qualitative approach (30 biographical interviews and 30 life satisfaction charts), this paper aims to frame the intra-EU skilled migration patterns into the life course perspective. In addressing this broad aim, the paper focuses on reconstructing the training, labour and migratory trajectories of skilled Romanians with tertiary education acquired in Romania, with previous labour trajectories in Romania, working in Barcelona’s IT, financial and business sectors. By shaping these life trajectories from a retrospective perspective, the paper offers key elements in explaining successful training, labour and migratory careers taking into account the following principles: agency; time and space; life-span development, and the principle of linked lives.