Transnational grandparent migration and care-giving: a systematic scoping review

Abstract

Grandparents are increasingly participating in international migration to resettle with or visit adult children and grandchildren living overseas. In doing so, they make important social, cultural, emotional and financial contributions to transnational families, in particular through providing unpaid childcare and domestic work. This scoping review aims to examine the extent, range and nature of studies on transnational grandparent migration and care-giving to provide an overview of existing research. The review was conducted in August 2022, following Arksey and O’Malley’s scoping review methodology. Of 2,099 sources identified using nine databases, supplemented with manual searching (including grey literature), 65 (qualitative, quantitative and mixed-methods) studies conducted between 2000 and 2022 were deemed relevant for inclusion. A descriptive analysis of study characteristics details the author(s), the (year) and the type of publication; the study population and sample size; the research objectives; the research methods; and the sending and receiving places. A thematic analysis of these studies identified key themes, including study characteristics, typologies of transnational migrant grandparents, their family roles and contributions, the uses of information and communication technologies in supporting migrant grandparents’ transnational lives, benefits gained from migration, challenges faced and strategies employed in response. The article concludes that grandparents make significant contributions to transnational families and host economies, but their roles and challenges are overlooked in national and transnational (supra-national) policies. Future research should explore the ethics of migration programmes aimed towards migrant grandparents as well as effective measures to assist grandparents to age well in transnational mobility.

Introduction

There is a significant literature that highlights the role of globalisation, internationally integrated labour markets and the commodification of international education in driving the migration of younger people for study and work (see Lee et al. 2014; Noronha-Barrett et al. 2019; Repetti et al. 2021; Triandafyllidou 2018). These trends towards increased global mobility have unsurprisingly resulted in ever-increasing numbers of older adults also moving internationally to reunite with children and descendants settled overseas. Grandparent migration is a phenomenon that has increased in frequency and complexity over recent decades, involving many kinds of short- and long-term movements away from the countries of birth where these older people have lived most of their lives (King et al. 2017). This review demonstrates that older migrants have become the subject of increasing academic interest, although they continue to receive less attention in migration policy than the younger and middle-aged cohorts who engage in labour and skilled migration and who are, therefore, targeted by receiving countries (Crock 2001; Hawthorne 2005; Hugo 2014). Older migrants are typically characterised as a potential economic burden to receiving countries, and their significant contributions, especially their domestic labour in the form of unpaid child care-giving and housework, are largely unrecognised (Braedley et al. 2019; Calasanti and Repetti 2021).

Research, policy and practice in destination countries with established patterns of immigration have long engaged with the ageing experiences of older migrants who arrived in their younger years and have grown old there (Khoo et al. 2011; King et al. 2017; Warnes and Williams 2006). This work has focused on ‘migrant settlement’, including challenges of integration and intergenerational conflict, as well as issues related to service delivery and social support, in particular the provision of culturally appropriate care (Cela and Barbiano Di Belgiojoso 2021; Hugo and Thomas 2002; Thomas 1999, 2003; Warnes et al. 2004). The literature also includes a large body of research on grandparents who remain in the sending countries (e.g. see Ariadi et al. 2019; Evandrou et al. 2017; Thapa et al. 2020; Zickgraf 2017), including a systematic review on transnational care-giving of older ‘left-behind’ parents (Miyawaki and Hooyman 2023). However, the experiences of people whose initial migrations occur in later life, including grandparents, and who engage in care exchange with their migrant descendants in the receiving countries, have until recently received far less attention. These older adults do not remain permanently in the home country but instead become ‘flying grannies’ – the grandparents who either temporarily visit or permanently relocate to the receiving countries to provide and/or receive care and support to/from their descendants (Hamilton, Kintominas et al. 2021; King et al. 2014; Plaza 2000; Ran and Liu 2021; Subramaniam 2019; Wyss and Nedelcu 2018).

To date, there has been no systematic or scoping review of literature that summarises and synthesises migrant grandparents’ transnational lived experiences (e.g. their roles, contributions, benefits gained and constraints faced). In order to address this gap, we opted to conduct a scoping review (rather than other types of knowledge synthesis, e.g. systematic review) because this is the first study to scope out the studies relating to the ‘transnational migrant grandparent’ phenomenon, rather than to synthesise knowledge relating to specific research questions. Our objective is to identify what aspects of the transnational grandparent migration phenomenon have been examined; how migrant grandparents are classified in migration and ageing scholarship; and what research gaps exist. This scoping review provides both a descriptive and a thematic analysis of empirical studies (published books, book chapters and journal articles) and grey literature (published conference proceedings, published theses, government reports, research reports, policy reviews, newspapers and magazine articles and news) on transnational grandparent migration and care-giving to highlight key themes and identify gaps.

Methods and procedures

This review of transnational grandparenting is conducted at a time when the rapid proliferation of new publications on this topic indicates the emergence of an exciting new subfield within transnational family studies. Following a scoping review methodology introduced by Arksey and O’Malley (2005), this review used five stages of their six-stage process to comprehensively and systematically map the extent, range and nature of research relevant to transnational grandparent migration and care-giving. Stage 6 of the review process was not included because transnational grandparenting does not involve practitioners and consumers in the same way as do health research topics. Other scoping reviews on topics that do not involve practitioners and consumers frequently omit this stage (e.g. see Hafford-Letchfield et al. 2022). For the purposes of this review, we define transnational grandparents as older migrants who engage in mobility with the primary aim of care-giving and grandparenting for their adult children and grandchildren.

Stage 1: identifying the research question

Effective systematic scoping reviews require predetermined research questions that permit a focused review of a particular field and inform deductive thematic analysis of included sources (Peters et al. 2015). Through careful consideration and discussion, the authors determined the main and subsidiary research questions detailed in Table 1.

Table 1. Research questions

Stage 2: identifying relevant studies

Nine databases were searched, namely Web of Science, Scopus, ProQuest, SocIndex, Medline, PsycInfo, Academic Search Complete, Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI) and CINAHL Plus. In consultation with a senior librarian, each database was determined to meet three criteria, having been assessed as including: (i) at least three of the most cited sources relevant to the topic; (ii) multi-disciplinary research; and (iii) academic and non-academic sources.

The nine databases were searched using keywords identified from the main research question following a PICo (Population, phenomenon of Interest, Context) formula (Stern et al. 2014), as illustrated in Table 2.

Table 2. Keywords for systematic database searches

Database searching and screening in August 2022 with no limitation on the earliest date of publication returned 2,063 sources. Figure 1 illustrates the total number of sources identified in each database. Systematic searches of these databases were supplemented with manual searches (screening of the reference lists of studies found through database searches and hand-searching of key journals) to identify missing relevant academic sources. Manual searches also included grey literature searches (research reports, policy reviews, newspaper and magazine articles and news) using Google Search. In total, manual searches returned an additional 36 data sources for the scoping review.

Figure 1. Flow diagram of the review process for searched and selected data sources.

Stage 3: selecting studies for inclusion

Once the sources were compiled in EndNote, the first author removed 989 duplicate entries through automatic identification of duplicates and manual case-by-case checking and confirmation. The first author then manually screened the remaining 1,110 sources, first by title, then by abstract, and finally by full text. Irrelevant sources were removed at each stage. The second author reviewed the list of papers excluded at each stage in the screening process. The full author team met to discuss the results of each stage of the screening process, including any queries raised by the second author. Suitability for inclusion was assessed using predetermined criteria (see Table 3). Where sources were excluded during full-text screening, reasons were recorded and tabled for discussion among all three authors.

Table 3. Screening criteria

After the three-step screening process was completed, 65 sources were deemed relevant for inclusion in this review. Figure 1 details the number of sources excluded at each stage of screening.

Stage 4: charting the data

The remaining 65 selected texts were coded by author(s), type and year of publication; study population and sample size; research objectives; research methods; and geographical contexts (sending and receiving places) in NVivo 12. The first author engaged in coding and charting the data. Then the second and third authors cross-checked the charting process. Study characteristics are reported in the results section of this paper.

Stage 5: summarising and reporting

The 65 texts were further subjected to qualitative thematic coding. Initial codes were developed from the research questions that informed this scoping review with the participation of all three co-authors. In addition to this deductive approach, further themes were identified through inductive content analysis (Arksey and O’Malley 2005) by the first author. All identified themes and subthemes were then thoroughly discussed and refined by all three co-authors (see Appendix 2 for details of this stage).

Results

In addition to a descriptive analysis of study characteristics, the results of the scoping review are reported under five main themes identified in the thematic analysis: (i) typologies of transnational migrant grandparents; (ii) family roles and contributions of migrant grandparents; (iii) digital communication technologies supporting migrant grandparents’ transnational lives; (iv) benefits gained by migrant grandparents; and (v) challenges faced by migrant grandparents and strategies employed in response. The number of included citations contributing to each of these themes is reported in Table 5.

Descriptive analysis: study characteristics

Transnational grandparent migration and care-giving is a relatively new field of study. Although research spans two decades, findings show that this phenomenon has received significantly more attention since 2010. Of the 65 full texts selected for inclusion, 10 studies were conducted between 2000 and 2009, while the remaining 55 took place between 2010 and 2022; 51 are peer-reviewed articles, books and book chapters while the remaining 14 are grey literature, including master’s theses, PhD dissertations, newspaper articles, policy briefs and reports. Table 4 summarises the characteristics of the studies included in this review.

Table 4. Characteristics of selected studies

Table 5. Number of included studies contributing to each theme reported in the findings

Data sources and sample size

Most studies included in this review focused on exploring the perspectives of migrant grandparents (n = 30). Twenty-three studies (n = 23) investigated the perspectives of multi-generational members in transnational families (either grandparents and/or parents and/or grandchildren). The findings were informed by the immigration policies of receiving countries (n = 10) or national survey data (n = 2).

Research methods

Qualitative research methods predominate, including empirical studies based on interviews and focus groups (n = 44), as well as analyses of secondary data and existing policies (n = 13). Only five empirical studies used quantitative methods (questionnaires), while three used mixed methods (both questionnaires and interviews).

Geographical contexts

The receiving countries featured in the relevant papers differ significantly from the sending countries (see Figures 2 and 3). Almost all papers addressed grandparenting migration to Europe (10 countries, total n = 21), North America (2 countries, total n = 29) or Oceania (2 countries, total n = 18). The three receiving countries most frequently featured in the selected papers are the US (n = 16), Australia (n = 16) and Canada (13). Singapore (n = 3) and Korea (n = 1) were the only two Asian countries that were included as destination contexts, while South Africa (n = 1) was the only country in Africa.

Figure 2. Distribution of receiving places in included citations.

Figure 3. Distribution of sending places in included citations.

In contrast, grandparent migrants from a wide range of sending countries were considered in these studies, located on all continents. The greatest number of sending countries featured are in Asia (15 countries, total n = 35). China is the sending nation most frequently featured in the relevant literature (n = 21). It is important to note that there is a concentration of migration scholarship in the destination countries featured and this may partly be explained by our exclusion of sources in languages other than English from this review. Due to a lack of studies, we have no way of knowing if the receiving countries featured in the studies included in this review in fact attract more grandparent migrants than other countries.

Typologies of transnational migrant grandparents

Studies included in this review have developed various labels and categories to explain the phenomenon of transnational migrant grandparents with reference to: (i) migration trajectories and migrant generation; (ii) grandparenting and care-giving roles; and (iii) migration status.

Nine sources describe transnational grandparents with reference to their migration trajectories and migrant generations. Terms developed to describe these include ‘international flying grannies’, ‘frequent flyer grannies’ whereby children and grandchildren reside in more than one country (Plaza 2000), ‘migrant grannies’ (Hamilton, Kintominas et al. 2021), ‘seniors on the move’ (Treas and Mazumdar 2004), ‘first generation circular migrant grandparents’ (Tezcan 2021) and ‘floating grandmothers’ (Bojarczuk and Muhlau 2018). Moreover, King et al. (2014), Wyss and Nedelcu (2020) and Wyss and Nedelcu (2018) use the term ‘zero generation’ to define transnational grandparents who visit first-generation migrant children and second-generation grandchildren to co-reside with them for varying amounts of time, highlighting the extent of the migration histories over time as well as the intergenerational dimensions of transnational households.

Eight sources categorise and/or describe transnational grandparents with reference to their grandparenting and care-giving roles. Wyss and Nedelcu (2018: 180) classified four overlapping types of transnational grandparents who engaged in: (i) mothering the mother and celebrating the birth of a child (family support in childbirth); (ii) urgent support for a childcare gap (temporary childcare); (iii) mother’s substitutes at home (full and permanent childcare and family support); and (iv) enjoying and being together (intergenerational care and support). Other sources similarly offer typologies of older migrants defined by the care they provide, such as ‘visiting older parents offering grandchild care’, ‘visiting older parent not offering grandchild care’ or ‘non-visiting older parents’ (Hărăguş and Ionuţ 2020), ‘childcare providers’ and ‘socialization agents’ for grandchildren (King et al. 2014), ‘transmitters’ of home cultural and family values to the younger generation (Da 2003; Treas and Mazumdar 2004) and ‘babysitters’ (Marchetti-Mercer et al. 2021). Chiu and Ho (2020) describe grandparents as a ‘reserve army’ that supplies unpaid reproductive labour to facilitate their adult migrant children’s economic productivity. Finally, Lamas-Abraira (2019) conceptualises transnational grandparents and great-grandparents as both ‘carers’ and ‘care recipients’ who are engaged in care exchanges with their migrant descendants.

A further approach to categorising transnational grandparents identified in four of the included sources was with reference to migration status in relation to receiving countries’ migration policies and visa regimes. Zhou (2019) classified migrant grandparents in Canada into three typologies: (i) Canadian visitor visa holders; (ii) Canadian permanent residents; and (iii) naturalised Canadian citizens. A more nuanced approach from Treas (2008b) suggests that three types of older migrant adult in the United States (temporary visitors, permanent US residents and naturalised US citizens) may, in fact, be better understood as ‘permanent visitors’, ‘permanent residents who are not permanent’ and ‘US citizens who naturalised to maintain ties to another country’. This indicates that the lived experiences and legal statuses of migrant grandparents do not necessarily align. In another study of immigrant families in the USA, Treas (2008a) termed older, foreign-born adults ‘older newcomers’ who either stay permanently or visit their migrant families from their residence elsewhere. Another emerging category of transnational grandparent migration is ‘left-behind’ older parents in the country of destination, which refers to the older people who followed their migrant children under family reunification programmes but then are ‘left behind’ in the host country when their descendants remigrate to a third country (Ran and Liu 2021).

Family roles and contributions of migrant grandparents

The literature includes extensive consideration of the family roles and contributions of transnational migrant grandparents. Seven distinct family roles were identified in our analysis: child carer, housekeeper, financial contributor, facilitator of female workforce participation, emotional supporter, kin-keeper and gatekeeper of morality and home culture.

Child carers

Transnational migrant grandparents’ role as providers of care to grandchildren has been extensively covered; 34 sources address this topic. Apart from caring for grandchildren, other forms of care featured were care at exceptional times, including around the time of a new birth (De Silva 2018; Lie 2010; Marchetti-Mercer et al. 2021; Subramaniam 2019; Torres and Cao 2018; Williams 2015; Wyss and Nedelcu 2018; Zhou 2012, 2013), during adult children’s divorces and to support single mothers (Subramaniam 2019; Treas 2008b), for school holidays (Williams 2015; Wyss and Nedelcu 2018), during illness episodes (Plaza 2000; Treas 2008a, 2008b; Zhou 2013) and to support study (e.g. thesis writing) (Zhou 2013, 2019). Many grandparents (especially grandmothers) routinely provide short- or long-term care for their grandchildren during infancy or pre-kindergarten stages (Akinjinmi 2021; Askola 2016a; Bojarczuk and Muhlau 2018; Chiu and Ho 2020; De Silva 2018; Hamilton et al. 2018; Hamilton, Hill et al. 2021; Hamilton, Kintominas et al. 2021; Hărăguş and Ionuţ 2020; Kim 2012; Lin et al. 2020; Marchetti-Mercer et al. 2021; Sohn 2007; Teng 2019; Treas 2008a; Treas and Mazumdar 2002, 2004; Williams 2015; Wyss and Nedelcu 2018; Zhou 2012, 2013, 2015).

Transnational grandparents become critical sources of hands-on practical childcare, especially when working-age descendants face a ‘care deficit’ in developed countries of destination where state care increasingly fails to meet the care needs of families, including for children (Hamilton, Kintominas et al. 2021), and expensive childcare costs are prohibitive (Askola 2016a; Hamilton et al. 2018; Hamilton, Hill et al. 2021; Spitzer 2018; Torres and Cao 2018; Zhou 2012). Some transnational grandparents consider intergenerational childcare to be a cultural norm, obliging them to help adult children (Akinjinmi 2021; Da 2003; Plaza 2000; Shih 2012; Subramaniam 2019; Tezcan 2021; Treas and Mazumdar 2004; Wyss and Nedelcu 2018; Zhou 2012). In many studies, childcare is reported to be understood as a moral duty that grandparents should fulfil to support their adult children’s migration, settlement or overseas studies (Craig et al. 2019; Hamilton, Hill et al. 2021; Hamilton, Kintominas et al. 2021; Hărăguş and Ionuţ 2020; Tezcan 2021).

Housekeepers

Transnational migrant grandparents’ roles as housekeepers are also highlighted; 28 sources detail domestic chores, such as cooking, cleaning, laundry, gardening, home furniture and auto repairs, and shopping, that are performed by grandparents to enable their adult children and grandchildren to devote more time to study and paid work (Bojarczuk and Muhlau 2018; Chiu and Ho 2020; Hamilton et al. 2018; Horn 2019; Lamas-Abraira 2019; Marchetti-Mercer et al. 2021; Ran and Liu 2021; Shankar 2003; Shih 2012; Sohn 2007; Torres and Cao 2018; Treas 2008a, 2008b; Zhou 2015, 2019). As with unpaid childcare, providing domestic support is understood as older parents’ obligations to support the settlement and social mobility of their migrant adult children in the host society (Ran and Liu 2021; Zhou 2019).

A significant finding is that 19 studies highlight gendered disparities in migrant grandparenting where grandmothers (as opposed to grandfathers) take a primary role in care-giving and unpaid domestic labour (Askola 2016a; Braedley et al. 2019; Hamilton, Hill et al. 2021; Hamilton, Kintominas et al. 2021; Hărăguş and Ionuţ 2020; Lamas-Abraira 2019; Nesteruk and Marks 2009; Shankar 2003; Shih 2012; Sohn 2007; Subramaniam 2019; Sun 2014; Tian 2016; Timonen 2019; Treas and Mazumdar 2002). While some research shows that grandfathers also engage in transnational care-giving, sharing the role with wives or becoming the main carers after their wives pass away (Hamilton, Hill et al. 2021; Sohn 2007; Subramaniam 2019; Sun 2014; Timonen 2019; Wyss and Nedelcu 2018), gendered roles are manifested through different kinds of care and domestic work performed by grandparenting couples. Grandmothers are principally engaged in cooking, cleaning and physical care tasks, while grandfathers more typically perform talk-based or play-based social care for grandchildren, as well as transporting them to school or taking them out for recreational, sporting and social activities (Bojarczuk and Muhlau 2018; Craig et al. 2019; Subramaniam 2019; Tian 2016; Zhou 2015). Gendered expectations around caring and domestic roles are therefore perpetuated in transnational family contexts, even where grandparents move from more patriarchal systems in their home countries to countries with greater gender equality (Sun 2014). This can create disproportionate care burdens for migrant grandmothers, who may prioritise care obligations as this aligns with their social and cultural beliefs.

Financial contributors

Eleven papers consider how transnational families benefit financially from migrant grandparents performing both paid and unpaid work. Migrant grandparents increase the household incomes of their extended families, significantly relieving financial constraints for their adult children during their migration and settlement processes (Plaza 2000; Shih 2012; Sohn 2007; Subramaniam 2019). Grandparents may take on casual jobs to earn extra income and engage in income-generating activities to reduce family expenses, such as growing vegetables, recycling aluminium cans, upcycling furniture, shopping at thrift stores and shopping for second-hand school uniforms (Horn 2017; Treas 2008a, 2008b). Some grandparents buy their own air tickets and overseas health insurance, not wanting their visits to burden their adult children, or may contribute financially towards large purchases like a house or car (Zhou 2013). Unpaid labour in the form of childcare and housekeeping supports the workforce participation of adult children, thereby generating more income for the household while also reducing expensive formal childcare fees (Ran and Liu 2021; Zhou 2019). These grandparents are acting as a ‘social safety net’ by providing direct financial support, doing unpaid work, contributing to savings and/or engaging in effective financial management to help their migrant adult children save family expenses (Plaza 2000; Tezcan 2021; Treas 2008b).

Facilitators of female workforce participation

Relatedly, 18 sources consider how grandparents’, in particular grandmothers’, provision of domestic work and childcare supports migrant women to engage in paid work, thereby narrowing gender disparities and affecting gendered power dynamics within households. Grandparents’ contributions are crucial in facilitating their children’s, especially women’s, career success (Da 2003; Horn 2019; Plaza 2000; Ran and Liu 2021; Sohn 2007; Subramaniam 2019; Treas and Mazumdar 2004; Wyss and Nedelcu 2018). Female migrants often bear a greater domestic load under gendered cultures of care (Askola 2016a, 2016b; Spitzer 2018; Zhou 2013, 2015); however, migrant grandparents’ supports allow daughters and daughters-in-law to focus on their studies and professional and career development (Da 2003; Horn 2019; Nesteruk and Marks 2009; Zhou 2013, 2015). As a result, migrant women can pursue higher education and secure higher-income jobs, which increases their negotiating power with husbands and male relatives (Hărăguş and Ionuţ 2020; Shankar 2003; Treas 2008a; Wyss and Nedelcu 2020; Zhou 2013, 2015).

Emotional supporters

Seven sources report that grandparents contribute emotional support, which plays an important part in supporting the advancement and successful settlement of their migrant descendants (Baldassar and Wilding 2020; Horn 2017; Wyss and Nedelcu 2018; Zhou 2012). Plaza (2000) regarded grandparents as an emotional ‘anchor’ for their transnational families when facing new challenges overseas. Marchetti-Mercer et al. (2021) regarded grandparents’ visits as an ‘emotional refuelling’ period when family members could meet and care for each other. In particular, Treas (2008a: 42) highlighted the emotional support of grandparents for ‘despondent college students who call home’.

Kin-keepers

Seventeen sources describe the role of transnational grandparents as kin-keepers, sustaining relationships across distance and promoting intergenerational solidarity. Grandparents perform bilateral kin-keeping, connecting migrant descendants to distant kin networks (Baldassar et al. 2022; Treas 2008a). This entails sharing news and photos, travelling to provide care in both contexts, and encouraging endogamous marriages and return migration (Plaza 2000; Tezcan 2021; Treas and Mazumdar 2004; Williams 2015). Apart from promoting kin-keeping back in the homeland, migrant grandparents also maintain intergenerational solidarity within migrant families, building strong relationships with grandchildren, children and affines with whom they may share caring roles (Hărăguş and Ionuţ 2020; Kintominas and Hamilton 2019; Marchetti-Mercer et al. 2021; Nedelcu 2017; Shankar 2003; Shih 2012; Solari 2017; Subramaniam 2019; Williams 2015; Wyss and Nedelcu 2018; Zhang 2009; Zhou 2013). Grandparents may also act as moderators or arbitrators of intra-familial disputes, for example between adult migrant couples (Tezcan 2021).

Gatekeepers of morality and homeland culture

During their time spent living with their grandchildren, migrant grandparents become home educators of language, home culture and religious values and practices, food preparation, family traditions and the etiquette of the home country (Plaza 2000; Shankar 2003; Subramaniam 2019; Tezcan 2021; Torres and Cao 2018; Zhang 2009). Eleven sources detail the importance of this cultural gatekeeper role in migrant families, which includes not only acting as an intergenerational bridge to homeland heritage (Akinjinmi 2021; Subramaniam 2019; Treas 2008a) but also providing moral guidance, supporting grandchildren to make good choices in life (Plaza 2000; Shih 2012; Tian 2016).

Digital communication technologies supporting migrant grandparents’ transnational lives

Information and communication technologies (ICTs) and new media are an emerging theme identified through the findings of this scoping review. Six sources explored how migrant grandparents use digital technologies (Baldassar et al. 2022; Baldassar and Wilding 2020; Ho and Chiu 2020; Nedelcu 2017; Tezcan 2021; Wilding et al. 2022).

The review indicates that migrant grandparents use ICTs to develop a sense of belonging and reduce feelings of separation and absence from distant kin and non-kin (Nedelcu 2017), supporting their adaptation to new life in the host country and their care at a distance (Ho and Chiu 2020). ‘Digital homing’ sustains cultural, ethnic and national identities in the host setting through online practices, consuming homeland media, joining digital and real-world activities with co-ethnic communities and providing or receiving community support through social media (Baldassar et al. 2022; Wilding et al. 2022). ‘Digital kinning’ similarly supports the maintenance of family ties, including developing new network supports established through online practices of care, and highlights the often-critical role of distant support networks (Baldassar and Wilding 2020). Baldassar and Wilding (2020) further explore how digital engagement may help transnational grandparents cope with loneliness, isolation and depression, as well as access informal care through distant and proximate social support networks, maintaining cultural and social identities that can be endangered through processes of ageing and migration. Despite limited research on the topic, ICTs are clearly important to migrant grandparents’ transnational lives.

Benefits gained by migrant grandparents

Aside from supporting their descendants, travelling to join transnational families also benefits grandparents, as indicated in 24 studies. By engaging in transnational migration, grandparents can reunite physically with migrant descendants, including their young grandchildren (Marchetti-Mercer et al. 2021; Zhou 2013). They can receive physical proximate care (Chiu and Ho 2020; De Silva 2018; Lin et al. 2020; Pan et al. 2021; Ran and Liu 2021; Subramaniam 2019; Treas 2008a) as well as financial support and security (De Silva 2018; Shankar 2003; Zhou 2012), and gain contentment through the fulfilment of cultural norms such as cohabitation with children and filial care (Kim 2012; Lin et al. 2020; Pan et al. 2021; Ran and Liu 2021; Subramaniam 2019).

When receiving these forms of care, grandparents may experience great joy, spiritual satisfaction and emotional support from being close to grandchildren and providing intergenerational care (Chiu and Ho 2020; Ho and Chiu 2020; Kim 2012; Lamas-Abraira 2019; Shankar 2003; Shih 2012; Sohn 2007; Wyss and Nedelcu 2018; Zhou 2012). Seeing the younger generation grow up and succeed in a foreign land helps improve mental health and wellbeing in old age (Bojarczuk and Muhlau 2018; Horn 2017; Kim 2012; Nedelcu 2017; Shih 2012; Zhou 2012, 2013, 2019), as does building relationships with and receiving loving affection from grandchilden (Horn 2017; Shankar 2003; Subramaniam 2019).

Grandparents also benefit from care-giving in other, more pragmatic ways. Grandparents may learn the language, driving skills and cultural practices of the receiving country from their grandchildren, allowing them to adapt to life in a foreign land more quickly (Shankar 2003; Shih 2012; Subramaniam 2019; Zhou 2012). They may also gain more negotiating power with their migrant descendants as their care-giving roles facilitate their transition from a relatively dependent, powerless position to one in which they gain respect and companionship (Shankar 2003). Grandparents grow confident in transferring wisdom and experience to the next generation to bring about positive outcomes for their transnational families (Wyss and Nedelcu 2018).

Finally, transnational mobility also provides grandparents with new life experiences and opportunities, in particular enjoying holidays and leisure time overseas (De Silva 2018; Ho and Chiu 2020; Wyss and Nedelcu 2018) and learning new skills, including digital skills, from their family members (Nedelcu 2017). Through these migration trajectories, grandparents may enjoy better living arrangements with fresh air, better weather, safer and more abundant food, cleaner environments and access to good health-care systems and social safety net benefits (Subramaniam 2019; Teng 2019). In some cases, they may become more financially independent (Zhou 2012) and better able to plan strategically for older age, including by reducing their caring roles to invest more time in their own needs (Shankar 2003) or considering paid services, such as home care, residential facilities or hiring domestic help (Ho and Chiu 2020; Kim 2012).

Challenges faced by migrant grandparents and strategies employed in response

Despite the benefits highlighted earlier, many sources emphasise the challenges experienced by migrant grandparents as well as the strategies that they and their families employ to overcome them. These challenges are grouped under six broad themes, namely language barriers, intergenerational conflicts, financial constraints, diminished autonomy and social position, care burden, and policy constraints on grandparents’ mobility and access to social welfare.

Language barriers

The most commonly identified challenge, included in 19 sources, is the barrier to communication posed by migrating to a new country where grandparents do not speak the dominant language (Hamilton, Hill et al. 2021; Ho and Chiu 2020; Lie 2010; Shankar 2003; Shih 2012; Sohn 2007; Subramaniam 2019; Tezcan 2021; Treas 2008a). Language barriers result in a number of other challenges for migrant grandparents, including restricted movement (Shih 2012; Zhou 2012), poor employment opportunities (Hamilton, Kintominas et al. 2021; Shankar 2003; Sohn 2007), limited social engagement and interactions (Sohn 2007; Treas and Mazumdar 2002; Wilding et al. 2022; Zhou 2012), and poor access to social benefits and aged care (Hamilton, Hill et al. 2021), often resulting in diminished autonomy. Language barriers also lead to social isolation when grandparents depend on children and grandchildren for transport and day-to-day interactions (Kim 2012; Treas and Mazumdar 2002; Zhou 2012, 2013) and when younger generations speak the host language rather than the homeland language (Braedley et al. 2019). Moreover, language barriers cause difficulties in accessing health care and aged care services (Teng 2019).

To overcome language barriers, grandparents use a number of strategies to overcome them. These include seeking help from adult children and grandchildren to act as interlocuters when going shopping, attending medical appointments, or going on outings and socialising (Ran and Liu 2021; Shankar 2003); employing technological solutions, such as translation and interpreting apps on smartphones (Baldassar and Wilding 2020; Ho and Chiu 2020); or selecting service providers with bilingual nursing, medical or caring staff (Teng 2019). Barriers also motivate some grandparents to improve their language skills with the help of grandchildren by learning about local geography, news and events (Shankar 2003).

Intergenerational conflicts

Fourteen sources detail intergenerational conflicts, especially the tensions between the older generation (grandparents) and the middle generation (adult migrant children) while living under the same roof (Kim 2012; Lin et al. 2020; Ran and Liu 2021; Shankar 2003; Tezcan 2021; Timonen 2019; Treas 2008b; Zhou 2012). These tensions involve differing approaches to parenting and grandparenting (Shih, 2012), shifting generational power balances, grandparents’ (attempted) authoritarian interventions in their children’s lives (Marchetti-Mercer et al. 2021; Ran and Liu 2021; Tezcan 2021) and differing norms relating to filial piety and care exchange in home and host cultures (De Silva 2018; Guo et al. 2022). Such intergenerational conflicts, especially those between grandparents and their children-in-law, may have harmful impacts on older migrants’ mental and physical health. Migrant grandparents may also be exposed to mistreatment and abuse because of their vulnerable position within transnational families (Shankar 2003).

In response to intergenerational conflicts, some grandparents choose to respect their adult children’s privacy and independence, which may suit the individualistic culture of the host country (Nesteruk and Marks 2009). Others reduce their intensive caring role when they begin to receive income from their employment or pension (Shankar 2003). Some older permanent residents attain more autonomy and relieve their children’s stress by choosing to live apart from their adult children (for instance, in public housing) (Zhou 2013). Meanwhile, temporary visa holders, if they cannot address these conflicts, may feel forced to stop their care-giving work and return to their homeland (Zhou 2012).

Financial constraints

Although only five sources reported financial constraints faced by migrant grandparents, this challenge is worth highlighting because it is a significant source of vulnerability. Engaging in care exchanges in receiving countries is not always feasible when both grandparents and their adult migrant children experience financial hardship. Marchetti-Mercer et al. (2021) identified financial constraints as one of the factors affecting African grandparents’ ability to visit their transnational families. Meanwhile, Zhou (2012) indicated that Chinese grandparents faced ‘financial complications’ as they were unable to employ paid carers or live in quality residential homes in Canada. Some grandparents continue to live independently in host countries; however, this may increase their risk of living in poverty as they may face long waiting periods for pensions or other government supports (Zhou 2013). Some grandparents continue to depend financially on their children, risking discomfort (Akinjinmi 2021; Treas 2008a) or even abuse (Shankar 2003).

To tackle these challenges, some grandparents choose to return to their homeland, particularly if this improves options for affordable aged care services (Zhou 2012). Others choose to migrate back and forth between their home and host countries until they are eligible for minimum income support programmes (Zhou 2013). In the absence of these options, some simply rely on their adult children’s financial support (Zhou 2012).

Diminished autonomy and social position

The impacts of losing social position and autonomy were highlighted in 20 sources. Diminished social status compared to that established in the homeland, often linked to occupation, can result in profound identity shifts for migrant grandparents (Ran and Liu 2021; Shankar 2003; Subramaniam 2019; Treas 2008b). Diminished autonomy results from greater dependence on adult children for financial support, housing, and the social and practical dimensions of daily life, such as shopping and attending medical appointments and community and religious gatherings (King et al. 2014; Marchetti-Mercer et al. 2021; Shankar 2003; Subramaniam 2019; Wyss and Nedelcu 2018). These problems are exacerbated by migrant grandparents’ loss and lack of social and familial networks because of their relocation, which restricts their access to informal sources of care and support (Kim 2012; Zhou 2012, 2013). In particular, grandparents may feel that they lose their authority and position in their children’s homes (Zhou 2012), where they are ‘not a master’ (because they cannot make decisions), ‘not a guest’ (because they perform domestic work) and ‘not a servant’ (because they are unpaid) (Zhou 2013: 291). Language barriers, different cultural norms and mobility constraints prevent grandparents’ participation in host society events, activities and services (Hamilton et al. 2018; Kintominas and Hamilton 2019; Pan et al. 2021; Teng 2019). As a result, migrant grandparents often have a weak sense of belonging in the receiving country (Ran and Liu 2021; Treas 2008a; Zhou 2012).

Subramaniam (2019) found that those migrant grandparents who adapt to their new positions as carers in the host country tend to cope better with losing autonomy and social position. Some grandparents choose to restrict their visits to short periods as a way to preserve their identity while still respecting their adult children’s ways of living (Treas 2008a). However, many grandparents choose to spend most of their time caring for grandchildren and helping adult children with domestic chores (Da 2003; Shih 2012; Treas and Mazumdar 2004; Wyss and Nedelcu 2018) to reduce their feelings of isolation, loneliness or neglect. Only some grandparents join social groups maintained by local churches or co-ethnic organisations (Ho and Chiu 2020; Sohn 2007). In some cases, grandparents adapt their preferences to the needs of their adult children (Treas 2008a).

Care burden

Providing unpaid work in terms of childcare and housekeeping, often replacing adult children as the primary carers (Subramaniam 2019), can place a heavy care burden on migrant grandparents, particularly grandmothers, a challenge identified in 23 sources (Chiu and Ho 2020; Hamilton, Kintominas et al. 2021; Ho and Chiu 2020; Lie 2010; Tian 2016; Treas 2008a, 2008b; Treas and Mazumdar 2002; Zhou 2012, 2013, 2015). Taking on such care sometimes requires grandparents to give up paid work in their homeland to fulfil these family duties in the host country (Deneva 2012; Hamilton et al. 2018; Hamilton, Kintominas et al. 2021; Shankar 2003). Several studies report that grandparents view this care burden as a moral duty, a family obligation and a parental sacrifice that they must fulfil to meet their cultural expectations (Chiu and Ho 2020; Da 2003; Hărăguş and Ionuţ 2020; Ran and Liu 2021; Zhou 2012). The way such ‘cultural moral codes’ regulate grandparent care-giving responsibility (Sohn 2007) may result in forms of oppression, particularly when they face physical or psychological impediments to meeting their adult children’s demands (Braedley et al. 2019; Zhou 2013), and when their domestic duties become unreasonable to the point of being abusive (Chiu and Ho 2020; Treas 2008b; Zhou 2013).

Strategies to overcome this care burden are not thoroughly explored in the literature. Review findings indicate that most grandparents, particularly grandmothers, endure a high care burden even when their care work affects their physical and psychological health (Hărăguş and Ionuţ 2020; Lamas-Abraira 2019; Sun 2014; Treas and Mazumdar 2002). They highlight care-giving for migrant descendants as ‘spiritual aspects, such as love, care and happiness, rather than practical and material aspects, such as co-residence, day-to-day care and financial support’ (Zhou 2012: 238). Hence, care burden is a critical issue in transnational grandparent migration and care-giving scholarship that requires further research and reflects the broader gendered care disparities that characterise all forms of care-giving (Baldassar et al. 2022).

Policy constraints on mobility and access to social welfare

The sixth category of challenges, highlighted in 28 sources, relates to the ways that migration and welfare policies affect the circumstances under which grandparents may travel to and remain in the host countries where their adult children and grandchildren reside.

Under receiving country migration policies that privilege younger, skilled immigrants (Askola 2016b; Hamilton, Hill et al. 2021; Hwang and Parrenas 2010; Spitzer 2018), grandparent migrants are often framed as a ‘dangerous’ welfare burden (Braedley et al. 2019; Dharssi 2015) and consequently face constrained international mobility in the form of rising visa fees and stricter conditions to join transnational families (Braedley et al. 2019; Dharssi 2015; Gubernskaya and Dreby 2017; Hamilton et al. 2018; Hamilton, Hill et al. 2021; Hieta 2016; Liu 2016; Treas 2008b; Xiong and Han 2022; Zhou 2012, 2013, 2019). Such policies put grandparents at risk of being ‘left behind’ and not being able to access intergenerational care when they can no longer travel back and forth (Hamilton, Hill et al. 2021; Ran and Liu 2021). They simultaneously fail to acknowledge grandparents’ significant contributions to the host economy in the form of unpaid care work (Askola 2016a, 2016b; Hamilton, Kintominas et al. 2021).

Migration policies and related welfare policies also tend to increase migrant grandparents’ financial and social dependency on their adult migrant children. Visa conditions often deny work rights to grandparent visitors (Braedley et al. 2019; Hamilton, Hill et al. 2021; Hamilton, Kintominas et al. 2021). Having no source of income increases vulnerability as they are forced to rely on their migrant descendants for accommodation and financial support (Braedley et al. 2019; Hamilton et al. 2018; Hamilton, Hill et al. 2021; Hamilton, Kintominas et al. 2021; Ho and Chiu 2020; Kintominas and Hamilton 2019; Lamas-Abraira 2019; Subramaniam 2019).

Access to public health, social and aged care services is likewise typically restricted for migrant grandparents who are not permanent residents or citizens of the receiving country (Braedley et al. 2019; Hamilton et al. 2018; Hamilton, Hill et al. 2021; Hamilton, Kintominas et al. 2021; Ho and Chiu 2020; Kintominas and Hamilton 2019; Lamas-Abraira 2019; Subramaniam 2019; Teng 2019). Even when rights to access services have been acquired, language barriers and culturally inappropriate care provision can form barriers to accessing services, as can time limits on visiting visas (Hamilton, Hill et al. 2021; Hamilton, Kintominas et al. 2021). Migrating in old age entails risk and worry for the grandparents, who experience declining physical and psychological health. Not all grandparent migrants have private overseas health insurance (Ho and Chiu 2020; Zhou 2012). Even those who do may still encounter service exclusions such as dentistry, optometry and audiology, which may be prohibitively expensive to access in the host setting (Hamilton, Hill et al. 2021; Teng 2019; Zhou 2012).

Strategies used by grandparents to deal with stringent immigration policy barriers to accessing health services include exercising to maintain good health, bringing homeland medicines, flying back home to seek medical attention and/or delaying care until return becomes possible (Hamilton, Hill et al. 2021; Ho and Chiu 2020; Subramaniam 2019; Zhou 2012). To address financial insecurity arising from exclusion from welfare regimes, many provide unpaid labour to their adult children’s households, including caring for grandchildren, as part of the intergenerational contract, hoping that they will receive reciprocated care and financial support in older age (Da 2003; Ran and Liu 2021; Sohn 2007; Treas 2008b). Barriers to migration enacted by restrictive visa conditions (Zhou 2013, 2015) in receiving countries are difficult to overcome, yet grandparents have few choices and must develop strategies to adapt to these regulations while maintaining transnational family lives (Askola 2016a, 2016b; Hamilton, Hill et al. 2021; Horn 2019; Spitzer 2018). These include flying back and forth when they cannot apply for or are waiting for a permanent visa (Ferrer 2015; Hamilton et al. 2018; Hamilton, Hill et al. 2021; Treas 2008b; Zhou 2012, 2013, 2015) or paying high fees to secure the right to stay permanently with their adult children, which can further increase financial dependency in older age (Hamilton et al. 2018).

Discussion

Findings from this review clearly demonstrate that transnational migrant grandparents play important roles within migrant families settled in receiving countries. Of particular significance is the financial contribution they make to adult children’s households and host economies through unpaid labour that helps fill care deficits and facilitates workforce participation, particularly for daughters and daughters-in-law who would otherwise shoulder a greater domestic burden.

Review findings raise the emerging issue of temporary grandparent migration and how ‘immobility regimes’ (Merla et al. 2020) deter grandparents from joining their transnational families. Grandparents, because of their older age, are excluded from national and transnational migration policies, yet care economies in both sending and receiving countries rely heavily on older migrant and non-migrant women (Rajan and Neetha 2018; Zickgraf 2017). Within migrant families, providing personal care for descendants may be considered grandparents’ ethics of care (Held 2006) governed by homeland cultural beliefs (Nguyen et al. 2023). However, care obligations can become burdensome for grandparents, especially when their physical health declines. They may consequently be unable to meet the care expectations of their adult children. Moreover, intergenerational differences can cause intra-family conflict, which can cause grandparents financial and emotional distress.

Review findings also indicate that gender is a critical dimension of grandparent migration, with care burdens disproportionately borne by migrant grandmothers who fulfil gendered care obligations that align with their homeland socio-cultural norms. However, this devotion of migrant grandmothers means that younger migrant women (their daughters and daughters-in-law) may be liberated from family roles to fully participate in the labour market or pursue higher education. These findings reflect the politics of informal care economies and informal care chains (Nguyen et al. 2023), whereby women (whether young or old) continue performing primary caring roles in transnational families. The emancipation of migrant women is not based on the practices of gender equality in the division of household labour (Nordenmark and Nyman 2020), but rather on intensified gendered roles in the grandparent generation.

Apart from their significant contributions, grandparents in transnational families may also benefit from migrating to join their descendants overseas. Benefits include the positive feelings of pride and fulfilment experienced by grandparents when they are able to fulfil their cultural care obligations relating to intergenerational family roles through the exchange of practical and emotional care in physical proximity with their descendants. Grandparents also gain new experiences through their migrations and may grow in confidence, securing a respected family position as carers and cultural transmitters and, for some, improved financial security and access to quality health care. These cases illustrate how immigration policies may support care exchange by facilitating grandparents’ transnational mobility when migrant descendants wish to settle and work overseas and, as a result, have limited capacity to return to their home countries.

However, this review indicates that migrant grandparents also face serious challenges, including language barriers, cultural differences, heavy care burdens and obligations to perform unpaid domestic labour, diminished social support networks, isolation and loneliness, and loss of autonomy and power. They are potentially at risk of neglect or abuse by their own family members as they may fall outside and between the social protection systems of both their home and host countries, increasing their reliance on adult children for financial support and care (Brandhorst et al. 2021). To cope with these challenges, migrant grandparents employ various strategies, including joining local co-ethnic social groups, flying back and forth to exchange care, managing visa limitations and maintaining their homeland support networks or changing cultural expectations towards their adult children. New media and ICTs play an important role in supporting these strategies. Migrant grandparents increasingly rely on digital technologies to maintain their distant kin and non-kin ties and preserve cultural and social identities (Baldassar et al. 2022; Baldassar and Wilding 2020; Nguyen et al. 2022).

The findings of the scoping review prompt inquiry into the dynamics of global informal care chains (Nguyen et al. 2023), where grandparents (mainly from the Global South) are on the move to provide unpaid care for their transnational families who are studying, working and living in the Global North. This necessitates an exploration and conceptualisation within a theoretical framework that encompasses macro-level national and transnational immigration policies, micro-level individual lived experiences and family care-giving practices, and meso-level community dynamics.

Directions for future research

This review identified some gaps that merit future research. These are grouped into five broad categories.

First, future research should examine the complex, varied, interdependent and multifaceted roles of multiple generations in transnational families. While more studies focused on examining the perceptions of migrant grandparents (e.g. Deneva 2012; Hărăguş and Ionuţ 2020; Sohn 2007; Tezcan 2021; Treas and Mazumdar 2002) or of adult migrant children (e.g. Da 2003; Lie 2010; Williams 2015; Wyss and Nedelcu 2018, 2020), only two studies explored multi-generational perspectives towards transnational grandparenting and care-giving, comparing the views of grandchildren, adult children and grandparents (Ferrer 2015; Plaza 2000). More empirical studies should be carried out to understand the interdependence and multi-generational dimensions of transnationalism (Hărăguş and Ionuţ 2020; Liu 2016) and variations in levels of responsibility in providing childcare (Sohn 2007).

Second, future comparative research could consider more explicitly how transnational grandparenting practices and experiences vary according to gender, class, nationality, religion, sending and receiving areas, and migration history, including migration due to conflict. Although several studies consider mixed cohorts of transnational migrant grandparents differentiated by immigration status (temporary visa holders/visitors, permanent visa holders and citizens) (Ferrer 2015; Hamilton, Hill et al. 2021; King et al. 2014; Kintominas and Hamilton 2019; Pan et al. 2021; Plaza 2000; Sohn 2007; Treas 2008b; Wyss and Nedelcu 2018; Zhou 2019), they typically focus on grandparent migrants of one nationality or ethnicity in one or several receiving contexts without adequately exploring differences in migration history, socio-economic and regional backgrounds, gendered roles and mobility constraints within each of these cohorts. Relatedly, although grandfathers’ involvement in care-giving and grandparenting in transnational families has been occasionally investigated (Baldassar et al. 2022; Pan et al. 2021; Teng 2019; Treas 2008a; Zhou 2015), they are under-represented in the literature. Further research with grandfathers should be conducted to explore gendered dimensions of transnational grandparenting (Hamilton, Hill et al. 2021; Shankar 2003).

Third, recognising the increasingly important role of ICTs and new media in supporting migrant grandparents’ adaptation to their transnational lives (Baldassar et al. 2022; Baldassar and Wilding 2020; Ho and Chiu 2020; Nedelcu 2017; Tezcan 2021; Wilding et al. 2022), more research should explore different practices and relationships between digital communication technologies and transnational ageing (Ho and Chiu 2020).

Fourth, more work is needed to understand the impacts of the policy regimes under which migrant grandparents perform transnational care-giving and other family roles. Although studies have investigated how migration regimes constrain the finances (Marchetti-Mercer et al. 2021; Treas 2008a; Zhou 2012, 2013) and mobility of transnational grandparents (Braedley et al. 2019; Hamilton et al. 2018; Hamilton, Hill et al. 2021; Hieta 2016; Liu 2016; Treas 2008b; Zhou 2012, 2013, 2019), further research could explore the consequences of immigration policies for the social, psychological and economic wellbeing of grandparents and their transnational family members (Kintominas and Hamilton 2019).

Relatedly, although some research partly addresses migrant grandparents’ limited access to social welfare and health care in receiving contexts (Braedley et al. 2019; Hamilton et al. 2018; Hamilton, Hill et al. 2021; Hamilton, Kintominas et al. 2021; Ho and Chiu 2020; Kintominas and Hamilton 2019; Lamas-Abraira 2019; Subramaniam 2019; Teng 2019), no included studies focused on this topic. There is some literature that deals with migrant problems accessing welfare and social security (see Kosnick et al. 2021; Seminario and Le Feuvre 2021); however, these studies mainly address the individual responses of migrants and families themselves, and the ways they develop strategies to cope with their ageing and improve their own wellbeing. Targeted research would help expose specific constraints for immigrant grandparents and support appropriate policy responses at the level of community support as well as for national state service delivery and transnational welfare support, for example reciprocal (binational) health programmes. Migrant families are also affected by constrained access to affordable early childhood education in receiving countries, resulting in greater reliance on unpaid grandparenting childcare (Hamilton, Kintominas et al. 2021). Research should address how care service provision for both the very young and the very old can affect transnational family dynamics and grandparent migration.

And lastly, fifth, most studies of transnational grandparent migration have employed qualitative research methods, including semi-structured interviews, participant observation and focus groups (Da 2003; Hamilton, Hill et al. 2021; Shih 2012; Sohn 2007; Zhang 2009). Further research could consider employing more quantitative and mixed methods to provide an enhanced picture of the complexities of transnational grandparenting and care-giving (Shih 2012; Zhang 2009). In particular, research that measures or quantifies the economic value of grandparent migrant care labour and other contributions is needed to challenge the dominant argument that they represent an economic threat to receiving countries (Parkinson et al. 2023). Not only does this argument fail to adequately acknowledge the significant contributions that grandparent migrants make but it also undervalues their role in the social reproduction of the skilled migrant, a cost that is borne entirely by the sending area. As Hugo’s (2007, 2009) migration of development thesis highlights, if receiving countries benefit from adult migrant labour, they should bear the responsibility of supporting those labourers’ care obligations to their parents. This kind of analysis would support policy advocacy to enhance migrant grandparents’ easier visitation and settlement in host countries (Kilkey and Baldassar 2023).

Strengths and limitations of the scoping review

This scoping review was conducted using rigorous and transparent methods guided by Arksey and O’Malley’s (2005) methodology. A key strength is that this is the first scoping review conducted on this topic, and so it provides a comprehensive overview of migrant grandparents’ experiences and challenges, featuring their significant contribution to the global care economy. Highlighting the existing key themes allowed us to identify gaps for future research trajectories. The review also has certain limitations. While it includes a large body of empirical studies and grey literature (65 studies), titles and abstracts were screened separately, which risks missing relevant studies. In addition, studies published in a language other than English were not included.

Conclusion

This systematic scoping review presents an overview of current literature relating to transnational migrant grandparenting and care-giving. Grandparents, despite their older age, continue performing a range of roles in transnational families, especially care-giving for younger generations. They also contribute financially, facilitate women’s workforce participation, provide emotional support and maintain homeland cultures. By engaging in transnational migration, grandparents also benefit from this mobility. Migrant grandparents can maintain close relationships with their young grandchildren, which brings satisfaction and pleasure in seeing younger generations grow. They also enjoy intergenerational relationships and receive financial and emotional support from their adult children. Meanwhile migrant children and grandchildren benefit from hands-on personal care from older migrants, giving their adult children more time to study and pursue career advancement.

However, compared to younger migrant cohorts, older people are more disadvantaged in different ways. Older migrants continue to be marginalised by immigration policies in which stringent conditions, such as high fees, long waiting times, family income tests and family balance tests, create an ‘immobility regime’ that constrains older people’s transnational mobility (Merla et al. 2020). Older migrants also face other challenges such as language barriers, intergenerational conflict, social isolation, care deficits and burden, and financial constraints. In response, older migrants apply different strategies that may include keeping silent or not interfering with their migrant children’s affairs, adapting to different cultural and social practices, using ICTs and new media to maintain transnational and local social support networks, and learning new knowledge and skills.

Current knowledge of transnational grandparent migration indicates several policy and practical recommendations. Research clearly illustrates the significant role that transnational migrant grandparents play in filling care deficits in the country of destination. These social and economic contributions should be recognised in national welfare and migration policies. This could include policies supporting grandparents’ easy and affordable mobility to join family overseas (Askola 2016b; Hamilton et al. 2018; Hamilton, Hill et al. 2021; Hamilton, Kintominas et al. 2021; Kintominas and Hamilton 2019; Lie 2010; Shih 2012; Sohn 2007; Subramaniam 2019; Tian 2016; Treas 2008b; Zhou 2019), coupled with welfare policies that reward the unpaid domestic labour of grandparents through allowances or subsidies to support their financial independence (Shankar 2003). Receiving country governments should further develop culturally appropriate social services and language-teaching programmes to help older migrants adapt to the new society and overcome the significant challenges they may face (Guo et al. 2022; Shankar 2003; Subramaniam 2019). The potential obstacles are primarily government assumptions about the economic burden of (grand)parent migration, which creates barriers to entry (Braedley et al. 2019). In addition, there are the legal challenges of crafting transnational policies or the policies that govern both sending and receiving nations (see Askola and Baldassar 2024).

Transnational grandparenting raises broader questions about the global ethics of migration programmes. Hugo (1999) called for a migration development approach where policy takes account of the impact of migration regimes on sending areas, including the transnational political economies of care and social reproduction, since mobility is often triggered by the need to give or receive care (Baldassar et al. 2007). Global informal care chains, which include transnational migrant grandparents, need to be examined and conceptualised in a theoretical framework that considers macro-level (national and transnational immigration policies), micro-level (individual lived experiences and practices of care-giving) and meso-level (community and family) factors. While there is a significant literature on global domestic labour migration for paid care, grandparents’ caring roles highlight the growing importance of global informal care circulation (Nguyen et al. 2023).

Finally, new frameworks, such as recent work on ageing futures (e.g. Ho et al. 2022), may unsettle paradigms that imagine older migrants primarily as passive recipients of care and/or dangerous burdens (Braedley et al. 2019). Reimagining older migrants as agential actors with identities and social positions that extend beyond their familial roles as grandparents may support the development of more supportive ageing policies in both sending and receiving countries. Moreover, transnational grandparenting should not be viewed only through the lens of cross-border grandparental relationships but should be linked with translocal processes that are shaping and being shaped by various familial, social, cultural, economic and political elements in both sending and receiving areas (Coe 2015). Interactions between transnationalism and translocality may expose complicated but dynamic relationships between mobility and locality, and between the structural inequalities and cultural resiliency rooted in immigrant families’ changing intergenerational relationships.