Late‐Life Migration Among Older Chinese: Agency, Structure, and the Limits of Voluntariness

ABSTRACT

Older migrants' migration decisions are shaped by both contextual and individual factors. Previous studies have tended to overlook the structural drivers of migration and the interaction between structural and agentic factors in migration decision‐making. Drawing on a critical realist perspective, this study examines these factors and their interrelationships among 18 older Chinese migrants in New Zealand. Three key structural drivers were identified: migration opportunities, family‐centred norms, and the long‐term effects of China's One‐Child Policy (OCP). Two agentic motivations were also evident: economic considerations related to pension access, and aspirations for intergenerational reciprocity. Operating across multiple levels, these structural and agentic factors interacted in complex ways to shape migration decisions, highlighting the limits of voluntariness in later‐life migration. The findings demonstrate that migration decisions emerged not simply from individual preferences but from the interplay between personal agency and structural conditions, contributing to theorisations of late‐life migration through an agency–structure lens.