Digital Intermediation in Skilled Health Worker Migration: Platforms for Peer Support and Brokerage

Abstract

Digital infrastructures have become important elements of the sociotechnical assemblages that mediate contemporary migration trajectories. Although digital platforms, tools and networks can be used to surveil and control migrants, they also afford migrants possibilities to self-organise, share information and navigate complex entry processes. This article examines the informal, digitally facilitated support used by health professionals in the process of migrating to Australia. Specifically, we examine the role of Facebook groups in mediating between aspiring migrants and the Australian skilled migration regime. We argue that these groups are both a response to the gaps and failures of the official migration processes and a significant part of the migration infrastructure (Xiang & Lindquist, 2014, International Migration Review , 48 , 122–148) shaping the im/mobility of (potential) migrant health workers. Through a systematic search and analysis of Facebook groups aimed at migrant health professionals, this article argues that such groups function as hybrid digital infrastructures blurring the boundaries between peer support networks and commercial brokerage. Our analysis demonstrates that while many of these groups are experienced as grassroots spaces of mutual aid, information-sharing and emotional support, they also serve as entry points for intermediaries (including migration agents, recruiters and tutors), who embed commercial services within the fabric of everyday interactions online.