Taiwan has been affected by immigration and migration flows since its origin to the extent that it is
regarded as a migration country. In contrast to this intrinsic character of Taiwan, the literature
exploring migration patterns in the island has developed relatively recently and it has focused only
on a limited amount of themes, social groups, trajectories, periods of time. Reflecting major trends
within existing scholarship on migration in Taiwan, the annual meetings of the European
Association of Taiwan Studies have seen an increasing presence of papers on migration, particularly
in the last years. As a matter of fact, since 2012, each year there have been either full panels or
several papers on migration.

Taking these papers as a starting point, and bringing in critical insights from broader debates within
migration studies, this article will assess the state of migration studies concerning Taiwan as it
generated within the European Association of Taiwan Studies community. By identifying the
themes that have been addressed or overlooked, this paper will not only be able to offer important
insights with regard to the strengths and weaknesses of the debate on migration related to Taiwan
developed by the European Association of Taiwan Studies, but it will also offer reflections on
potential themes that may become significant in the near future.

Eventually, this paper aims to discuss up to what extent could the case of migration flows to and
from Taiwan play a role in shaping theoretical and empirical debates in the field of migration
studies and which new approaches and methodologies peculiar of migration studies could be
significant to explore the case of Taiwan.