Migration is an increasing phenomenon worldwide, fueled by globalization, faster communication and transport possibilities, political and armed conflicts, as well as climate changes. Increasingly, rural areas are also the target of (international) migration. In political and medial discourses, immigration is often associated with multiple challenges, such as a lower labour market participation among immigrants, difficulties with school integration due to a lack of language skills of the host country, and last but not least, international immigration is increasingly seen as a security risk for the places of immigration.

However, immigration also represents an opportunity for rural areas, e.g., in terms of population development, as well as regional and economic development, as many European rural areas face population decline, associated with labour shortages and a dismantling of the local and regional infrastructure.

This paper analyses on a macro-level the contributions and economic impacts that international (third-country) immigration can make to the economic development of a rural region and investigates on a micro-level the challenges and solutions of company onboarding from the perspective of companies and immigrant employees.