| Summary: | This article examines the influence of family on the geographic and occupational mobility of Tunisian and Moroccan graduates of prestigious French engineering schools. It focuses on the 1989-2002 graduating classes, which fit into a liberalized and internationalized economy, and offer major engineering schools’ graduates a wide range of choices in the location of their employment. With respect to the socio-economic opportunities, the « choice » of spouse has a strong impact on geographic mobility. Graduates who married foreigners (French women most often) are more likely to remain permanently in France; the reverse is true for those who married Moroccan or Tunisian women. The effect of the conjugal family is often overlooked by research on international migrations, including work focusing on transnational families. At the same time, our perspective helps moderate the theory that « heirs » are more likely to be involved in international traffic, owing to experiences of shorter or longer stays abroad (especially in France).
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