This article assesses the role of social origin for Romanian migrants in Western Europe, compared to stayers in their origin country. We propose a novel theoretical model of status attainment to account for the migration process, including the self-selection to migration on the basis of individual characteristics and the effect of the area/context on social mobility. Our sample (elaborated from the EUCROSS 2012 survey) includes 1772 working-age Romanian citizens who completed their education in Romania. Our results show that self-selection played a role in not only the Romanians’ decision to migrate but also the choice of destination (either Southern Europe or Central-Northern Europe), being migrants in Southern Europe negatively self-selected with respect to both social origin (men) and education (both men and, especially, women). We also found that the disadvantage of Romanian migrants (measured through the International Socio-Economic Index), compared to stayers, was reinforced by a higher influence of social origin for women, who, in addition, got even lower returns to education abroad. Contrary to the expectations of both academic scholars and the institutions supporting EU free movement, migration to Western Europe (at least in the case of Romanians) was not a way out, but rather reinforced ascription.
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