According to the Chiswick’s assimilationist approach (1978), the professional mobility trajectories of immigrants in the host country have a U-shaped: downgrading and recovering, in professional terms. For Europe, and in particular for Spain, some research has shown different dynamics.

This study is focalized on foreign citizens  who were employed in the country of origin, which have had more than one work experience in Italy and at the time of the interview are still working. This paper aims to integrate the job satisfaction expressed by foreigners with the analysis of professional mobility trajectories.

Data from the survey on “Social Condition and Integration of Foreign Citizens” (SCIF) carried out by Istat in 2011-2012.

The factors connected to the mobility trajectories in the labour market and to the job satisfaction are analyzed trough logistic regression models.

A first model estimates the probability of having a recover in the occupational trajectory, considering the differences in the employment paths of migrants in the country of origin and in Italy (last job in the country of origin, first and current job in Italy).

A second model studies factors associated with job satisfaction taking into account occupational mobility of migrants.