Description

Migration Control in Practice

Before and Within the Borders of the State

This book offers a comprehensive exploration on how migration policies are implemented day by day. Such an approach allows consideration of how migration policies on the ground take a life of their own. This book shows the need to understand the specific logics and dynamics of policy implementation, while taking into account the role of bureaucrats, politicians, the judiciary, non-state actors, and migrants. Qualitative research in public institutions is combined with an exploration of the role of NGOs, supranational institutions and the migrants themselves. Bringing together the results of several research projects with fieldwork in Belgium, the UK, France, Morocco and Malta, this book covers the different, potential stages of the migratory career, before and within the borders of states : from visa obtention (both in general and for students specifically) to border checks, asylum (including resettlement and gender and sexuality-based asylum), access to residence (with a specific focus on marriage-based residence), healthcare, citizenship, detention and deportation. Through its chapters it shows the day-to-day logics, routines and strategies that bureaucrats and other actors adopt, within the constraints of laws, social interactions, and ideas about migration and policies.