Irregular Migrants in Belgium and the Netherlands
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15 mm back 153 mm 8 14,4 mm 8 front 153 mm 15 mm 15 mm IMISCOE RESEARCH IMISCOE RESEARCH Van Meeteren Van Van Meeteren takes irregular migrants’ aspirations as a starting point of analysis, proposing an empirically grounded theoretical critique of the dominant research practice that focuses on ‘survival strategies’. Drawing on participant observation and more than 200 in-depth interviews, she develops much-needed contextualised insights and sheds new light on this top-of the-agenda subject area. Masja van Meeteren is an assistant professor in the Department of Criminology at Leiden University, the Netherlands. Her research interests include intersections of migration, migration policy, informal social structures, crime and criminalization. She has published in journals such as Current Sociology, Global Networks, International Migration Review and Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies. A full overview of her publi- cations is available at www.masjavanmeeteren.nl. Irregular Migrants in Belgium and the Netherlands “In this ground-breaking study, Masja van Meeteren shows how the focus of previous research on structures and control has led to misleading views on Masja van Meeteren irregular migration. She proposes instead a focus on migrants’ aspirations, and her original research shows how this helps to explain the persistence of irregular migration as a global reality.” Irregular Migrants in Belgium — Stephen Castles, University of Sydney 240 mm and the Netherlands “A solid and valuable book, a major addition to the literature of a topic which commands increasing attention in Western societies.” — Joaquín Arango, Complutense University of Madrid “Van Meeteren develops an unusual typology of irregular migrants based Aspirations and Incorporation on their aspirations ... [Her application] to topics including adaptation and transnational ties [yields] useful and nuanced insights into the dreams migrants bring into their migration experiences, the realities they face and the distinctive ways they endeavor to improve their lives.” — Sarah J. Mahler, Florida International University ISBN: 978 90 8964 643 9 AUP.nl 9 7 8 9 0 8 9 6 4 6 4 3 9 15 mm Irregular Migrants in Belgium and the Netherlands IMISCOE International Migration, Integration and Social Cohesion in Europe The IMISCOE Research Network unites researchers from some 30 institutes specialising in studies of international migration, integration and social cohesion in Europe. What began in 2004 as a Network of Excellence sponsored by the Sixth Framework Programme of the European Commission became, as of April 2009, an independent self-funding endeavour. IMISCOE promotes integrated, multidisciplinary and globally comparative research led by scholars from various branches of the economic and social sciences, the humanities and law. The network furthers existing studies and pioneers new scholarship on migration and migrant integration. Encouraging innovative lines of inquiry key to European policymaking and governance is also a priority. The IMISCOE-Amsterdam University Press Research Series makes the network’s findings and results available to researchers, policymakers and practitioners, the media and other interested stakeholders. High-quality manuscripts are evaluated by external peer reviews and the IMISCOE Editorial Committee. The committee comprises the following members: Tiziana Caponio, Department of Political Studies, University of Turin / Forum for International and European Research on Immigration (FIERI), Turin, Italy Michael Collyer, Sussex Centre for Migration Research (SCMR), University of Sussex, United Kingdom Rosita Fibbi, Swiss Forum for Migration and Population Studies (SFM), University of Neuchâtel, Switzerland / Institute of Social Sciences, University of Lausanne Agata Górny, Centre of Migration Research (CMR) / Faculty of Economic Sciences, University of Warsaw, Poland Albert Kraler, International Centre for Migration Policy Development (ICMPD), Vienna, Austria Jorge Malheiros, Centre of Geographical Studies (CEG), University of Lisbon, Portugal Marco Martiniello, National Fund for Scientific Research (FNRS), Brussels / Center for Ethnic and Migration Studies (CEDEM), University of Liège, Belgium Eva Østergaard-Nielsen, Department of Political Science, Autonomous University of Barcelona, Spain Marlou Schrover, Institute for History, Leiden University, The Netherlands Patrick Simon, National Demographic Institute (INED), Paris, France IMISCOE Policy Briefs and more information on the network can be found at www.imiscoe.org. Irregular Migrants in Belgium and the Netherlands Aspirations and Incorporation Masja van Meeteren IMISCOE Research Amsterdam University Press Cover illustration: Bruce Pannier/RFE/RL Cover design: Coördesign, Leiden Typesetting: Crius Group, Hulshout Amsterdam University Press English-language titles are distributed in the US and Canada by the University of Chicago Press. ISBN 978 90 8964 643 9 e-ISBN 978 90 4852 308 5 (pdf) e-ISBN 978 90 4852 309 2 (ePub) NUR 741 © Masja van Meeteren / Amsterdam University Press, Amsterdam 2014 All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this book may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise) without the written permission of both the copyright owners and the authors of the book. In loving memory of Petra van ’t Padje Content Acknowledgements 11 1 Irregular Migration as a Fact of Life 13 1.1 Irregular migration as a common feature of Western economies 13 1.2 Studying the lives of irregular migrants 15 1.3 Irregular migrants: Who are they? 17 1.4 Incorporation, assimilation, integration 20 2 Beyond Victims and Communities 23 Bringing in aspirations 2.1 Current research practice on incorporation 23 2.2 Common perspective focused on survival 24 2.3 Social mobility and incorporation 27 2.4 Comparative designs based on migration motives 34 2.5 Bringing aspirations in 37 3 Studying Aspirations 45 3.1 Grounded theory approach 45 3.2 Researching the lives of irregular migrants 47 3.3 Difficulties in studying irregular migrants 55 4 Immigration Policies in Belgium and the Netherlands 61 4.1 Introduction 61 4.2 History 62 4.3 External control policies 63 4.4 Internal control policies 66 4.5 Legalisation 72 4.6 Research context: Belgium and the Netherlands 78 5 Investment, Settlement and Legalisation Aspirations 81 5.1 Three types of aspirations 81 5.2 Where do they come from? 87 5.3 Changing aspirations 93 5.4 Aspirations and strategies 95 5.5 From aspirations to incorporation 96 6 Living Different Dreams (I) 97 Aspirations and functional incorporation 6.1 Introduction 97 6.2 Housing 98 6.3 Employment 105 6.4 Other sources of income and assistance 122 6.5 Changing aspirations 139 6.6 Aspirations and functional incorporation 140 7 Living Different Dreams (II) 143 Aspirations and social incorporation 7.1 Introduction 143 7.2 Leisure time 145 7.3 Social contacts 152 7.4 Shifts in aspirations 159 7.5 Aspirations and social incorporation 162 8 Aspirations and Transnational Activities 165 8.1 Introduction 165 8.2 Economic transnational activities 167 8.3 Social transnational activities 170 8.4 Political transnational activities 176 8.5 Shifts in aspirations 179 8.6 Aspirations and transnational activities 180 9 Striving for a Better Position 183 Aspirations and the role of economic, cultural and social capital 9.1 Introduction 183 9.2 Forms of capital 184 9.3 Required forms of capital for realisation of aspirations 186 9.4 Shifts in aspirations 197 9.5 Aspirations and capital 198 10 Assessing a New Perspective 201 10.1 Analysing aspirations: The merits 201 10.2 Implications 211 10.3 Moving forward 218 Appendices 221 Appendix 1 Semi-structured interviews: Overview of respondent characteristics 221 Appendix 2 In-depth interviews with irregular migrants: Overview of respondent characteristics 224 Appendix 3 Organisations interviewed 225 References 227 Acknowledgements In one way or another, many have contributed to the completion of this book, to whom I want to express my gratitude here. First of all, I would like to thank those who enabled me to carry out this research project. I could never have started it without the support of Godfried Engbersen, who greatly inspired my enthusiasm for the subject of irregular migration. I am grateful to Willem Schinkel for his valuable insights and constructive criticism. For the funding of this project, I owe Habiforum, the Erasmus University Rotterdam and the Rotterdam Institute for Social Scientific Policy Research (RISBO) a debt of gratitude. RISBO deserves additional thanks for providing me with various kinds of practical and material support. I thank Marion van San for helping me find my way through Belgian labyrinths and for teaching me all kinds of peculiarities about Belgium that I was unaware of at first. I would also like to thank the three IMISCOE reviewers for their constructive comments, which helped to improve this book. Second, there are people I would like to thank in relation to my fieldwork, which was the most surprising and memorable part of the whole project. I realised that there are no textbooks from which to learn how to be ‘street- wise’ or that can provide comforting words in times of confusion. I learned that fieldwork among irregular migrants involves plain hard work and perseverance, getting your hands dirty and your feet in the mud, learning how to do things while doing them.