Abstract
Family migration policy, once basing citizens and resident foreigners’ possibilities to bring in foreign family members mainly on the right to family life, is increasingly a tool states use to limit immigration and to push newcomers to integrate into civic and economic life. The family migration policies of Denmark, Norway and Sweden range widely – from more minimal support and age requirements to high expectations of language skills, work records and even income levels. While in Denmark and increasingly in Norway growing sets of requirements have been justified on the need to protect the welfare state and a Nordic liberal way of life, in Sweden more minimal requirements have been introduced in the name of spurring immigrants’ labor market integration even as rights-based reasoning has continued to dominate. In all three countries, new restrictions have been introduced in the wake of the refugee crisis. These cases show how prioritizations of the right to family life vis-à-vis welfare-state sustainability have produced different rules for family entry, and how family migration policies are used to different extents to push civic integration of both new and already settled immigrants.
Highlights
In Europe today, migrants’ rights to family life have come to depend on the country they move to
In Denmark, individuals with temporary asylum status must wait three years for family reunification – a new restriction introduced in the wake of the European refugee crisis by the center-right government with support from most parties in Parliament – including both the populist Danish People’s Party and the Social Democrats
This ‘neo-liberal’ or social-democratic good citizen (e.g. Joppke, 2007b, p. 248) is a crucial component in policy changes in many family reunification regulations. Another crucial aspect of recent family migration policy changes in many European countries is the introduction of stricter age requirements for spousal entry and for entry of children, and blocks to those with domestic violence records. We argue that this type of requirement, though not tracked by Goodman’s civic integration definition is part of the larger civic integration trend in requiring newcomers to already have, or have potential to achieve, civic maturity
Summary
In Europe today, migrants’ rights to family life have come to depend on the country they move to. Condemned by jurists and NGOs as in possible breach of international law protecting the right to family life, this initiative is the last in a series of restrictions in this important, but less well researched area of immigration policy (Bonjour & Kraler, 2015; cf Bailey & Boyle, 2004; Kofman, 2004) These include rules that have at times conditioned the right of would-be family migrants to join a spouse in Denmark on their own education and language skills, and have made Danish residents’ right to have spouses join them increasingly subject to their own current ‘integration standing,’ i.e. their employment and self-support record, and their language competence (Bech & Mouritsen, 2013). In the wake of the refugee crisis, and at the initiative of Integration Minister
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
