Invisible Migration and “Perverse” Capital: Exploring the Experiences of Migrant Delivery Riders

Abstract

This article focuses on “semi-documented” Brazilian migrant delivery riders in London. It uses (in)visibility as a conceptual lens to perform two roles. First, it explores the experiences of this group through the analytical lens of invisibility. In doing so, it demonstrates that in multiple ways, this group does not conform with statistical norms or with the way “invisible” and/or undocumented migrant workers are portrayed in the literature. Second, the article employs the concept of invisibility to critique UK immigration and employment policy in helping to render the presence and of these migrants “invisible.” Accordingly, it argues that the immigration system is “perverse” in its structure and consequences. In response to the perversity of the system, these migrants employ “perverse” forms of social capital to adapt.