The Effects of Externalised Border Control Management by Germany on Marriage Migrants from Third Countries

Abstract

ABSTRACT Since European Union states began externalising their migration control regime, by delegating to third states, their own remote institutions and non-state actors, scholars have widened the ‘destination state-centric’ perspective of Zolberg’s influential ‘remote control’ interpretative framework. Border externalisation is, therefore, regarded as a complex ‘battlefield, in which different actors are positioning themselves’ and which produces multifaceted transnational effects. Based on autoethnography and semi-structured interviews with spouses from several post-Soviet states who are married to German citizens, this paper illuminates how tightening border policies and vigilant practices at German consulates directed at marriage migrants from third countries influence households and couples’ life trajectories. The reverberations encompass the evolving nature of transnational borderscapes in response to state policies, as well as changing conditions of marriage, family planning, the maintenance of two households and (re)negotiation of gender roles.