Migration Control in Practice

This book offers a comprehensive exploration on how different migration policies are implemented day by day. Such an approach allows to show the different ways in which migration policies on the ground take a life of their own when compared to the letter of the law. The book shows the need to understand the specific logics and workings of the implementation of policies, while taking into account the continued role played by politicians and the judiciary, non-state actors and migrants. Qualitative research with different public institutions implementing migration policies are 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, the book covers the different stages of the migratory career. It follows the potential trajectory of a migrant from visa obtention (both in general and for students specifically) to border controls, asylum (including resettlement and gender and sexuality-based asylum), access to residence (with a specific
focus on marriage-based residence), healthcare and nationality, or to detention and managed return migration. Through its chapters it shows the day-to-day logics, routines and tactics that bureaucrats and other actors adopt, within the constrains of laws, social interactions, and ideas about policies.