Social Networks Help Migrants Overcome Illegal Status
OPINION |

Social Networks Help Migrants Overcome Illegal Status

THE TRANSITION OF ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS TO LEGAL RESIDENTS, OR PERMANENCE IN A GREY AREA, CAN BE FACILITATED BY RELATIONS OF KINSHIP AND PERSONAL CONTACTS. BUT NETWORKS CAN ALSO INCREASE DISPARITY OF CONDITION AMONG MIGRANTS

by Carlo Devillanova, Dept. of Policy Analysis and Public Management, Bocconi
Translated by Alex Foti


It is well known that non-legal status of migrants has profound consequences on their socio-economic integration, with major repercussions on the countries of arrival. Indeed, it is a fundamental determinant of the attitudes of natives towards immigrants, as confirmed by the 2011 Transatlantic Trends Survey on Immigration: in all the countries considered, the majority of respondents expressed opposition to illegal migration, with the highest rate (80%) reported for Italy, but not to immigration in general.

Yet our knowledge of the causes of illegal migration is still scarce. One of the reasons is that it is an extremely articulated phenomenon. Political debate often focuses on irregular arrivals, emphasizing the importance of border controls. It is true that the phenomenon has seen a recent acceleration, considering the increase in landings on Europe's southern shores. However, most of the "illegal"presence is made up of people who have properly entered the country of destination and have stayed beyond the expiration of their visas (the so-called "overstayers"). In addition, a significant percentage of those entering illegally request international protection and refugee status.  Under certain circumstances, in Italy this gives entitlement to a renewable residence permit pending the asylum procedure and whose duration therefore depends on the outcome of the asylum application. This also implies that significant movements betweennon-legal and legal status occur after entry into the country, due to, for example, the expiry of residence permits or to the frequent regularization amnesties which, according to 2011 estimates, have enabled over five million immigrants to officialize their presence in a EU country. Finally, rates of legality are also affected by outbound migration, inbound returns, and migration towards other destinations.

Evidently, the number of illegals at a given moment in a given country is the sum of all these factors, each of which is in turn influenced by socio-economic and political conditions in the countries of origin and of arrival and, of course, by immigration control policies. Whose consequences can sometimes be paradoxical. For example, it has been shown that past tightenings of controls along the Mexican border had a negative effect on outbound migration of those without a regular residence permit, thus effectively increasing the US non-legal rate. In Italy, the absence of a credible job channel for those migrating to the peninsula forces people to undergo periods of irregular status.

In this context, recent research highlights the role of social networks in immigration. In fact, personal contacts, through multiple channels (via the information they convey on social norms, and the material and logistical support they supply), affect each of the steps outlined above and, therefore, the probability of becoming a legal resident of the country of destination. In theory, the net effect is ambiguous and depends on the type of contacts and quality of resources social networks can provide. For example, on the one hand personal contacts may facilitate survival in a state of irregularity, helping circumvent controls and delivering precious information on access to specific services (I have recently investigated the topic in reference to health services, JHE, 2008). On the other hand, they may help obtain a residence permit by providing information on regularization procedures.

From an empirical point of view, the first results of a research conducted with Simone Cremaschi (PhD researcher, European University Institute) confirm the presence of heterogeneous effects based on contact types: personal or family contacts have a strong positive effect on the probability of becoming resident, while those within the migrant's own ethnic group have only an indirect effect on status, by increasing the probability of becoming employed. An immediate implication of this is that interaction between immigration policy and personal contacts could give rise to cumulative phenomena of growing inequality among immigrants, depending on the kinds of social networks they have access to.
 

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