Migrants' Rights Network: Greater difficulties for migrant family reunification will mean worse integration outcomes

What happens to people of migrant background when their right to family life is worked over by the bureaucratic obstacles and general rigmarole which the language tests entail?  The index of migrant integration policies developed by the MIPEX project gives us the best idea of how important access to family life is for communities which are working towards their integration.  Its view is that increasing the obstacles to family reunification in the country in which the sponsor is settled produces poorer, rather than better, integration outcomes.  Delaying family reunion produces outcomes which undermine the strong features of the UK system – namely the level of protection provided against discrimination – and creates a situation which is only ‘halfway favourable’ to integration.
The European Network of Migrant Women (ENoMW) published a recently published a report on family reunion legislation in Europe, asking the question as to whether it is discriminatory for migrant women.  It found evidence that pre-entry tests increased difficulties for people from low-income households who are already facing multiple difficulties in moving from the unequal margins to the mainstream of society.  Other researchers have noted the higher costs imposed on migrants who are obliged, because of a failure to obtain visas for their dependents, to maintain two households - one for themselves in the country of settlement, and another for their families in the country of origin.  Despite the evidence that prolonged family separation creates more difficulties for migrants attempting to integrate, the government seems intent on pursuing its current course with spurious arguments about their motivation in achieving better integration...Read more