Lost in Administration: (Re)Producing Precarious Citizenship for Young University-Educated Intra-EU Migrants in Brussels

Abstract

The mounting backlash against intra-EU migration in various EU countries has triggered national policies seeking to restrict EU citizens' social rights and freedom of movement. Building on and expanding Noora Lori's (2017) work around this concept, the article examines intra-EU migrants' increasingly unsettled legal statuses as potentially precarious citizenship. Focussing on the experiences of young university-educated intra-EU migrants in Brussels, the article claims that, in the absence of straightforward EU legislation and explicit government policies, administrative actors use their discretion to draw indeterminate boundaries enforcing conditionality and temporariness of status for EU citizens in precarious work arrangements, therefore often increasing the pressure on them to take further precarious jobs. The article argues that, under the conditions of precarious employment, not even migrants with privileged access to citizenship rights are protected from processes of boundary enforcement that institutionalise the ambiguity of statuses and produce precarious citizenship.

In, Against and Beyond Precarity: Work in Insecure Times

“…Various contributions identify the state, rather than employers, as the key manufacturer of precarization, due to its ability to determine individuals’ access to welfare and social protection. Even under the apparently inclusive institution of the European Union, relatively privileged workers such as university-educated intra-EU migrants living in Brussels experience work and social insecurity through tighter state controls over welfare and immigration (Simola, 2018). This ‘ citizenship precarization ’ (see also Lori, 2017) encapsulates the differentiation occurring at the juridical level relating to definitions of the citizen-worker (Anderson, 2015), where the temporariness of legal status becomes a major obstacle for migrants’ access to welfare and good-quality employment.…”

“…This ‘ citizenship precarization ’ (see also Lori, 2017) encapsulates the differentiation occurring at the juridical level relating to definitions of the citizen-worker (Anderson, 2015), where the temporariness of legal status becomes a major obstacle for migrants’ access to welfare and good-quality employment. From Simola’s (2018) research we learn how young university-educated intra-EU migrants’ access to benefits, health and social assistance have become increasingly conditional upon complex geometries of entitlements, proof of habitual residence and self-sufficiency. The ambiguity within EU legislation relating to definitions of worker, jobseeker or inactive person confirms that differentiating through status (whether employment or residence) is a key form of precarization operating at the intersection between work and social reproduction (see also Choi, 2018).…”

Young EU migrant citizens’ access to financial independence in conditions of precarious work: A tripartite approach to welfare conditionality

“…The initial requirements for registration also became more restrictive and conditional on proofs of consistent, paid employment. There is evidence that minimum thresholds regarding hours, remuneration and length of contract have been applied (Meurens and Van Caeneghem, 2016: 18–19; O’Brien et al, 2015), while the present data suggest that the administrative practices have been notably arbitrary and the requirements have differed between municipalities or even between officers (Simola, 2018). Many participants were unable to provide such proofs, and if they sought to register, they were usually classified as ‘job seekers’ but not granted the residence certificate.…”

Identity, Belonging and Strategic Citizenship. Considerations About Naturalisation Among Italians and Spaniards Living in the EU

“…In this case, citizenship can make migrants feel more protected against the risk of racial profiling and can be seen as a guarantee against possible discriminations. Despite only few migrants reported discrimination by public authorities, previous works have shown that formal membership makes relationships with the state institutions "easier", since intra-EU migrants in precarious forms of employment could even face the risk of expulsion from a member state due to erroneous interpretation of EU legislation (Simola, 2018).…”