Managing Surveillance? The Impact of Biometric Residence Permits on UK Migrants

Warren, Adam P.; Mavroudi, Elizabeth

doi:10.1080/1369183x.2011.623624

Cited by 27 publications

(15 citation statements)

References 33 publications

(28 reference statements)

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“…However, in so far as biometrics draws attention to new processes of racialization, the data regarding residence, access to social rights and physical characteristics produced becomes encoded in highly individualized terms. This is why qualitative research on experiences of applying and holding a biometric residence permits also highlights a more amorphous feeling of being 'different' (Warren and Mavroudi 2011). Thus, while containing elements of racialization, biometrics marks an individualized construction of migrants in excess of processes of race-making.…”

Section: The 'Complex Migrations -Differential Racialization' Nexusmentioning

confidence: 99%

Understanding the contemporary race–migration nexus

Erel

Murji

Nahaboo

2016

Ethnic and Racial Studies

110

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The linkage between race and migration, especially in the UK since the 1990s, has shifted from a focus on postcolonial migrants to focus on newer groups, while migration within the European Union has also altered the discussion of racism and migration. This critical review provides a framework for understanding how race is conceptualized (or ignored) in contemporary scholarship on migration. We identify three, partly overlapping nexi between migration and racialization: (1) 'Changing Migrations -Continuities of Racism'; (2) 'Complex Migrations -Differentialist Racialization'; (3) 'Post-racial Migrations -Beyond Racism'. The article analyses what each of these nexi bring into focus as well as what they neglect. The concept of race-migration nexus aids a fuller understanding of how migration and contemporary racialization are co-constructed. Scholars need to consider the relationship between migration and race to better address pressing issues of racism against migrants and settled communities.

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Section: The 'Complex Migrations -Differential Racialization' Nexusmentioning

confidence: 99%

Understanding the contemporary race–migration nexus

Erel

Murji

Nahaboo

2016

Ethnic and Racial Studies

110

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“…From the perspective of academic migrants, visa application processes appeared unnecessarily protracted and complicated. Furthermore, the need to present biometric residence cards in various everyday life situations, long after entry into the UK, was seen as a constant reminder of their immigration status (Warren and Mavroudi 2011). Thus, as Raghuram (2014) argues, while the notion of precariousness is generally reserved for the lower skilled, skilled migrants may also occupy precarious positions in the host country.…”

Section: Temporal Bordersmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, this is beyond the scope of this paper since none of the respondents had been in Sweden long enough to apply for citizenship. The concept of waiting is thus central to exploring the experiential dimension (see Griffiths 2014;Mavroudi and Warren 2013;Warren and Mavroudi 2011) of living within such temporally thick borders. While waiting has been described, for example, both as an active practice and an experience filled with meaning (Gasparini 1995;Gray 2011;Jeffrey 2008, Mountz 2011, the kind of waiting that is explored in this paper has more in common with Gasparini's (1995, 31) conceptualisation of waiting as "blockage of action".…”

Section: Temporal Bordersmentioning

confidence: 99%

Living within temporally thick borders: IT professionals’ experiences of Swedish immigration policy and practice

Axelsson

2016

Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies

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This paper challenges the claim that highly skilled professionals are offered almost seamless mobility and a comprehensive set of rights. Focussing on highly skilled professionals in Sweden's information technology industry, it argues that just like the lower skilled, the highly skilled may experience a range of insecurities to do with their immigration status. It explores these insecurities by conceptualising border crossing as a temporal process that begins with the submission of a work permit application and ends with permanent status (or migrant departure) and which, consequently, spans several years. More pointedly, the paper demonstrates that some highly skilled migrants experience several moments of waiting in relation to their admission, labour market access and settlement. These moments of waiting have spatial and temporal consequences in terms of temporary losses of mobility rights, elongated pathways to citizenship, insecurity of presence and feelings of living in limbo. Importantly, the paper shows that the practices of government institutions are every bit as important as legal frameworks in producing these moments of waiting and that it is therefore necessary to extend the analysis of migration management beyond policy analysis in order to more fully appreciate the situation of the highly skilled.Keywords: highly skilled migration; migration management; borders; time; waiting IntroductionSelective migration policies that favour the immigration of the highly skilled are proliferating. It is widely held that governments in Europe and beyond design immigration policies to attract talented and experienced professionals, offering the highly skilled almost seamless mobility and a comprehensive set of rights including the right to family reunification, spousal access to the labour market, and privileged routes to settlement (e.g. Boeri 2012;Chaloff and Lemaitre 2009;Gabriel and Pellerin 2008;Koslowski 2014;Menz and Caviedes 2010;Ong 1999;Shachar 2006). In this paper, I draw on the case of highly skilled professionals working in the information technology Accepted version 2 (IT) industry in Sweden -a country that introduced an employer-led labour migration policy in December 2008 which has been described as the most liberal among the OECD countries (OECD 2011) -in order to question the claim that the highly skilled are offered seamless mobility and access to labour markets and civil and social entitlements. I argue that the highly skilled may experience a range of insecurities to do with their immigration status, in particular under so called demand-driven programmes based on employer selection, which do not offer permanent status upon arrival. In such ways, while higher skilled migrants undoubtedly tend to enjoy relatively privileged mobility, employment and social rights, they can nonetheless face similar experiences to their lower skilled counterparts who are increasingly channelled into temporary migrant worker programmes that often set migrant workers onto paths of return or circular The notion of tem...

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“…However, "biometric residence permits" (BRPs) introduced in 2008 for foreign nationals can be checked against a nationwide database through an online checking service (Warren and Mavroudi, 2011). This new system represents a significant tightening of the enforcement regime, although it still depends upon employers' cooperation and judgement and will not prevent foreign workers from presenting forged EU identity documents.…”

Section: Nodes Of Control a Access To Workmentioning

confidence: 99%

Coordinating internal immigration control in the UK

Sitkin

2014

IJMBS

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Biographical notes: Lea Sitkin's academic research focuses on the organisation and effects of immigration controls, the relationship between neoliberalism, welfare and punishment and the development of precarious labour markets across Europe and the USA. Her doctoral research uses a comparative case study (UK and Germany) to interrogate materialist explanations for punitive transformations in immigration control in Europe. The thesis offers a historical analysis for why immigrant communities are policed differently in the two contexts. It also explores the role of underlying labour market variation (as described in the Varieties of Capitalism literature) on the construction of immigrants as vulnerable workers in the UK and Germany. Previous research has focused on the generalizability of Wacquant's Punishing the Poor (2009) to the European context. AbstractThe UK government has recently introduced measures to intensify the internal migration control regime by improving coordination between immigration authorities and third-party enforcement agents. The following paper describes the internal migration control regime in the UK, focusing on measures developed to impede irregular migrants' access to work, justice, healthcare, education and housing. It also explores the ways in which coordination between actors comprising the "immigration policing family" is hampered by administrative difficulties and, more fundamentally, by a lack of common goals. In response to these issues, successive UK governments have introduced sanctions for non-compliant enforcement agents, which are often discursively linked by immigration authorities to the notion of preventing third parties' exploitation of irregular migrants. However, ultimately it is the developing internal control regime which threatens irregular migrants' survival.

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Managing Surveillance? The Impact of Biometric Residence Permits on UK Migrants

Cited by 27 publications

References 33 publications

Understanding the contemporary race–migration nexus

Understanding the contemporary race–migration nexus

Living within temporally thick borders: IT professionals’ experiences of Swedish immigration policy and practice

Coordinating internal immigration control in the UK

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