Search results

Spouses form the largest single category of migrant settlement in the UK, but research and policy making on marriage-related migration to Britain provides incomplete coverage of the phenomenon, having been dominated by a focus on the South Asian populations that are among the largest groups of such migrants. By bringing together immigration statistics with information from academic and third-sector sources, this article attempts to provide a more balanced and nuanced portrayal of patterns and practices of marriage-related migration to the UK. In doing so, it reveals important nationality and gender differences in migration flows and considers how varying marriage practices, social and political contexts, and policies of both receiving and sending countries may work to influence marriage-related migration streams. It also exposes the limitations and lacunae in existing research on this diverse form of migration, highlighting the danger that immigration policy made on the basis of partial evidence will produce unexpected consequences.

Spouses form the largest single category of migrant settlement in the UK, but research and policy making on marriage-related migration to Britain provides incomplete coverage of the phenomenon, having been dominated by a focus in the South Asian populations which are among the largest groups of such migrants. By bringing together immigration statistics with information from academic and third sector sources, this article attempts to provide a more balanced and nuanced portrayal of patterns and practices of marriage-related migration to the UK. In doing so, it reveals important nationality and gender differences in migration flows, and considers how varying marriage practices, social and political contexts, and policies of both receiving and sending countries may work to influence marriage-related migration streams. It also exposes the limitations and lacunae in existing research on this diverse form of migration, highlighting the danger that immigration policy made on the basis of partial evidence will produce unexpected consequences. ; Spouses form the largest single category of migrant settlement in the UK, but research and policy making on marriage-related migration to Britain provides incomplete coverage of the phenomenon, having been dominated by a focus in the South Asian populations which are among the largest groups of such migrants. By bringing together immigration statistics with information from academic and third sector sources, this article attempts to provide a more balanced and nuanced portrayal of patterns and practices of marriage-related migration to the UK. In doing so, it reveals important nationality and gender differences in migration flows, and considers how varying marriage practices, social and political contexts, and policies of both receiving and sending countries may work to influence marriage-related migration streams. It also exposes the limitations and lacunae in existing research on this diverse form of migration, highlighting the danger that immigration policy made on the basis of partial evidence will produce unexpected consequences.

Recent migration 'crises' raise important geopolitical questions. Who is 'the migrant' that contemporary politics are fixated on? How are answers to 'who counts as a migrant' changing? Who gets to do that counting, and under what circumstances? This forum responds to, as well as questions, the current saliency of migration by examining how categories of migration hold geopolitical significance—not only in how they are constructed and by whom, but also in how they are challenged and subverted. Furthermore, by examining how the very concepts of 'migrant' and 'refugee' are used in different contexts, and for a variety of purposes, it opens up critical questions about mobility, citizenship and the nation state. Collectively, these contributions aim to demonstrate how problematising migration and its categorisation can be a tool of enquiry into other phenomena and processes.