Nehring, D;
Hu, Y;
(2021)
From public to commercial service: State-market hybridization in the UK visa and immigration permit infrastructure, 1997–2021.
British Journal of Sociology
, 72
(5)
pp. 1325-1346.
10.1111/1468-4446.12891.
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Abstract
This article charts the transformation, between 1997 and 2021, of the family visa and immigration permit infrastructure from a public into a commercial service in the United Kingdom. In doing so, it reveals a process of state-market hybridization underpinning the commercialization of migration regulation. Drawing on the analysis of legal archives, policy reports, and marketing materials directed at family migrants spanning 1997–2021, it presents fresh, systematic evidence of how, since 2007, a commercialized state-market hybrid migration infrastructure for visas and immigration permits has developed in the UK. We show how the trend of state-market hybridized commercialization has cascaded through three dimensions of migration infrastructure, as follows: (1) state and public immigration agencies, (2) outsourcing visa application firms, and (3) private immigration advisers. Predicated on this hybrid public–private commercial infrastructure, application procedures for visas and immigration permits have become increasingly reconstituted as commercial, rather than public, services. This transformation has created a new transactional logic that stratifies individuals' right to family life along socioeconomic lines.
| Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Title: | From public to commercial service: State-market hybridization in the UK visa and immigration permit infrastructure, 1997–2021 |
| Location: | England |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| DOI: | 10.1111/1468-4446.12891 |
| Publisher version: | https://doi.org/10.1111/1468-4446.12891 |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | This version is the author accepted manuscript. For information on re-use, please refer to the publisher’s terms and conditions. |
| Keywords: | commercialization, Demography, Developed Countries, Developing Countries, Economics, Emigration and Immigration, Humans, hybridization, market, migration infrastructure, Population Dynamics, Public Policy, state, visa |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Education UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Education > UCL Institute of Education UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Education > UCL Institute of Education > IOE - Social Research Institute |
| URI: | https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10210918 |
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