Integration Requirements For Immigrants In Europe

Based on legal-philosophical research, and informed by insights gleaned from empirical case studies, this book sets out three central claims about integration requirements as conditions for attaining increased rights (ie family migration, permanent residency and citizenship) in Europe: (1) That the recent proliferation of these (mandatory) integration requirements is rooted in a shift towards 'individualised' conceptions of integration. (2) That this shift is counterproductive as it creates barriers to participation and inclusion for newcomers (who will most likely permanently settle); and is normatively problematic insofar as it produces status hierarchies between native-born and immigrant citizens. (3) That the remedy for this situation is a firewall that disconnects integration policy from access to rights. The book draws on perspectives on immigrant integration in multiple EU Member States and includes legal and political reactions to the refugee/migrant crisis.

This topical book sheds light on immigrants’ subjective well-being by analysing the main factors associated with self-reported life satisfaction among immigrants and natives. It thereby draws upon subjective components of well-being, which are now receiving growing attention in well-being research. It also fills in a gap in migration research, which has not yet focused on the study of immigrants’ well-being. Starting from a broader focus on Europe, the book then looks more closely at Italy. This is a key country in the immigration policy field in Europe, but where the study of immigrants’ integration from a subjective perspective has been rarely addressed so far. The book provides suggestions for constructing and implementing immigration and integration policies by not only taking into account the needs of the host societies, but also the experiences, opinions, requirements and expectations of immigrants. This book is very useful for academic and policy researchers working on immigrant integration issues.

In this rich study, Roxana Barbulescu examines the transformation of state-led immigrant integration in two relatively new immigration countries in Western Europe: Italy and Spain. The book is comparative in approach and seeks to explain states' immigrant integration strategies across national, regional, and city-level decision and policy making. Barbulescu argues that states pursue no one-size-fits-all strategy for the integration of migrants, but rather simultaneously pursue multiple strategies that vary greatly for different groups. Two main integration strategies stand out. The first one targets non-European citizens and is assimilationist in character and based on interventionist principles according to which the government actively pursues the inclusion of migrants. The second strategy targets EU citizens and is a laissez-faire scenario where foreigners enjoy rights and live their entire lives in the host country without the state or the local authorities seeking their integration. The empirical material in the book, dating from 1985 to 2015, includes systematic analyses of immigration laws, integration policies and guidelines, historical documents, original interviews with policy makers, and statistical analysis based on data from the European Labor Force Survey. While the book draws on evidence from Italy and Spain in an effort to bring these case studies to the core of fundamental debates on immigration and citizenship studies, its broader aim is to contribute to a better understanding of state interventionism in immigrant integration in contemporary Europe. The book will be a useful text for students and scholars of global immigration, integration, citizenship, European integration, and European society and culture.

This book seeks to address three issues: How do European countries differ in their cultural integration process and what are the different models of integration at work? How does cultural integration relate to economic integration? What are the implications for civic participation and public policies?

Language and integration tests as a condition for naturalisation and various types of legal residence permits are topical issues in several European Member States. The introduction of the tests reflects a change in ideas on the relationship between legal status and integration. Since the introduction of the tests is a rather recent development, little is known of the effects of the formalised testing schemes. Whether the tests have in fact contributed to the integration of immigrants in the host society or whether they function as a mechanism for selection and exclusion is unknown. In this book, experts from Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Hungary, Latvia, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom analyse the policies concerning the integration of newcomers and/or future citizens in their countries.

1980-93, by John Foot

Why are traditional nation-states newly defining membership and belonging? In the twenty-first century, several Western European states have attached obligatory civic integration requirements as conditions for citizenship and residence, which include language proficiency, country knowledge and value commitments for immigrants. This book examines this membership policy adoption and adaptation through both medium-N analysis and three paired comparisons to argue that while there is convergence in instruments, there is also significant divergence in policy purpose, design and outcomes. To explain this variation, this book focuses on the continuing, dynamic interaction of institutional path dependency and party politics. Through paired comparisons of Austria and Denmark, Germany and the United Kingdom, and the Netherlands and France, this book illustrates how variations in these factors - as well as a variety of causal processes - produce divergent civic integration policy strategies that, ultimately, preserve and anchor national understandings of membership.

In this open access book, experts on integration processes, integration policies, transnationalism, and the migration and development framework provide an academic assessment of the 2011 European Agenda for the Integration of Third-Country Nationals, which calls for integration policies in the EU to involve not only immigrants and their society of settlement, but also actors in their country of origin. Moreover, a heuristic model is developed for the non-normative, analytical study of integration processes and policies based on conceptual, demographic, and historical accounts. The volume addresses three interconnected issues: What does research have to say on (the study of) integration processes in general and on the relevance of actors in origin countries in particular? What is the state of the art of the study of integration policies in Europe and the use of the concept of integration in policy formulation and practice? Does the proposal to include actors in origin countries as important players in integration policies find legitimation in empirical research? A few general conclusions are drawn. First, integration policies have developed at many levels of government: nationally, locally, regionally, and at the supra-national level of the EU. Second, a multitude of stakeholders has become involved in integration as policy designers and implementers. Finally, a logic of policymaking—and not an evidence-based scientific argument—can be said to underlie the European Commission’s redefinition of integration as a three-way process. This book will appeal to academics and policymakers at international, European, national, regional, and local levels. It will also be of interest to graduate and master-level students of political science, sociology, social anthropology, international relations, criminology, geography, and history.

This open access book explores how research and policymaking in the field of migrant integration have developed historically and how this interrelationship plays out in the strongly politicised climate of opinions on migration in Europe. It features interdisciplinary theoretical contributions as well as original empirical studies on research-policy dialogues at both the EU and country level. The chapters study not only how the dialogue between research and policy is structured (such as advisory bodies, research agencies, and ad-hoc committees), but also how these dialogues affect policymaking and the development of migrant integration research itself as well. The analysis reveals profound changes in the dialogue structures associated with the research-policy nexus in the domain of migrant integration. On the one hand, dialogue structures have become more ad-hoc, often established in response to distinct political events or to specific problems. On the other, politicisation has not thwarted all efforts to develop more institutionalised dialogue structures between producers and users of knowledge. In addition, research has contributed to policymaking in very different ways in various European countries. This edited volume is unique in this effort to reflect on the impact of research-policy dialogues both on the development of migrant integration policies as well as on migrant integration research. It will be of importance to scholars in this field as well as to policymakers and other stakeholders involved in migrant integration policymaking.

In The Civic Citizens of Europe: The Legal Potential for Immigrant Integration in the EU, Belgium, Germany, and the United Kingdom, Moritz Jesse analyses the legal framework within which inclusion of immigrants into the receiving societies can take place. The inclusion of immigrants cannot be enforced by law. However, legislation must provide the room within which integration can take place legally. By studying residence titles, procedures, rights to family migration, permanent residence, and integration measures in a comparative and critical way, Jesse wants to discover whether the legal potential for integration in the EU and the three Member States is sufficient for the inclusion of immigrants.