Creating a future while waiting for a residence permit

Temporary and irregular migrants in informal social infrastructures

Bibliographic Data

ID12605331
AuthorsLena Näre (0000-0001-6096-9276, University of Helsinki, corresponding author), Synnøve Bendixsen (0000-0003-4352-3680, University of Bergen), Olivia Maury (0000-0001-9894-1682, University of Helsinki)
Year2022
Volume27
Issue1
Pages138-150
Publication date2022-10-19
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueEuropean Journal of Social Work (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1369-1457 • E-ISSN: 1468-2664
PublisherTaylor & Francis (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/13691457.2022.2135092
OpenAlexW4306803597
LanguageEN
Citations received14
References cited27

In this article, we analyse how temporary and irregular migrants resist bureaucratically induced waiting for decisions on their residence permit applications in the unknown future [l’avénir] by engaging with the present. We argue that through their engagement with the present, they seek to create a future [un avenir] for themselves. Our approach challenges approaches to waiting as a passive experience. Drawing on ethnographic and qualitative research in Finland and Norway, we analyse how migrants draw on informal relationships or what we term informal social infrastructure to secure access to services and to transgress laws and policies which exclude them. We argue for an approach that considers waiting not as a pre-defined condition but as an induced temporal context within which migrants are oriented towards an unknown future. This creates spaces for action in the present through which migrants can transform the unknown future into a projected and desired future

Business · Demographic economics · Economic growth · Economics · Immigration · Political science · Public relations · Residence · Sociology · Homelessness and Social Issues · Law · Migration and Labor Dynamics · Migration, Refugees, and Integration · Social Work

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Open DOIOpen Access