Language as a new instrument of border control

The regulation of marriage migration from Morocco to Germany

Bibliographic Data

ID3979549
AuthorsMiriam Gutekunst (Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, corresponding author)
Year2015
Volume20
Issue4
Pages540-552
Publication date2015-08-08
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueThe Journal of North African Studies (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1362-9387 • E-ISSN: 1743-9345
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/13629387.2015.1065038
OpenAlexW1879829472
LanguageEN
Citations received14
References cited12

In 2007, the German government introduced the requirement of a language certificate for citizens of 'third countries' who want to join their spouses in the Federal Republic. Thereby, Germany followed the example of the Netherlands, Austria, the UK and France. German policy-makers have justified this language certificate as a measure to facilitate integration before entering the country. Drawing on the Moroccan case, this paper challenges this dominant integration argument and shows the actual consequences of this new instrument of border control. This paper argues that the language certificate leads above all to the hierarchisation of marriage migrants and even to the exclusion of certain candidates, depending on their educational background and financial means. The history of marriage migration from Morocco to Germany shows that family migration, especially of spouses, has a long tradition and has always been the special target of restrictions and control. However, the required language certificate leads to a new level of control. While marriage migration is traditionally based on a private matter, namely the decision to marry someone and to share life together, the utilitarian logic of a neoliberal migration management has found its way into the control of this form of migration. This is also visible in the externalisation of the border regime in the sense of an out-sourcing of migration management, whereby institutions such as language schools have become an integrated part of Germany's border control system

Argument (complex analysis · Certificate · Control (management · Economics · Geography · German · Government (linguistics · Language policy · Linguistics · Management · Political science · Sociology · Computer Science · Cross-Border Cooperation and Integration · Migration and Labor Dynamics · Migration, Refugees, and Integration

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