Differently unequal: On migrants' stratified access to family reunification and family enititlements in the Netherlands, Israel and Italy

Even though right to family life constitutes one of the fundamental human rights, family migration is increasingly seen as problematic and subjected to an ever-expanding number of restrictions. Governments apply a variety of intertwinned migration governance measures that regulate the entry and residence of various categories of foreign nationals. The ensuing unequal endowment of migrants with residence, labour and social rights produces a complex system of civil stratification, in which different categories of migrants occupy a different place in social hierarchy. This chapter explores how national contexts (Israeli, Italian and Dutch) affect the stratification processes in two policy areas: family reunification and family support policies. Our results show that the importance of the various axes of stratification, or the dimensions along which the desirability of migrants is assessed, differs by country and policy area. While provenance appears of most significance in determining migrants access to state territory, especially in Israel, residential status and economic utility are more significant in conditioning migrants’ access to social rights, especially in the Netherlands and to a slightly lesser extent in Italy. Our analysis also suggests that the understanding of the various dimensions along which the desirability of migrants is assessed differs by country. For example, while in Israel, provenance is understood as ancestry, or common descent, in Italy and, especially in the Netherlands, the provenance of the migrant is more readily evaluated in the light of their political, economic or cultural proximity. Finally, despite the EU embeddedness of Italy and the Netherlands and the fact that both countries are bound by a number of integrative EU policies, we found considerable differences between the two countries driven by the peculiarities of their migration, employment and welfare regimes. Our results suggest that future research should address the consequences of the disadvantaged (employment) position of especially immigrant women for their unequal access to family reunion and family entitlements, the gendered division of care responsibilities within the household and the vulnerability risks for immigrant children.