Rights statement: This is the peer reviewed version of the following article: Nehring, D., & Hu, Y. (2021). From public to commercial service: State-market hybridization in the UK visa and immigration permit infrastructure, 1997–2021. The British Journal of Sociology, 72, 1325– 1346. doi.org/10.1111/1468-4446.12891 which has been published in final form at https://doi.org/10.1111/1468-4446.12891. This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance With Wiley Terms and Conditions for self-archiving.
Accepted author manuscript, 739 KB, PDF document
Available under license: CC BY-NC: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License
Final published version
Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review
Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review
}
TY - JOUR
T1 - From public to commercial service
T2 - State-market hybridisation in the UK visa and immigration permit infrastructure, 1997–2021
AU - Nehring, Daniel
AU - Hu, Yang
N1 - This is the peer reviewed version of the following article: Nehring, D., & Hu, Y. (2021). From public to commercial service: State-market hybridization in the UK visa and immigration permit infrastructure, 1997–2021. The British Journal of Sociology, 72, 1325– 1346. doi.org/10.1111/1468-4446.12891 which has been published in final form at https://doi.org/10.1111/1468-4446.12891. This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance With Wiley Terms and Conditions for self-archiving.
PY - 2021/12/31
Y1 - 2021/12/31
N2 - 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 (UK). In doing so, it reveals a process of state-market hybridisation underpinning the commercialisation 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 commercialised state-market hybrid migration infrastructure for visas and immigration permits has developed in the UK. We show how the trend of state-market hybridised commercialisation has cascaded through three dimensions of migration infrastructure: (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 socio-economic lines.
AB - 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 (UK). In doing so, it reveals a process of state-market hybridisation underpinning the commercialisation 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 commercialised state-market hybrid migration infrastructure for visas and immigration permits has developed in the UK. We show how the trend of state-market hybridised commercialisation has cascaded through three dimensions of migration infrastructure: (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 socio-economic lines.
KW - Commercialization
KW - Hybridization
KW - Market
KW - Migration infrastructure
KW - State
KW - Visa
U2 - 10.1111/1468-4446.12891
DO - 10.1111/1468-4446.12891
M3 - Journal article
VL - 72
SP - 1325
EP - 1346
JO - British Journal of Sociology
JF - British Journal of Sociology
SN - 0007-1315
IS - 5
ER -