Uneven Borders: Family Reunification Regulations and Their Implications in Europe

n light of a growing literature and a multi-disciplinary perspective, this chapter reviews the main characteristics and trends in the regulation of family migration in different European countries and the key implications of these sets of controls on the lives of families divided by borders. Contemporary migration flows have been accompanied by re-nationalising and populist outbursts, which have triggered restrictive border and immigration policies framed by an ‘emergency and crisis’ discourse. Family migration has often been a specific target of these discourses: family migrants are considered problematic because they cannot be strictly quantitatively and qualitatively selected in terms of skills, etc. Their family connections are also considered suspect and ‘improper’, as the debate on sham, forced, arranged or polygamous marriages exemplifies. This chapter demonstrates that these restrictive trends have not decreased the incidence and statistical relevance of family migration in Europe.