Multiple sources of precarity: bureaucratic bordering of temporary migrants in a Nordic welfare state

ABSTRACT

Nordic welfare states are imagined as generous and universal due to their residence- and needs-based welfare rights. We analyse how welfare state borders are implemented in practice through what we term bureaucratic bordering and how this bordering creates complex precarity for temporary migrants stemming from multiple sources. Drawing on qualitative research with asylum seekers and non-European Union/European Economic Area (non-EU/EEA) student-workers, we argue that migrants with temporary residence permits encounter an opaque system characterised by bureaucratic borders. These borders produce precarity in relation to the right to reside, work and access welfare services. We find that in the case of asylum seekers who find work and seek to legalise their residence through work, precarity is produced through limiting access to labour-based permits, while for student-migrants, precarity is produced through the indirect imposition of precarious part-time work alongside studies. In both cases, complex bordering practices emerge as the migrants attempt to navigate both the residence and the welfare system in the interstices of institutions, street-level bureaucrats and personal connections. We contend that the bordering practices necessarily also contribute to reshaping the welfare state itself by eroding residence-based access to rights, marginalising residents and creating new hierarchies based on temporary residence.

KEYWORDS:

• Temporary migration
• precarity
• noncitizens
• irregular migrants
• bureaucratic bordering

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

The research on which this article is based on was conducted within the project Tackling Precarious and Informal Work in the Nordic countries (PrecaNord, 2022-2026) funded by the Future Challenges in the Nordics Programme.