Contractualization, depoliticization and the limits of solidarity: noncitizens in contemporary Australia

Abstract

This paper seeks to analyze a particular form of noncitizenship – arising from legal long-term temporary migration – that is increasingly significant to the contemporary Australian context and to understand some of its consequences. It argues that traditional pathways of permanent settlement and full citizenship are being disrupted by new temporary migration schemes that create ‘middling’ noncitizen subjects who experience ‘patchwork’ rights and statuses across complex and diverse migration pathways. Through a close analysis of policy narratives and discourses, as well as of the existing literature on the social conditions and emerging solidarities of these noncitizens, the paper shows the various ways that noncitizenship is depoliticized and citizenship contractualized in Australia. These entwined processes of depoliticization and contractualization have intimate effects on the lives of noncitizens, and also limit and constrain the emerging solidarities that seek to challenge their exclusion. The analysis has a number of implications for the ongoing study of contemporary transformations in citizenship in other ‘immigrant democracies’ globally.

Keywords:

• Temporary migration
• citizenship
• noncitizenship
• Australia

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1. The 457 visa subclass was introduced in 1996. It is the main programme under which Australian or overseas employers can sponsor skilled migrants to work in Australia on a temporary basis, for a period of up to four years.

2. I do not include migrants with permanent residency (PR) under the noncitizens category in this paper, because permanent residents in Australia are effectively ‘citizens-in-waiting’ – they have full social rights and are virtually guaranteed access to full citizenship once they have been legally resident in Australia for the required time. I also exclude the small number of short-term workers who enter Australia under the Seasonal Workers Program (SWP), who have a vastly different experience from the majority of noncitizen workers in Australia – most notably they have little to no chance of extended temporary stays or permanent residency.

3. It is difficult to ascertain the proportion of temporary migrants across employment sectors or skilled/unskilled work. There are no existing sources of population level socio-economic or employment data on temporary migrants in Australia (Birrell and Healy 2012b; Hugo 2006), with the Department of Immigration and Border Protection only releasing regular data on 457 workers, and many noncitizens, particularly working holiday makers and students, working in the informal economy. Existing surveys do show that the significance of different employment sectors varies greatly across visa categories, with the vast majority of working holiday makers in low or unskilled work in accommodation and food services or agriculture, forestry and fishing (Tan et al. 2009), while over a half of 457 workers are engaged in professional work (DIBP 2014).