The Bumpy Landscape of Family Reunification: Experiences of First- and 1.5-generation Filipinos in France

Abstract

Recent studies on immigrant families have demonstrated how the migration status of parents influences their process of family reunification. In the current context of restrictions on family-related migrations in many receiving countries, concretising their family reunification projects often appears challenging to migrant parents and their children. Aiming to shed light on the way migrant families cope with these restrictions depending on their migration status, this article examines the family reunification process of first-generation Filipino migrants in France with their ‘1.5-generation’ offspring. Fieldwork data show that even when irregular migrant parents succeed in regularising their situation, family reunion remains difficult to them due to the complex French immigration policies. As a result, many Filipino immigrants, regardless of their migration status, turn to ‘black market’ channels to reunite with their children. Their family reunification process does not end with the reunion itself but continues to unfold for many years afterwards, as parents and children progressively come to terms with living together after a long separation.

Keywords:

• Family Reunification
• Migration Status
• First Generation
• 1.5 Generation
• Filipinos

Acknowledgements

The author is grateful to all the migrants who accepted to be interviewed during this study, and to two anonymous reviewers for their useful comments.

Funding

This work was supported by the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science [grant number 21402032 (2009–2012) and grant number 24401039 (2012–2015)] to Itaru Nagasaka (associate professor at Hiroshima University and coordinator of the research project in which this study took place).

Notes

[1] Members of this generation migrated with their parents or followed them abroad before turning 18 (Bartley and Spoonley 2008).

[2] Most Filipinos in France are Christians, in majority Catholics.

[3] All the names of the respondents in this article were modified to protect their privacy.

[4] Prior to her migration, this respondent was informally separated from her husband (divorce is impossible under Philippine law). To be able to marry her French boyfriend, she declared her ex-partner as deceased and asked him and his mother not to file any legal complaint against her for doing this.

[5] This corresponds to the basic monthly salary in France since the 1st of January 2014.

[6] In the 1990s and early 2000s, the partner of a French national only had to wait 1–3 years after marriage before applying for French citizenship.

[7] The father of these respondents had himself acquired French nationality because he was the son of a Filipino–French couple who had settled in Manila long time ago, hence his children were able to get a French passport and come to France legally.

[8] Such a passport is originally issued for another person, and then the photograph is replaced in the document. In some cases, the photograph of the genuine passport owner is not replaced and the bearer just pretends to be that original owner.

[9] Based on the French code of nationality, specifically the law of 16 March 1998, a person born in France of foreign parents acquires the French nationality at 18, the age of majority, under the condition that (s)he was born in France after the 1st of September 1980 and has been residing there for at least 5 years (consecutive or not) since the age of 11 when (s)he reaches the age of majority (Legifrance 1998).

Additional information

Funding

Funding: This work was supported by the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science [grant number 21402032 (2009–2012) and grant number 24401039 (2012–2015)] to Itaru Nagasaka (associate professor at Hiroshima University and coordinator of the research project in which this study took place).