Ambiguous goals, uneven implementation : how immigration offices shape internal immigration control in Germany
Faculty/Professorship: | Political Sociology |
Author(s): | Schultz, Caroline |
Publisher Information: | Bamberg : Otto-Friedrich-Universität |
Year of publication: | 2020 |
Pages: | 18 |
Source/Other editions: | Comparative migration studies : CMS, 8 (2020), 10, 18 S. - ISSN: 2214-594X |
is version of: | 10.1186/s40878-019-0164-0 |
Year of first publication: | 2020 |
Language(s): | English |
Licence: | Creative Commons - CC BY - Attribution 4.0 International |
Abstract: | This paper investigates regional variation in migration policy implementation, focusing specifically on the underexplored role of policy ambiguity. It chooses a salient case study of internal migration control implementation: the application of labour market access policies for migrants with precarious legal status in German municipal immigration offices. Studying the implementation approaches of eleven offices within one Land by means of semi-structured interviews with senior officials, the research design allows for drawing inter-agency and inter-policy comparisons. The data provides empirical evidence for the claim that the more conflictive and hence ambiguous a policy, the more importance can be placed on local determinants of implementation. Different logics (economic welfare and regulatory control logic) legitimizing more restrictive or expansive implementation are identified and linked to the broader migration policy context. Moreover, the difficult task of officials to determine applicants’ identity clarification efforts – a condition for receiving a work permit – serves as basis for conceptually distinguishing between collective and individual discretion of street-level bureaucrats. |
GND Keywords: | Deutschland; Ausländerbehörde; Migrationspolitik |
Keywords: | Asylum seekers, Precarious legal status, Labour market integration, Migration control, Policy implementation, Street-level bureaucracy |
DDC Classification: | 320 Political Science |
RVK Classification: | MG 15734 |
Type: | Article |
URI: | https://fis.uni-bamberg.de/handle/uniba/47474 |
Release Date: | 10. March 2020 |
Project: | Open-Access-Publikationsfonds 2012-2020 |
File | Size | Format | |
---|---|---|---|
fisba47474.pdf | 421.91 kB | View/Open |

originated at the
University of Bamberg
University of Bamberg