Attachment and Disgust in Narratives of UK Family Migration Policy

Abstract

This chapter looks at changes to family migration policy under the Coalition that pose the right to a family life for migrants as an obstacle to the successful reproduction of national belonging. It argues that this narrative operates through three interconnected strands. First, that the state needs to crack down on ‘sham’ marriages and families, and needs to strengthen its power to define what constitutes the real marriage/family, extending its bordering practices into ever-increasing sectors of civil society and widening the imperative for both migrants and citizens to prove themselves worthy of belonging. Second, that foreign partners need to be able to demonstrate a genuine attachment to the UK and to integrate into its norms, before being allowed to enter or remain in the country—they need to be willing to marry the nation and not just an individual citizen. Third, tying family migration policy into the austerity agenda examined throughout this book, the proper family is one that is not a burden on the taxpayer, who is presumed to be not a migrant and to be a good neo-liberal citizen who should be able to manage their own life. Together, these three strands work to strengthen the sense that the migrant family represents a reproductive burden that is too great for the country to bear.