Immigration policy and economic cycle effects on spousal reunification in Spain

  1. Francisco Javier Mato Díaz 1
  2. María Miyar Busto 2
  1. 1 Universidad de Oviedo, España
  2. 2 Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia (UNED) , España
Journal:
Revista internacional de sociología

ISSN: 0034-9712

Year of publication: 2017

Volume: 75

Issue: 3

Type: Article

DOI: 10.3989/RIS.2017.75.3.15.138 DIALNET GOOGLE SCHOLAR lock_openOpen access editor

More publications in: Revista internacional de sociología

Abstract

This paper analyzes the influence of immigration policy and the Great Recession on spousal reunification in Spain. After a significant immigration boom (2000-2008), family-related migration has contributed to the significant flows that continued to arrive in Spain during the economic crisis. But this type of migration was subject to both the crisis and immigration policy changes, such as visa conditions, which may not have been specifically addressed to influence these flows. Using data from the Spanish Labor Force Survey (LFS), the research considers married primary immigrants who came to Spain from the four main countries of origin (Ecuador, Colombia, Romania and Morocco) and concludes, first, that tighter conditions to visit the country—particularly tourist border controls—discourage spousal reunification. The reason could be that during the immigration boom, illicit immigration abounded and secondary immigrants were arriving as tourists. Secondly, reunification was slowed down by the Great Recession for the majority of the countries considered, except Ecuador. Unsurprisingly, given the job losses in typical male jobs, the negative influence of the crisis is greater for female primary immigrants. Third, contrary to the expectations that placed secondary immigrants as people with relatively low ties to the labor market, the research shows that because spousal reunification coincided with a deep economic and job crisis, female secondary immigrants increased the family labor supply in order to maintain consumption and/or remittance in what looks like an added-worker effect.

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Funding information

This work was supported by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (Project: DER2013-44950-R).

Funders

    • DER2013-44950-R

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