Narratives and counter-narratives on "marriage of convenience" : conjugality and (il)legality in portuguese migration policies and in couples’ experiences

Tese de doutoramento, Sociologia (Sociologia da Família, Juventude e das Relações do Género), Universidade de Lisboa, Instituto de Ciências Sociais, 2016

This thesis explores the interaction between the mobility and conjugal trajectories of married couples involving migrants in an undocumented position and the state regulation of residency rights in Portugal. In a context in which securitarian approaches prevail in European Union migration policies, family reunification is increasingly controlled and framed as a potentially fraudulent channel to evade migration restrictions and obtain residency documents. Namely, residency and nationality applications based on conjugal motives are the object of growing institutionalized suspicion. In 2007, the Portuguese government introduced a specific crime denominated as “marriage of convenience”, defined as a marital act that is contracted for the “exclusive purpose” of gaining residency rights (Law 23/2007). The implementation of this legislation by state authorities is based on the assumption that conjugal motivations may be investigated on the basis of institutional criteria capable of differentiating “genuine” marriages from “fraudulent” relationships. The research focuses on the underpinnings and repercussions of restrictive regulations, weighing institutional paradigms and practices against couples’ experiences. A qualitative case study was developed on the basis of interviews with both state representatives and married couples involving subjects in an undocumented or precarious residency situation. The thesis argues that the current mobility and intimacy control policies, notwithstanding the resistance enacted by some couples, impact in a discriminatory way on the opportunities and constraints faced by specific social categories. The empirical data indicates that restrictive migration policies (re)produce the stratification of subjects along gender, socioeconomic and national origin lines by regulating residency opportunities. The fundamental categories of illegality, marriage and migrant imposed through “marriage of convenience” policies reveal narrow and normative definitions, and thus consolidate a particular way of life and social profile as a condition for full citizenship recognition. This selection process fails to recognize the inherent complexity of transnational lives and relationships, and reinforces underlying unequal power relations by criminalizing marginalized social profiles.