JCWI Publications

IRP Discussion Pamphlet SeriesControl of Rights - the rights of workers and asylum seekers under managed migration
by Lydia Morris

The idea of 'managed migration' is the jewel in the crown of New Labour immigration policy. But the detail of the government's strategy for facilitating the admission of migrant workers has not, as yet, come under close scrutiny.

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In this pamphlet, Lydia Morris argues that the current form of managed migration involves a complex mechanism aiming for the 'civic stratification' of migrants into numerous categories, from the relatively privileged skilled workers schemes at the top, through to effectively rightless groups of unskilled and often undocumented workers and asylum seekers.

Morris argues that the resultant scheme is riven with complexities and tensions which have the potential to add to the difficulties of the rational management of migration, rather than provide solutions.

The control of rights marks out the terrain for critical examination for immigration policy as it is currently being developed. It is the second in JCWI publication in JCWI's Immigration Rights Project series.