Admitting, selecting, or restricting? The influence of admission policies on family immigration patterns in European states.

Drawing upon the disputed questions of whether national migration policies actually affect immigration flows, this study investigates to what extent and how family migration policies have influenced patterns of family immigration across European countries. Family immigration has been the largest category of entry in many Western countries in recent decades and has also become increasingly politicized. While regarded by the international community as a ‘safe and orderly’ entry route, family migration has also been portrayed as a threat to social cohesion and a welfare burden in many recipient countries. Accordingly, cross-country policies regulating family immigration have become not only increasingly restrictive but also more diversified and selective recently, not at least since the so-called “migration crisis” in 2015. In the European context, several countries have e.g. introduced stringent conditions that require applicants to fulfill behavioral qualifications to obtain entry and residence, for instance financial requirements targeted at the residing sponsor and pre-entry language tests targeted at the incoming family member. However, so far there have not been any comprehensive cross-country analyses of the impact of policies on family immigration patterns. This study seeks to address this gap by analyzing the connection between policy variations and the inflow of family immigrants in 31 European states during 2008-2019. Using newly disseminated data from the Migrant Integration Policy Index (MIPEX) and data on immigration inflows from EUROSTAT, the study employs a time-series regression analysis to assess the influence of different policy instruments on different types of family-related immigration. As such, this study provide first evidence of how cross-country policies have shaped patterns of family immigration in European states during the past 10 years.