Complexity in Migration Governance: More Fragmentation, More Irregularity

As the drivers of international migration have become more complex, so has migration governance. I suggest that this is not the only answer to complexity, nor the best one for states or migrants. Contemporary immigration regimes—a country’s laws and procedures that define foreign residents’ rights—have more categories, with greater details, and are linked to other policies such as economic, social, and political rights. Such fragmentation of migration governance makes it difficult for the individuals trying to gain and maintain legal status, and for state employees who process these applications. Difficulty comes from confusion around eligibility and the legal steps involved, such as when to apply and how to obtain the required paperwork from origin and residence countries. Drawing from examples of governance in Latin America and theoretical literature on complexity, I show how states’ category fragmentation, along with its required documents, has generated unnecessary complexity to governing immigration. Instead, the policy-making process can be improved through offering fewer visa categories with simpler requirements that change less frequently and can be applied to various groups. This would facilitate the state documenting the foreign population, thus lower immigrant irregularity.