Pathways and Consequences of Legal Irregularity: Senegalese Migrants in France, Italy and Spain

This open access book provides a unique study of the complexities and consequences of irregular legal status of Senegalese migrants in Europe. It employs sophisticated quantitative methods to analyze unique life-history data to produce policy-relevant conclusions. Using the MAFE dataset as empirical evidence, the book focuses on the legal paths of Senegalese migrants in three different European countries. It shows how multiple contexts of reception produce pathways into irregular legal status and how the resulting complex configurations of irregular status shape migrants' economic integration into their host societies as well as their ongoing participation in the development of their sending societies. The book thereby increases our understanding of the functioning of African migration systems and the corresponding inclusion patterns in Europe. As such this book will be of interest to scholars working in migration studies, policy makers, and legal professionals.

Erik R. Vickstrom received a Bachelor's degree in Sociology from Wesleyan University in 1998 and a Ph.D. in Sociology and Social Policy from Princeton University in 2013. Before graduate school, Vickstrom worked for the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard, served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Guinea, ran educational programs in Senegal, and worked on USAID projects in Washington, DC. His academic interests include international migration, development, inequality, and language use. Vickstrom joined the U.S. Census Bureau in October 2013 as a Demographic Analyst/Survey Statistician in the Education and Social Stratification Branch. He joined IZA as a research fellow in August 2014 and serves in his personal capacity.