Undocumented Migrants and the Regularization of their Status
| Published date | 01 April 1983 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-2435.1983.tb00433.x |
| Date | 01 April 1983 |
Undo
cumen t ed Migran ts
and the Regularization
of
their Status
CONCLUSIONS
1.
Regularization is the means by which a government provides lawful status to
foreigners in an unlawful or irregular situation in respect to admission, stay and
economic activity. Although it has been generally assumed that undocumented migra-
tion is primarily an economic phenomenon, the experiences of countries which have
attempted regularization programmes and the comments of conference participants
have indicated that other factors may come into play in different circumstances.
2.
Some governments have considered a programme of regularization
in
response to
situations in which widespread and persistent irregularities have occurred, others have
taken the stand that regularization is undesirable. The reasons for regularization
measures include:
-
the desire to alleviate the human suffering and exploitation of undocumented
migrants, and
-
the view that the existence of such undocumented migrants has deleterious social
and economic consequences for society at large.
3.
Regularization may be utilized to correct the situation of those who have entered
illegally and those who have entered legally but whose status has since become
unlawful. The circumstances
in
which these persons find themselves may occur, for
example, in contexts
in
which the government of a receiving country
has
administrativ-
ely tolerated the entry or stay, where the laws and regulations of a receiving country
are contradictory, or where family reunification has taken place in the receiving
country without authorization.
4.
The elements of a regularization programme generally include the following:
a) a strong political consensus that regularization is desirable or necessary;
b) the acceptability of the elements of the programme to a broad spectrum of society;
c) a cut-off date for eligibility;
d) broad eligibility criteria;
e) an effective information programme directed at the general populace in order to
enlist its understanding and support;
f)
a complementary programme aimed at the undocumented population to gain its
confidence and ensure maximum participation in the regularization programme;
g) the participation of non-governmental organizations
in
both the informational
stage and the actual regularization process itself;
h) the absence of punitive legal measures against applicants for regularization.
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