Displaying genuineness: cultural translation in the drafting of marriage narratives for immigration applications and appeals

Abstract

This article uses Finch’s (2007) idea of ‘display’ to analyse the process in which autobiographical statements for family immigration applications and appeals are drafted in the United Kingdom. I argue that legal representatives play a key role in ‘translating culture’ (Good, 2011) in relation to both content and form, a process that is driven primarily by the need to demonstrate compatibility with the cultural assumptions of ethnocentrically conceived Immigration Rules. These rules act as ‘moral gatekeepers’ (Wray, 2006) to set limits on the conceptual structure of ‘family’ and to outline what a ‘genuine’ marital relationship looks like, thereby excluding cultural Others. The findings show that legal representatives translate the experiences, norms and values of their clients’ relationships using authorial devices to make the account ring true within a commonsense understanding of British culture. I suggest that legal representatives thus contribute to a successful outcome for those lacking in cultural capital.

‘For her protection and benefit’: the regulation of marriage-related migration to the UK

“…The law on marital status has broadened to reflect the radical changes in social attitudes to the institution of marriage. Marriages involving a non-EU partner, however, are expected to conform, and required to display conformity (Carver 2013), to an ideal-type of 'love' partnership, where having a joint mortgage is weightier evidence of commitment than a marriage certificate, or in the alternative a reified notion of the 'arranged marriage' (Carver 2013;Kofman 2004;Wray 2006). In tandem with the frequently xenophobic intent of immigration laws and practice, runs a latent cultural mysogynist image of the family which holds men to be primary migrants or workers and women to be secondary migrants and non-workers.…”

“…British Pakistanis marrying Pakistani nationals) (Charsley 2012, 200). Collier's pro-assimilationist stance on welcoming the 'culturally proximate' migrants from 'AlmostUsLand' (or Poland) and limiting those from the 'culturally distant [ … ] Mars' (Bangladesh) (2013,(89)(90)(91) is already in practice across Europe, both within the national legislative systems as officials act as 'moral gatekeepers' to the nation (Bonjour and Block, forthcoming;Carver 2013;Wray 2006) and at the supranational EU level (De Hart 2007).…”

The Silent Backdrop: Colonial Anxiety at the Border

“…Several participants or their spouses had conceived children during times when they were separated, but these children were always included without comment or allusion as their children. My own experience and Carver (), suggests that the experience of telling male UK‐based sponsors post DNA‐testing that children are not biologically theirs, is not uncommon. Dermott (:12) has written of the paradox between the “creation and construction” of fatherhood in current academic and policy debates leading to an emphasis on biological fatherhood as the key determinant of child maintenance payments, whilst simultaneously rewarding social fatherhood (based on nurture and care) in post‐divorce contact decisions.…”

“…Shah, working as an expert in the Immigration Courts, has documented a “high level of suspicion against the Somali spouses” whose cases he worked on, which gives the appearance “that all efforts were being made to find a way of refusing” (:27). Entry Clearance Officers frequently rely on conflicting notions of cultural norms depending on what works in favour of refusing, and changing the reason for refusal at each stage of the appeal (Carver, ).…”

The Feeling of Migration : Narratives of Queer Intimacies and Partner Migration

“…The relationship is central to this field, although the starting point is also frequently that it is a problematic relationship, or at least that others consider it as such. This is also often the reason for studying the phenomena, as crossborder relationships are regularly considered illegitimate in dominant Western discourse, either because the migrating partner is assumed to be abused, the relationship cannot be properly understood by others, or the migrating partner is assumed to have migrated for the 'wrong' reasons (such as a wish to live in the global north rather than being in love) (Carver 2014;Charsley & Benson 2012;Eggebø 2013;Hedman, Nygren & Fahlgren 2009;Kringelbach 2013;Leinonen & Pellander 2014;Mühleisen, Røthing & Svendsen 2012;Nordin 2007;Rosén 2010;Satzewich 2014;Wray 2006aWray , 2006bWray , 2011.…”