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Pathways to a regular stay? A quantitative perspective on precarious legal status trajectories among asylum-seekers in Belgium.

Bruno D. Schoumaker, UCLouvain
Mireille Le Guen, Institut National d'Etudes Démographiques
Louise Caron, Institut National d'Études Démographiques (INED)
Wanli Nie, UCLouvain

In this paper, we explore the heterogeneity of asylum seekers’ legal status trajectories in Belgium adopting a longitudinal perspective at the individual level. We use data from the Belgian national register and sequence analyses to address the flowing questions: How are these pathways characterised (repeated experiences of irregularity, remaining in a temporary resident permit or moving progressively to a more permanent status, etc.)? How do these trajectories vary depending on asylum seekers sociodemographic characteristics, especially their social capital, their age, their employment experience and their family situation? And finally, how have legal status trajectories evolved over our 15-year observation period?

Keywords: Refugees, Life course analysis, Linked data sets

See extended abstract.

  Presented in Session 148. Refugees, Policies and Public Opinion