CITIZENSHIP IN THE CONTEXT OF MIGRANT CARE WORK - Regimes, Rights & Recognition

This report derives from the work of partners involved in Work Package 9 of the FP7 programme bEUcitizen: Utrecht University (NL); the University of Zagreb (HR); Aalborg University (DK); Central European University Budapest (HU); the Hebrew University of Jerusalem (IS); The University of Turin (IT) and the University of Oviedo (ES). This report studies the way the complex dynamics of individual member states’ care, migration and employment policies impact on the citizenship status of migrant care workers. It also explores the extent to which migrant care workers from EU versus non-EU countries (i.e. third country nationals, TCNs) can exercise citizenship rights across the EU15 (Denmark, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain), new members (Croatia and Hungary) and non-EU states (Israel).

Relation between the ‘right to receive care’ and migrant care work

The categorisation of ‘migrant care worker models’ that we introduce – the ‘state-supported professional MCW model’ (DK, NL), the ‘state-supported domestic MCW model’, (ES, IT), and the ‘legalised-informality MCW model’ (HR, HU) – demonstrates under which conditions distinct patterns of migrant care work prevail. In countries where citizens have the right to receive professional LTC services, a well-developed formal LTC system exists in which care is provided by trained professional workers. In migration policies access is restricted for unqualified workers from third-countries and highly-skilled workers have privileged access (DK, NL). Migrant care work prevails in those countries where the family logic of care prevails and where citizens have the right to receive non-professional LTC (ES, IT). LTC systems in which care is provided in the informal sphere by non-professional workers may be characterised by a large underground economy, which may represent a favourable condition for the informal employment of MCWs as live-in workers. When the state supports care provision within the private household through the entitlement to cash-benefits schemes, hiring non-professional migrant care givers is facilitated (ES, IT). The absence of a well-developed professional LTC system seems to imply that less restrictions are imposed on the educational requirements for TCN migrant care workers, which also facilitates entry for low-skilled migrant care workers. In countries where the family logic is dominant, but where the state does not recognise citizens’ right to receive (non-professional) LTC by offering cash benefits, care receivers seem to be less likely to hire a migrant care worker (HR, HU).

Access to citizenship rights depends on labour market position and residence status

The type of work and/or residence permit a migrant care worker holds is key to understanding their access to social security benefits. Migrant care workers – except those entering the host country on a ‘highly-skilled worker’ status – are in a vulnerable position due to the (often) temporary character and/or irregular nature of their employment status, which makes it hard to gain financial independence, and subsequently a permanent residence status. Migrant care workers’ attainment of citizenship rights is therefore circumscribed by their position in the labour market. For migrant care workers, the way to receive social citizenship rights is narrowed down to being financially independent, making regular paid employment in the key to social citizenship.