Abstract

Drawing upon 120 semi-structured interviews with irregular migrants in Belgium, this article focuses on their aspirations and the resources needed in order to realise these aspirations. It is demonstrated that specific aspirations require specific resources. A typology is constructed, based on three types of aspirations with corresponding resources. First, investment migrants, whose migration is aimed at achieving upward social mobility in their country of origin, require job competences (cultural capital) and social leverage (social capital). Second, legalisation migrants, who aspire to obtain legal residency, require different forms of capital, depending on the marriage market they are active on. Thirdly, residence migrants, aiming at residing legally or illegally in the receiving society, require both social support and social leverage (combined social capital). These findings indicate that it is important to adopt a contextualised approach studying the mechanisms through which various forms of capital lead to different outcomes for irregular migrants.

How to Cite:

van Meeteren, M., Engbersen, G. & Van San, M., (2007) “Naar een betere positie: migratiedoelen en het belang van kapitaalsoorten voor irreguliere migranten in Vlaanderen en Brussel”, Tijdschrift voor Sociologie 28(3-4), 296–320. doi: https://doi.org/10.21825/sociologos.86686