Playing hard(er) to get. The State, International Couples, and the Income Requirement

Abstract: In recent years, several member states of the European Union have tightened the criteria for the legal immigration of a partner from outside the European Union. In the Netherlands, the income requirement for „family formation‟ was raised in 2004 from 100% to 120% of the minimum wage, potentially excluding about thirty percent of the working population from eligibility. The outcomes of this measure for international couples and, on the aggregate level, for migration flows were examined on the basis of administrative trend data and fifty in-depth interviews among international couples. It is demonstrated that the potential power of governments to intervene in partner migration risks being at odds with strongly felt cultural values surrounding partner choice and family life. Partner immigration decreased substantially, especially among poorer groups (ethnic minorities, women, youngsters). At the same time, the measure put pressure on the well-being of a segment of the international couples. In 2010, the European Court of Justice ruled that the Dutch income requirement contradicts the EU directive on family reunification

De prijs van de liefde? Over de gevolgen van de verhoging van de inkomenseis bij ‘gezinsvormende’ partnermigratie naar Nederland

Samenvatting Diverse EU lidstaten, waaronder Nederland, hebben de afgelopen jaren maatregelen genomen om partnermigratie te beperken. In 2004 verhoogde Nederland de inkomenseis voor „gezinsvorming. van 100% naar 120% van het voltijds minimumloon. Dat normbedrag is hoger dan het inkomen van circa 30% van de werkende beroepsbevolking. Op basis van IND-gegevens, CBS-gegevens en vijftig diepte-interviews onder internationale stellen is gekeken naar (1) de uitkomsten van de hogere inkomenseis voor de aard en omvang van partnermigratie en (2) de persoonlijke gevolgen voor internationale stellen die (aanvankelijk) niet aan de inkomenseis voldeden. We laten zien dat de potentiële macht van de nationale overheid om partnermigratie te beperken op gespannen voet staat met de waarde van een private familiesfeer. De partnermigratie naar Nederland daalde substantieel, vooral onder groepen met een zwakkere economische positie (niet-westerse minderheden, vrouwen en jongeren). Tegelijkertijd kwam het welzijn onder internationale stellen onder druk te staan. In 2010 oordeelde het Europese Hof van Justitie dat de inkomenseis van 120% in strijd is met de Europese Richtlijn voor gezinshereniging

Associations of Anxiety and Depressive Symptomology on Subclinical Cardiovascular Disease Risk in Young Women

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Notorious places: image, reputation, stigma: the role of newspapers in area reputations for social housing estates

This paper reviews work in several disciplines to distinguish between image, reputation and stigma. It also shows that there has been little research on the process by which area reputations are established and sustained through transmission processes. This paper reports on research into the portrayal of two social housing estates in the printed media over an extended period of time (14 years). It was found that negative and mixed coverage of the estates dominated, with the amount of positive coverage being very small. By examining the way in which dominant themes were used by newspapers in respect of each estate, questions are raised about the mode of operation of the press and the communities' collective right to challenge this. By identifying the way regeneration stories are covered and the nature of the content of positive stories, lessons are drawn for programmes of area transformation. The need for social regeneration activities is identified as an important ingredient for changing deprived-area reputations

Climate change education at first sustainable public school : a case study

This case study is focused on the first sustainable and self-sufficient public school in Latin America -and arguably the world-, School No.294 in Jaureguiberry, Uruguay. This research studied how the Climate Change Education (CCE) policies and practices carried out in the school have been interpreted by the school community. This qualitative study had two research questions: 1. How have the educational team, parents and students interpreted and adopted the CCE policies and practices of the school and how have they reacted in their own practice? 2. What personal and contextual circumstances can explain the different interpretations and reactions to the climate change education policy among the school community? Data was collected through interviews and document analysis; 17 participants took part of this study and 6 documents were analysed. The semi-structured online interviews were conducted between November 2020 and March 2021. Findings indicate that the community has had a mixed reception to the CCE policies and practices. For instance, at the start of the school project in 2016, only 15% of families had an organic vegetable garden at home whereas in 2019, 80% of families did. On the other hand, only a few members of the community actively participate and support school activities. Moreover, there have been tensions between and within actors. The active and sustainability-oriented pedagogical approach was defined as 'transformative education for sustainability', and enablers and barriers were identified. The findings of this study highlight how important the support of the community and authorities can be for climate change education projects

English, language policies, and their roles in russophone identity formation in Estonia

The aims of this research are to understand the impact of languages on the identity formation of Russophone youth in Estonia. This will allow further analysis ofthe connection between the languages and state actors that may impact identity-formation for these students, and the success of the current language policies.This research is based on interviews with 8 secondary school Estonian Russophone students. The primary conclusion of this research is that each language is tied to one of the state actors that interacts with the process of identity formation for the Russophone students. The impacts of this conclusion are twofold. Firstly, it shows the success of the language policies in Estonia in establishing the value of the language in connection with its citizenship processes and education system. Secondly, it shows the role that English plays in Estonian society is not one that distinctly threatens Estonian, but rather compliments the locallanguage as a promotion of European possibility. However, students expressed concern over experiences of negative treatment that stemmed from their mother tongue, raising issues of continued stereotyping and institutional bias