Divided families and devalued citizens: Money matters in mixed-status families in the Netherlands

Undocumented immigrants are affected by citizenship boundaries, complicating their everyday lives. Precarious working conditions, social welfare, and security thoroughly impede their opportunities. However, understudied is the family context in which precarious immigrants live. Even though immigration and citizenship laws are directed towards individuals, they often affect the intimate domains of the family. The commonly held belief that criminalizing immigration would protect citizens while punishing immigrants denies the tight links that exists between these groups in practice. This chapter presents ‘spillover effects’ that the weaker legal status of the undocumented partner may have on the stronger legal status of the citizen or permanent resident partner in the European context. From a legal perspective, the effects of restrictions play out along several domains: access and treatment by welfare and social security, housing, and family law. Studying legal anomalies may serve as a lens to grasp the financial consequences of the distinctions between citizens and noncitizens.