ABSTRACT
This chapter considers points further in the context of the state’s welfare role in supporting (and regulating) migration and asylum; and offers a critique of aspects of national measures and European Union (EU) legislation like EC Directive 2003/9. The destabilising effects of this are most apparent in relation to the asylum seeking process when new arrivals are seen as abusing immigration, asylum, and welfare systems. In the bigger picture, EU reception regimes can still leave migrants caught between two very hard places, that is, the denial of access to employment (or safe employment) and essential state welfare. In the UK some progress is evident on this deficit in state welfare provision, for example in measures to meet the needs of polygamous households. The truth of the matter is that most national frameworks maintain tight control over their welfare schemes and access to their labour markets.
