ABSTRACT
This chapter considers the inter-relationship of immigration and subjectivities with reference to migrant domestic workers and au pair visa holders in the UK. It considers the social and legal construction of the figure of the migrant and then the particularities of the status of au pair and domestic worker visa holders. The chapter examines how and why it is that, despite these two groups doing the same kinds of tasks, the ways in which these tasks are imagined and the relationships produced can be very different. It presents that immigration controls play a crucial role in this and illustrates why it is that immigration controls are not in themselves sufficient to understand the experiences and living and working conditions of these groups, and show that these arise from particular social and historical circumstances. The chapter examines the case of two groups of visa holders, i.e. people who have entered legally in order to work in private households.
