Marriage migration from Morocco to Germany

Morocco was one of the countries where Germany recruited workers in the 1960s. The recruitment treaty was signed in 1963 and marks the beginning of migration relations between the two countries, as well as of the establishment of a Moroccan community in Germany. In 2013, the 50th anniversary was celebrated in Germany with a series of concerts, film shows, lectures and panel discussions (Deutsch-Marokkanisches Kompetenznetzwerk e.V. 2013). The majority of Moroccan migrants who arrived in the 1960s and at the beginning of the 1970s

originally came from the North of Morocco, especially from the Oriental region comprising nowadays the prefecture of Oujda and the Provinces of Nador, Berkane, Driouch, Taourirt, Jerada and Figuig. At the beginning, it was mainly men who were leaving to work in Germany. The idea was to stay temporarily in Germany in order to earn and save money and then to return to Morocco and profit from improved life conditions. Yet, the oil crisis in 1973 fundamentally changed the situation. The resulting economic stagnation and the increase in unemployment impacted the recruitment of workers and the entry requirements for migrants in Germany, as the closing of the border transformed the migration project from a temporary to a permanent one (Berriane 2003, 25). Previously, Moroccan migrants were able to move to Germany and back to Morocco as they needed. With the interventions of the German government in the 1970s, the ‘back and forth movement’ (Berriane 2003, 26; author’s translation) was not possible anymore (Berriane 2003, 25). In this context, family reunification had become one of the very few possibilities to migrate and

the only way to bring women and children to Germany, not only for Moroccan migrants, but also for citizens from other ‘third countries’. But progressively, the German government tried to limit the possibilities for family reunification. Since 1965, spouses living in Germany had to have lived in the Federal Republic at least one year, be employed on a contract and have adequate accommodation to receive other family members in order to be granted family reunification. From the 1980s onwards – as a reaction to the increase in family reunification – the requirements became more stringent: migrants must have lived at least eight years in Germany, and have been married for three years in order to bring their spouse to live with them. And while the 1990 reform of the law on immigration ensured the right to a residence permit for family members, the regulations

. Gutekunst542

stayed the same. These restrictive conditions forced members of the family to adapt their strategies, for instance by entering Germany on a tourist visa and staying illegally after the expiration of the visa, that is, after three months. According to the sociologist Serhat Karakayali, these restrictions show that the German authorities always had the intention to close the ‘gate of entry’ of marriage migration (Karakayali 2008, 161-162). In the case of Moroccan migrants, two types of family reunification can be observed since the

1970s (de Mas 1990). The ‘first reunification’ describes a phenomenon in which Moroccan workers, after having lived in Germany for several years, invite their wives and children to join them. The ‘second reunification’ consists in creating new families: unmarried Moroccan migrants or children of the first migrant generation are looking for marriage partners in Morocco with the aim of bringing them to Germany (Berriane 2003, 26). This form of marriage still exists today, especially in the Oriental region, as families originally from Morocco and living in Germany keep contact with their Moroccan relatives. Usually, summer holidays are the time when couples meet up, and often they leave for Germany together after the wedding. The model of Paolo de Mas can be extended to a ‘third reunification’ which is a more recent

phenomenon: the so-called ‘mixed couples’ in which the partners (or their parents or grandparents) originate from two different countries (in this case mainly Morocco and Germany), have two different nationalities (i.e. citizenship) and/or two different religious affiliations. Although ‘mixed couples’ have always existed, there are three factors that promote the increasing popularity of this phenomenon: the popularisation of long-distance tourism, the increase in professional mobility and the ongoing improvements in the field of communication technologies. Over the past decades, the worldwide movement of people has considerably increased. ‘Things

are speeding up, and spreading out’, stated the geographer Massey (1991, 24). But not everyone profits from this development equally; there are power structures that enhance the mobility of some people and lead to the immobility of others (Sheller and Urry 2006, 207) – especially those already disadvantaged in the global hierarchy, such as those from postcolonial countries. But the worldwide mobile elite – mainly citizens from the Global North – have the opportunity to travel more frequently and longer distances. At the same time, long-distance tourism has become more popularised. Morocco is, compared to other African countries, one of the most favoured holiday destinations for tourists from Western countries. In 2013 more than 10 million tourists came to Morocco and the number doubled during the past decade (Ministère du Tourisme 2013). While on holiday, tourists meet locals and may also start relationships. Due to the immobility of the Moroccan partner, these couples have to marry and apply for a visa for family reunification in order to live together in Germany. Another factor that facilitates the meeting of ‘mixed couples’ is increasing professional mobi-

lity. To be mobile has become a key qualification in the modern working world (Kesselring and Vogl 2010, 32). In a city like Casablanca where many international enterprises have set up, or in the capital Rabat, with embassies and other international institutions, many foreigners settle down for a certain time and meet Moroccan citizens in professional as well as private contexts. The effect of digitisation and ongoing developments in communication technologies on meet-

ings between ‘mixed couples’ should not be overlooked. While before the 1990s letters, postcards or expensive long-distance telephone calls were the only option for communicating overseas, the invention of the Internet and the market launch of the first mobile phones have led to an extreme change in world-wide communication and the perception of closeness and distance (Urry 2007, 161). On the one hand, the world wide web permits one to find a partner from anywhere in the world without actually moving – something inaccessible for the majority of young people in Morocco, at least as regards moving to the Global North. Social networks – like Facebook or

The Journal of North African Studies 543

period of up to one and a half years through the whole procedure of marriage migration, from the German language course until the entry of the partners into Germany. The paper is structured in three parts. In order to contextualise the situation today, I will start

with a short overview of marriage migration from Morocco to Germany beginning in the 1960s with the bilateral recruitment treaty between the two countries. This will include an account of its control and regulation by the German government, as well as by the Moroccan government with regard to ‘mixed couples’. On the basis of the empirical data from my fieldwork in Morocco, I will then show how the implementation of the language certificate has occurred locally and resulted in the emergence of a new market for the ‘commodity’ of German. The findings show that the language certificate entails a simultaneous inclusion and exclusion and a hierarchisation of potential marriage migrants at Europe’s borders, and that the integration argument used to legitimate this procedure often does not correspond to the migrants’ actual situation. To conclude, I will reflect on the insights that the Moroccan case provides for the development of international migration and the governing of global movements. I have chosen the case of Siham to demonstrate how the migration regime works, as she is one of the ‘undesired’ migrants – not educated and illiterate – in the utilitarian logic of the migration regime.