ABSTRACT
This chapter raises the question of how smuggling affects the integration process. In the previous chapter it was shown that someone may end up in a country other than that of where one’s network resides. This may have a direct impact on the ease with which someone adapts to a new society. However, there is more to consider: adaptation and participation in a new society cannot be studied without examining someone’s legal position. When smuggled migrants come to the Netherlands, they are confronted with a system that categorises them as a specific type of migrant. The fact that they entered the country assisted by a smuggler may impact their classification, but there are other reasons as well why people are denied access to the legal system. The Dutch legal system will be explained in this chapter. Among our respondents from the Horn of Africa, Iraq, and the former Soviet Union, 49 of 56 had asked for asylum upon arrival in the Netherlands; seventeen were rejected asylum; and seven had cases still pending at the time of our interview. Those who did not ask for asylum came on visas, which they overstayed. Some later regularised their status.
