3.3, this leads to enforcement from state officials, aimed at controlling the residents’ comings-and-goings between France and countries of origin. Together, their suspect papers and transnational mobility rub up against the temporal and territorial logics of the welfare state. In this regard, the hostel residents’ back-and-forth trips at retirement are problematic. Likewise, retirement also heralds a juncture insofar as it signals an end to the sedentary constraint of participation in the labour market. At other times migrant workers’ biographies are problematic precisely because they are not documented, for example when unscrupulous employers do not declare migrant staff on their payrolls. As will be elaborated, many of these problematic biographical aspects are documented in administrative paperwork, such as pension records showing later entry to the French job market, and inaccurate or conflicting dates recorded on proofs of identity. I build on this perspective by arguing that while such legal regulations affect all those living in modern welfare states, citizens and non-citizens alike, the ‘non-standard’ lifecourse typical of migrant workers (Bommes 2000) results in demands being issued to them by welfare state institutions which non-migrants are generally not called upon to answer. Importantly, legal gates may also enforce mobility. Anoeshka Gehring has coined the term ‘legal gates’ to describe the “everyday rules and regulations at different local, national, and supranational levels which facilitate or impede human mobility between one jurisdiction and another” (Gehring 2015). In the present chapter I will begin by examining the implications for late-in-life mobility of these temporal and territorial rules of access to the welfare state. 2, via the notion of ‘organisational biographies’.
These timetabling effects of the welfare state were first introduced in Chap. “Heteronomous times are to a large degree inescapable, and it is far more difficult to get rid of their grip” (ibid: 21). Saulo Cwerner describes the legal and bureaucratic requirements which migrants face in such situations as ‘heteronomous times’ (Cwerner 2001). In other words, hostel residents are required to be in certain places at certain times, or for certain durations of time. In all of these paperwork scenarios a key finding emerges, namely that the legal requirements of welfare state inclusion place significant temporal and territorial demands on hostel residents, a process which I label ‘timetabling’. Papers are also necessary to prove eligibility for means-tested social security benefits. Valid papers are required to receive healthcare, which is a key consideration in post-retirement residence decisions, as will be elaborated in Chap. Papers need to be in order to finalise one’s pension arrangements and to fix the date on which payments begin. Paperwork and other administrative practices have a bearing on this book’s central question in several significant ways. Critically these biographical features only become significant at retirement, lending credence to the idea that retirement is a critical juncture in hostel residents’ lives. These non-standard biographical features are primarily manifested in administrative documentation, including mis-transcribed names, discarded proofs of entitlement, ‘sharing’ of social security numbers, inaccurate or conflicting dates of birth, untraceable former employers, and later entry into the workforce. 3.2 that certain ‘non-standard’ elements of migrant workers’ biographies lead to systemic disadvantage vis-à-vis non-migrant populations. While the temporal and territorial ‘rules of access’ which pertain to these contexts are applicable to all citizens, migrants and non-migrants alike, it is argued in Sect. In all of these paperwork scenarios a key finding emerges, namely that the legal requirements of welfare state inclusion place significant temporal and territorial demands on hostel residents, a process which is labelled ‘timetabling’. Papers need to be in order when finalising one’s pension arrangements and accessing other forms of social protection. Administrative tasks have a bearing on return decisions at retirement in several significant ways.
This chapter marks the start of the book’s empirical analysis, focusing on the theme of ‘paperwork’.
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