Who moves? Schengen Visa Policy and Implementation in Consulates. A fieldwork study from the Embassy of Italy in Senegal

The theoretical problem the research deals with is the unequal access to spaces, which I choose to explore through the visa device, the main instrument used by nation-states to control the access to their territories. The study of visas can give us interesting insights on borders, in a wider meaning than geographical national borders, which continue to represent a form of inequality imposed on people. Virtually nothing is known about the practices that migrants have to face to travel with proper documents toward the countries of Europe or United States, and all the consular bureaucracy which is deployed abroad passes largely unnoticed. The thesis is focused on the visa policy, exploring its implementation in Consulates. The locations appropriate for the operational case study are Schengen Consulates abroad, in countries subjected to the visa requirement, where these Consulates act as borders through the visa device, having the power to issue it or not, on the basis of an alleged “migratory risk” (the assessment of the intention of the person to leave the Schengen territory within the period of the visa). Here, decisions which lead to both mobility and immobility are made. Thanks to a fieldwork experience at the Italian Consulate in Senegal, I could investigate what goes on in Consulates, how law is implemented, practices developed by the administration, how recipients and officials behave at the counter, and similar activities. I will look at the implementation of visa policies at the micro level of Consulates in the attempt to unpack discourses and policies around migration, exploring selective filters and the construction of the category of (potential) “migrant” itself. In the First Chapter, I illustrate the concepts which frame my understanding, by reviewing the literature on the state control of movement through processes of categorisation and selection, the concept of border, the implementation process of public policies and the micro level of practices of discretion operated by Administrations. Subsequently, in Chapter Two, I will present the methodology of the work, describing methods I used to develop my research questions as well as difficulties faced in the fieldwork. The ethnographic approach I choose to study the Italian Embassy in Senegal includes the use of qualitative research techniques (direct observations, informal conversations, interviews), coupled with the collection and analysis of quantitative data. The rest of this dissertation is organised in two parts, where the first has a contextualisation function relating to the second. In the first I describe the institutional framework (both European and Italian) of migration administrations and policies, while in the second part I will dig into the detail of implementation of visa policies in Consulates, which I consider to be the actual “substance” of my present study. More specifically, in Chapter Three, I will trace the interrelated structure of Italian administrations in charge of migration management, in particular looking at the Ministry of the Interior, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the Ministry of Labour and Social Policies, also including other (state or non-state) bureaucracies involved in the issue of migration (Municipalities, Post Office, Patronages). Chapter Four explores, on the one hand, the most recent regulations and tools of the Schengen visa policy, and on the other hand, Italian laws and the mechanisms for legal entry. In the second part of the thesis (Chapters Five to Seven) I will look at the micro level of policies, its implementation and the working practices developed at the Consular level in the country under consideration. It is that aspect of the institutions which is relevant to the people's experience, not the people themselves, that constitutes the object of inquiry. The aim of the study is not to account for the success or failures of the Schengen visa policy, but rather to achieve a better understanding of the institutional and routine bureaucratic mechanisms that lie behind it. I will show how the implementation of the visa device entails procedures which are both long and unclear, and are in operation both on the side of the Consulate and the applicant. This issue will be developed in three steps. First of all, I will outline the visa application process (Chapter Five), considering the access to information and the collection of required documents. Secondly, in Chapter Six, I will describe the visa examination phase, with particular attention to the very moment of the interview at the counter and the official's assessment, as well as the decision-making roles. Both these chapters based on fieldwork are focused on the direct experience of key actors interviewed (diplomats, officials, employees, démarcheurs,..) and on my fieldwork's notes, in order to contribute to a concrete knowledge on Embassies and visas, making “visible” those practices usually hidden behind walls of bureaucracy. Then, in Chapter Seven, I will look at the family reunification procedure. I will investigate both phases, taking place in the country of origin (Senegal), and in the destination country (Italy – through the case study of the Prefecture of Pisa, Italy), in order to show the persistence of those practices of control on “the truthfulness of mobility” which may be present even in the case of a recognised right. To conclude, I will recapitulate my findings in the light of my initial research questions, connecting them back with some theoretical considerations, and I will draw some final conclusions