Any time, any place, anywhere: entry clearance, marriage migration and the border

This chapter analyses the evolution of regulation in the UK of transnational marriages since they first became a prominent issue in the 1960s. It employs recent understandings of the ‘border’ to argue that regulation initially coincided with the geographical border before being exported through the establishment of compulsory entrance clearance. The entry clearance border was for many years effective in maintaining distinctions based primarily on race and nationality. Changes in patterns of migration, in the UK's relationships with its former colonies and in how acceptable migrants are differentiated have made the entry clearance system less effective than before. While there have been efforts to strengthen the entry clearance border, recent policy has been directed towards the establishment of a range of external and internal borders whose effect may sometimes be as much psychological as physical or legal and which affect marriage migrants. The essay concludes by questioning whether the expanded border will prove more effective at controlling transnational marriage.