CHAIN MIGRATION OVER LEGALLY CLOSED BORDERS - SETTLED IMMIGRANTS AS BRIDGEHEADS AND GATEKEEPERS

This article analyzes the role of kinship networks in the migration of Turks to the Netherlands, focussing on the adaptation of migrants and prospective migrants to the restrictions imposed by the Dutch authori ties on immigration. It presents some of the findings of a field study of Turkish migrants in the Netherlands and their relatives in Turkey. As an unintended result of the restrictions on immigration, Turks wis hing to emigrate have come to depend increasingly on chain migration. Emigration pressures in Turkey are converted into pressures on migrant s settled in the Netherlands to help prospective migrants. These press ures are quite effective, resulting in an intense utilization of the D utch provisions for family reunification. Sometimes, however, settled immigrants are more like gatekeepers for the Dutch authorities than br idgeheads for prospective migrants. The author concludes that studies of chain migration should devote more attention to the question of why and when migration chains weaken and/or disappear.