Legal status and refugee integration: a UK perspective

The paper focuses on the legal dimension of integration and investigates the interface between legal status and refugee integration in the UK context. Legal status shapes one’s legal environment and therefore has significant implications for integration. For the purposes of this paper, integration is conceptualized as a multidimensional two-way process that starts upon arrival in the host state. This forms the basis for assessing whether the refugees’ journey from asylum seeker to citizen as set out in UK migration law supports their integration. This paper comes at a time when the UK Government is reforming its immigration system and making important changes to the path to British citizenship.