In my social work collaboration with families of third country nationals, I noticed that their mental and socio-economic hardships are most often related to the procedures for obtaining temporary and permanent residence permits in the Republic of Slovenia as well as access to social rights. During eleven months of ethnographic observation of the daily lives of family members of four families, I explored the impact of the procedures for obtaining residence permits and access to social rights for their everyday living conditions, from their perspective.
The findings, interpreted according to the principles of grounded theory, from the perspectives of advocacy and critical theory, illustrate that the interaction of migration legislation with citizenship, labour market, and social welfare legislation operates as a mechanism of structural violence in the daily lives of the research participants. This indirect violence, embedded in the functioning of institutions and society, creates difficulties for them to meet their basic needs through legally mandated uncertainty of their citizenship status and the conditionality of access to residence and social rights. Living with a temporary residence permit allows them to reside legally in Slovenia and access certain social rights only under certain conditions and for a limited period. These conditions stipulate that they must not lose their jobs, regular income or registered residence, which forces them to endure poor working conditions due to their dependence on employment. This conditionality and the short duration of temporary residence permits place them in a subordinate and precarious position, with the constant threat of being illegalized and expelled from the country. For the research participants, illegalization means loss of employment, their only source of income, housing, social networks, certain social rights, loss or interruption of health treatment or rehabilitation, interruption of education, separation of children and parents etc. Obtaining permanent residency would provide them with security for their basic needs, as it is valid indefinitely, not tied to a specific purpose of residence or economic status and allows for a broader range of social rights. However, the chances of obtaining permanent residence permits are becoming increasingly limited due to restrictive conditions (sufficient means of subsistence and language proficiency exam). Some research participants who, due to low economic status and inability to prove proficiency in Slovenian language at the required level, cannot meet these conditions, live in Slovenia with the temporary residence permits indefinitely. This temporary and conditional status causes them to live in constant uncertainty about the outcome of their permit renewal applications, illegalisation and their living conditions. Even greater difficulties in meeting basic living needs are faced by those research participants who, due to not meeting the conditions for obtaining a residence permit, live in Slovenia without legal status. They live under the constant threat of deportation, and with only the right to emergency healthcare and primary education.
These violent consequences could be avoided if Slovenia were to change its current approach to managing citizenship statuses. This approach, following the model of liberal nation-states, divides its population into citizens and »foreigners« by imposing strict criteria for legalizing residence in the country and accessing social rights for the latter, especially for third country nationals. To reduce structural violence, legislative changes in all areas are necessary that would enable all residents of Slovenia to realize primarily two fundamental rights: the general right to legal permanent residence and access to the full range of social rights. Although institutions where social workers operate are embedded in structural violence that excludes certain residents from these rights, social workers must advocate for these rights for all their users and fellow residents.
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