Family-Reunification of Nordic Citizens in Sweden: The EEA Solution

International Migration and Ethnic Relations Bachelor

15 Credits Spring 2019

Supervisor: Henrik Emilsson

Family-reunification of Nordic citizens

in Sweden: The EEA Solution

The effect of Family Reunification Policy on Transnational Families

from Denmark and Norway

Aysha Waleed Shuhait

Page 2 of 40 Abstract

The strict family reunification policies in Norway and Denmark have affected many individual’s family life. Individuals currently struggle to be reunited with their non-EU family members because of strict requirements. For some, moving to Sweden can be a solution due to their more liberal reunification policies. This paper analyses how family reunification policy in Norway and Denmark has affected the lives of those who relocate to Sweden. The method that was used for the analysis was the interviewing method. In the theoretical framework transnationalism was applied, and it focuses on the connection transnational migrants have with three countries at the same time. The transnational perspective illustrates the different obstacles transnational migrants face. The analysis

showed that the reasons individuals relocated from Denmark and Norway was because of age and income requirements, deportation and suspect of arranged marriage by the migration agencies. The analysis also showed that distance relationship, distant parenthood, social belonging and identity helped shape the individual’s life.

Page 3 of 40 Table of Content

1 Introduction ... 4

1.1 Introduction to the Topic ... 4

1.2 Research problem...5

1.3 Research Question ... 6

1.4 Family Reunification Policy in Norway and Denmark...7

2 Literature Review ...8

3 Theoretical Framework...12

3.1 Transnationalism---...12

3.2 Transnational Family...14

3.3 Transnationalism and Government...16

4 Methodology………...17

4.1 Interviewing………...17

4.2 Semi-Structured Interviews...18

4.3 Data Collection and Coding...19

4.4 The Researcher...21

4.5 Validity and Reliability...21

4.6 Ethical aspects...22

4.7 Limitations...22

5 Analysis...23

5.1 Results...23

5.2 Distance Relationship, Communication and Children………... 25

5.3 Society and Identity...28

5.4 Legal status and Citizenship...31

5.5 Further discussion...33

6 Conclusion...34

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1 Introduction

1.1 Introduction to the Topic

Family reunification is the process that combines families from a country into the destination country. The topic of this thesis is family reunification, and it is based on individuals who migrate from Norway and Denmark to start a family reunification procedure in Sweden. Looking at the different causes of this phenomenon, the most important cause is the major changes in family reunification laws in Norway and Denmark that have led to people choosing a third country for family reunification.

The most common solution for family reunification in case the family reunion applications are declined in Norway and Denmark, is the EEA solution in Sweden. The EEA solution is the right of citizens coming from the European Economic area to stay in Sweden without residence permit. The regulations that apply to a Swedish citizen are same regulations that apply to EEA citizens when it comes to family reunification (Migrationsverket, 2019). That means that if a person is a citizen of the Nordic countries (Denmark, Finland, Norway or Iceland) you can live in Sweden without a residence permit, and therefore invite a family member outside EU based on the Swedish family reunification regulations. Furthermore, family reunification is not just a result of declined applications in the first country, however, families also seek family reunion in Sweden for different reasons. Their lives change during the process of family reunion and even after the process. Some families stay in Sweden, some move back to Norway or Denmark depending where they originally came from, while some live in two countries at the same time.

The family reunification laws in Norway and Denmark are strict and are based on high requirements, including financial and age requirements. In 2010, the family reunification law in Norway was modified, and it concluded that a person must have an income around

261.700 Norwegian Kroner per year. This requirement made it harder for some couples and families to live together in Norway (Bordvik, 2012). The reason behind this modification is that many people misused the right to family reunification, by false parenthood and arranged

Page 5 of 40 marriage. The same year the law was implemented, only half the applications of family reunification were approved. In 2016, an age requirement was implemented for family reunification in Norway, which concluded that the applicants and the relative abroad had to be at least 24 years old (UDI, 2016). Denmark has also passed strict family reunification laws, where Danish level 3 in language, employment and education for at least five years are all requirements. Some of the requirements in Denmark are very similar to Norway (Christian W, 2018).

However, in Sweden the family reunification laws are very liberal compared to Norway and Denmark. When it comes to age requirements for family reunification in Sweden, the

applicant and the relative must be at least 18 years old and do not need very high income per year. This is the reason why many individuals choose the EEA solution for family

reunification, and why Sweden is their choice. Families from Copenhagen for instance apply for family reunification in Sweden but live in Denmark or work in Denmark, which is not allowed but the individuals end up living in two countries somehow. The choice behind the whole idea depends on the reasons to why the person relocated in the first place. One can still have high income in Norway but chooses the EEA solution anyways for family reunification.

1.2 Research Problem

This research is interested in the individuals’ decisions to relocate to Sweden, and it is also interested in their experiences after they have relocated to Sweden. The requirements in Denmark, Norway and Sweden are different from each other, which was not the case over a decade ago. However, since there were decisions made in the parliament, family reunification laws were modified based on high migration flow that ‘had to be controlled’ for many

reasons. Therefore, many families decided to settle in Sweden. However, since Denmark and Sweden are border lands for instance, many individuals live in both Denmark and Sweden. Oresund bridge has helped individuals work in Copenhagen and live in Malmö, or vice versa. The same case applies to Norway, where people who live on the border of Sweden, work in Norway and vice versa. Many couples have for instance their names registered in Sweden but remain in Denmark for living (Rytter, 2013: pp. 97). The same case applies to individuals who move back to Norway or Denmark as soon as their applications are approved. It is

Page 6 of 40 therefore very interesting to investigate further on individuals’ reasons to relocate, as well as know the result of their decisions.

Many individuals have also misused the EEA solution. Articles like Semi-legal family life:

Pakistani couples in the borderlands of Denmark and Sweden, explain how transnational

arranged marriages a result of how liberal reunification laws are (Rytter, 2011). However, after the law changed, couples ended up in a mobile life between Denmark and Sweden where they are at risk of becoming ‘’illegal’’ because of under staying or overstaying in the country (ibid). The migration board has for instance changed the procedure when it comes to confirming whether the applicants actually lives in Sweden or not, by requiring different documents that confirms the person does not live in two countries at the same time. This confirmation happens through a questionnaire that the applicant must answer, which includes questions about for example maintenance requirement (Migrationboard, 2019). Individuals who risk their legal status in any of the countries mentioned earlier, are individuals who try to maintain their rights in both countries at the same time. It becomes problematic when they stay in one country longer than the other, or if they receive any kind of help from Sweden for instance, they will lose their rights in Norway or Denmark.

1.3 Research Questions

To answer the aim of this research, the research question that will be used for this investigation is:

1) What are the reasons for and experiences of Nordic citizens that move to Sweden for family reunification?

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1.4 Family Reunification Policy in Norway and Denmark

To understand the situation of the EEA solution, it is important to have an overview over the family reunification Policy in Norway and Denmark. In year 2000 in Norway, the family reunification law became stricter. The regulation was going through change over the past twenty years. In 2010, the four year requirement was introduced in to the reunification policy, which concluded that the person in Norway must have worked or studied full time in Norway for four years to be able to apply for family reunification as a first step. The main purpose of this regulation is to limit immigration into the country, prevent forced marriage, to encourage integration and to encourage self-sufficiency. In 2015, the migration flow into Norway reached more than 31 000 asylum seekers. Norway wanted to control these high numbers to prevent becoming like other European countries when it came to immigrants and refugees. (Grønningsæter & Brekke, 2017: pp. 1-2).

In 1990, Denmark started introducing integration, and integration acts to integrate current migrants in Denmark during that year. In 2002, integration requirement was introduced to the family reunification policy. The same year, the government adopted a new law that

concluded only applicants over the age of 24 years old will be granted residence permit. However, in 2011 persons who were qualified with language skills, work experience and completed education in addition to being integrated could avoid the age requirement. Persons are usually tested in language and societal knowledge, which as a political agreement that was introduced in 2006 (Ersbøll, 2011). In 2019, the requirements require voluntarily

marriage/relationship, need to be 24 years old, integration requirements and that both persons need to be actively participating in the applicant’s language learning and integration. Further requirements include that the applicant must have visited Denmark at least once, passed two tests in Danish and fulfil integration requirements. The person in Denmark must have an independent residence, self-supporting and need to post collateral form of a financial guarantee (The Danish Immigration Service, 2019).

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2. Literature Review

In the field of International Migration and Ethnic Relations, International Relations and other related fields, there aren’t many investigations about how family reunification policy has affected individuals who come from Norway and Denmark for family reunification in Sweden. Part of the reason why this topic is not very known, is because Norway and

Denmark modified their family reunification policy only in the past decade, and the policy is still changing in the day today. However, Semi-legal family life: Pakistani couples in the

borderlands of Denmark and Sweden is an article by Mikkel Rytter that discusses Semi-legal

family life where Pakistani couples in Denmark travel between Sweden and Denmark on regular basis because of their legal status in both countries. Rytter introduces a problem which describe a situation where the couples from Denmark risk their legal status in one of the countries by ‘’under staying’’ or ‘’overstaying’’ in Denmark and Sweden (Rytter, 2011). Individuals will always risk having to choose one country over another in these types of cases. Individuals ‘’under stay’’ or ‘’overstay’’ when they work in one country and reside in the other. In the case of the Pakistani couples, work and family ties are what was keeping the couples in Denmark, but in Sweden it was their legal residence status.

While there are articles like Mikkel Rytters that focus on family lives status between Denmark and Sweden, there are other articles that focus on other matters. The article

Troubled by Law: The Subjectivizing Effects of Danish Marriage Reunification Laws

discusses how the new regulations on family reunification were a hinder for forced marriages within minority groups in Denmark, but also to prevent non-western migration into Denmark and integration of current migrants in the country (Schmidt, 2013). Which explains why Pakistani couples in Rytter’s articles risked their legal status in two countries. The effects of regulations on family reunification has led to similar situations that were explained in Rytters article.

Furthermore, the experience of family reunification has been rough on some individuals, and those individuals shared their stories and experience about the situation. Articles, blogs, studies and news articles have been published and analysed to understand the reasons and experiences of the this group of individuals on the family reunification matter, and the risk of

Page 9 of 40 living in two countries at the same time. Grensløs kjærlighet is a non-governmental

organization in Norway that focuses on individuals who struggle with family reunion in Norway. It is an organization that provides help for those individuals by guiding them

towards the different laws that apply to their situation and guides them towards solutions that are available for their situations. Grenseløs kjærlighet is the Norwegian word for borderless love, and this NGO focuses on individuals’ rights to family reunification

(Grenseløskjærlighet, 2017). Grenseløs has helped individuals share their stories and

experience, so that governments are aware that hundreds of children are growing up without one of the parents because the father or the mother is not allowed into the country.

Individuals who decide to become member of ‘’Grenseløs kjærlighet ‘’ have access to a huge facebook community with thousands of people who struggle with family reunification in Norway. I think it’s important that those communities exist so people can help each other.

Moreover, the problem is not only the risk of losing the residence legal status, but also the effect that family reunification has on relationships in general (Schmidt, 2013). According to

Transnational Families, Migration and the Circulation of Care: Understanding Mobility and Absence in Family Life by Loretta Baldassar and Laura Merla, distance between family

members prohibits exchange of caregiving. The concept ‘care circulation’ is introduced in the book as a theoretical approach about transnational families and migration. Care circulation is ‘the reciprocal, multidirectional and asymmetrical exchange of care that fluctuates over the life course within transnational family networks subject to the political, economic, cultural and social contexts of both sending and receiving societies’ (Baldassar & Merla, 2014: pp.25). Which is a way of understanding the mobility and absence in family life. In this context, transnational families are often stigmatized of having fragmented and broken

families, often deficient, because of the distance between the family members. Baldassar and Merla introduce number of ways of how transnational families maintain their kinship across countries and by having life routines on how to live their lives and communicate through social media to keep their family status.

Page 10 of 40 Combining the literatures mentioned above together, they have a point in common, which is how family reunification affect individuals. There are many literatures that also focus on the same topic, and most literature has covered the important effects of family reunification on individuals. The book The Family in Question: Immigrant and Ethnic Minorities in

Multicultural Europe By Ralph Grillo has also set the spotlight on how harsh family

reunification can be on individuals, including that some families end up starting new families. According to Grillo, ’while some families will go back to their families and countries of origin after temporarily living abroad, others will like to reunify with their families at their current locations and others will probably start to make new families’ (Grillo, 2008: pp. 89). Which in general is true because some individuals still get their family reunification

applications declined and the applicant will whether have to live outside the EU with their family or split from the family. This is a point that the NGO grenseløskjærlighet has highlighted, that family reunification laws are harsh, and that if individuals migrate to Sweden and apply for family reunification as an EEA citizen, there would be hope.

Ralph Grillo discusses in his book how interviewees were frustrated over how long the family reunification process took, and they struggle to find a way to be together during the period from when the application is sent, until the application is approved or declined (Grillo, 2008: pp. 105). In Sweden for instance, the application time for family reunification is

approximately 12-20 months depends on how your case is and what is taken into consideration (Migrationsverket, 2019). This is something useful for my investigation because the longer the period of family reunification is, the more effects it has on family members and their distance relationship. Therefore, one can say that distance relationship is one of the consequences of family reunification that can lead to negative effects in some cases.

Articles from newspaper have suggested that EEA solution is the only solution for Norwegian citizens to live with their foreign partner. A case of Kajsa Liisa Rodriguez Høiland has confirmed that Sweden was their only hope. The twist in this case is that this person did not end up living in two countries at the same time, simply because she was not feeling welcome in her own country in the first place. The couples are living happily in

Page 11 of 40 Strømstad, Sweden, and have said that they are well integrated in Sweden (Hirsti, 2013). This article highlights another importance of individuals experience about family reunification, which is positive effects instead of negative effects. For this investigation, it is interesting to see whether interviewees have dealt with similar situations.

The biggest challenges that academics have highlighted, is the individual’s right of family life. UDI has pointed out that it might take longer than four years to fulfil the requirements of family reunification, now that the requirements are that the applicant must have been working or studying for at least four years in Norway. According to other academics, the restriction of family reunification is seen ‘a strain on the labour market and social facilities, such as

housing, education and medical facilities’ (Foadi & Malena, 2012: pp. 347). It will be

interesting to see in interviews if the interviewees have gone through that process in Denmark or Norway before applying in Sweden, and how that also has affected their experience in family reunification.

Policies and regulations of family reunification is what leads an individual to choose the EEA solution. Along with Ralph Grillo’s The Family in Question: Immigrant and Ethnic

Minorities in Multicultural Europe, which discusses the family reunification policy in the

different countries in Europe, other books like Youth policy in Norway by Council of Europe addresses issues on family reunification policy, immigrants and multicultural questions (Council of Europe, 2004: pp. 29-30, 72). Moreover, Democratic Citizenship and the Free Movement of People by Guild and Nissen discusses family reunification and movement of EU citizens as third country nationals within EU (Guild and Niessen, 2013. pp: 57-59, 61, 84).

The overall assessment of the literature gathered for this investigation, like academic writings, articles, books, cases and news articles is that they mostly empathize transnational families. Family reunification is seen as a family right, however, it would have been

interesting if more academics cast the spotlight on an issues like misuse of the reunification, and to justify the restrictions in Norway and Denmark, maybe even why Sweden should have those restrictions in the future. Rytter explained part of the problem by discussing how

Page 12 of 40 arranged marriage was the reason behind the restrictions in Denmark, however other

literature discussed the emotional effects on individuals rather than their social effects.

3 Theoretical Framework

In the theoretical framework I will define transnationalism and explain how transnationalism is introduced into Nordic immigrants’ lives. The mobility of Nordic citizens in EU, and their settlements in different countries within EU are explained through transnationalism. I will also discuss the connection between transnationalism and transnational marriages, and how transnationalism has affected Nordic immigrants’ lives, specifically when it comes to dual identity and belonging to multiple societies. Furthermore, it is interesting to investigate how the government reacts to transnational marriages within EU and how government and transnationalism can explain the strict family reunification law and their consequences.

3.1 Transnationalism

Historically transnationalism became a term in the 20th century, and it was a new idea to describe relationships between different cultures. During that time internet and

communication were developed and were part of the world’s globalization. However, the first time the term transnational was used was in 1921 in Merriam Webster dictionary, and the definition for transnational is ‘extending or going beyond national boundaries’ (Word

reference, 2019). This term has also been important in social sciences. For instance, an article by Cerwyn Moore discusses transnational activism in the post-soviet period (Moore, 2015). Other articles discuss transnationalism on a political level, and it provides those articles with “an umbrella concept for some of the most globally transformative processes and

developments of our time”. (Vertovec, 1999: pp. 459).

Transnationalism is a theory that can be used to explain the phenomenon of family reunification of non-EU citizens with Nordic citizens in Sweden. Furthermore,

transnationalism is ‘transnational activities and social forms along with the political and economic factors that condition their creation and reporoduction’ (Vertovec,2009: pp.

28). Transnationalism theory explains that there are connections between societies, countries and even cities around the world. Those connections can be economical, political or cultural.

Page 13 of 40 The mobility of Danish and Norwegian citizens into Sweden and out of Sweden can be explained as a transnational activity and a social norm, which is a factor based on politics, economics and cultural reasons.

Looking into the causes of the migration of Nordic citizens into Sweden for family reunification, most reasons are explained by the political and cultural factor more than economical factor. The strict family reunification laws in Denmark and Norway is the political factor that led people out of Denmark and Norway to connect with Sweden. Based on case studies in articles like Semi-legal family life: Pakistani couples in the borderlands of

Denmark and Sweden have explained for instance transnationalism through Pakistani couples

who are connecting with two border countries at the same time and are at risk of losing their legal status because of under staying or overstaying in Denmark and Sweden (Rytter, 2011).

Transnational theory definition has covered ‘’connections between societies’’. One example is Nordic citizens because in most cases they end up connecting with Norway or Denmark after they migrate to Sweden for family reunification. This connection can be established through work, school or family ties. Vertovec argues how transnational migrants hold multiple identifications, and that ‘hence there are depictions of individuals’ awareness of de-centred attachments, of being simultaneously ‘home away from here’, ‘here and there’ or, for instance, British and something else’ (Vertovec, 2012: chap 2). Transnational migrants are aware of their surroundings, often conscious, that they hold different identities because of belonging to more than one country. It explains Pakistanis semi-legal lives in Denmark, and Norwegians lives who live at the border of Sweden but work in Norway. It also explains how some individuals make well use of system if they are conscious. To elaborate, the idea of consciousness is the key point to transnationalism. An example is added in the analysis part.

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3.2 Transnational Family

Since this investigation is interested in how family reunification has shaped the applicants lives during the application process and after they have received their decision, transnational family is a central concept. Transnational families are described as family whose divided in two countries, and usually exercise their family lives from a distance (Baldassar & Merla 2014: pp. 21). The only way that tie transnational family with each and another is technology, which helps them exchange emotions and supports on daily basis. The main idea of

’transnationalism’ in family migration is that migration has never stopped family members or couples from maintaining connection with each other (Coface, 2017). However, the issue that remains is that the separation of the family can create broken and fragmented family ties (Halabuza, 2014: pp. 109).

Transnationalism has effect on individuals who migrate to Sweden for family reunification. For instance, some individuals often find themselves in another country because of

globalisation forces, and some end up going back to their country, however, ‘the intensity of migrant connections to home countries are deepening and diversifying. And leaving one’s home is never easy even though it may be voluntary’ (Soong, 2015: pp. 22). Therefore, family reunification has effects on family lives during the process of family reunification and post-family reunification. Those effects can be both positive and negative, however, this point of view takes into consideration that they must start a new life in a new country, struggle with integration and struggle with their relationship as a family for some cases. Therefore, there are more negative effects on transnational families than positive effects.

For this investigation, transnationalism is more connected to transnational marriage, where the connection between three societies or countries are happening through couples who are EU citizens and non-EU citizens. Transnational marriage is often an obstacle, however not in all cases (Charsley, 2012: pp. 71). To elaborate, transnational marriage is culturally not a problem for couples who have common citizenship in their country of origin, however, it is a problem for couples who have been separated by two different countries, and only one of them owns the citizenship of the second or third country. Many couples for instance met

Page 15 of 40 abroad and decided to get married, and it would not have been an obstacle if the person was an EU citizen.

Furthermore, focusing on the effects of family reunification, transnational marriage and the effects of distance relationship, the experience is what separates a case from another. According to Vertovec, ‘it is preferable to delimit the concept of transnationalism to

occupations and activities that require regular and sustained social contacts over time across national borders for their implementation’ (Vertovec, 2004: 219). Therefore, what individuals experience through family reunification is what separates them from everyone else abroad, and therefore Nordic citizens who come to Sweden for family reunification is what separates them from other migrants in Sweden.

Moreover, transnational families experience distant parenthood. With today’s large communication opportunities, interacting has become easier than ever. According to

Verotovec, ‘new technologies are at the heart of today’s transnational networks’ and that ‘ the technologies do not altogether create new social patterns but they certainly reinforce existing ones’ (Vertovec, 1994: pp. 449). Vertovec also argues that Technology has enabled

individuals to be in dual places at the same time, which he describes as ‘’here and there’’. However, distant family relationship will still affect a family because they have had previous experiences of how it is like living together, and with the new life of internet communication only, new meanings are introduced to their family life.

Transnational families with children, will most probably be affected by distance family relationship the most. Childhood is an important stage in a human’s life, and it is the stage where circumstances, environment and surroundings matter. However, because of the distance, some children will grow up with disadvantages because one of the parents is away. There are psychological, educational and health outcomes that are affected by migration. Furthermore, children will grow up with difficulties when it comes to building their own social networks, specifically when they already had built their own social networks in the country, they previously lived in. Children who belong to transnational families might also

Page 16 of 40 find difficulties in school because of change of language, as well as the process of making new friends and get familiar with new schooling system (Moyo, Nicolau, & Fairhurts, 2012).

3.3 Transnationalism and Government

From a critical point of view, and in opposition of transnationalism, governments have been trying to prevent transnational marriages to ‘control the migration flow’. The government tries to prevent individuals to come into the country if they cannot support themselves. Which is why there are requirements for family reunification, and that the government is not trying to challenge individuals who have the right to family life but rather protect them from transnational marriages. However, the government is losing control even when protecting its national interest. According to Charsley ‘the state is challenged by developments in the EU, making it increasingly difficult to uphold restrictive regime introduced in order to protect what the state represents as the national interest’ (Charsley, 2012: pp. 75). Moreover, Semi-legal life of Pakistani couples for instance is at risk because of under staying or overstaying in border countries, however from the governments point of view they were at risk in the first place if the person was to be reunited in Denmark and would not have been able to support himself or herself because their income was not sufficient. The state does also not prefer transnational marriages, but rather marriages within Denmark because it is seen as better for integration, health, labour market, liberal domestic principles etc (ibid).

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4 Methodology

4.1 Interviewing

The method that will be used for this investigation is the interview method. This method will help me answer my research question because I want to learn something that I have not learned before. I consider this method essential for a qualitative research, because it gives the researcher the opportunity for face-to-face interviews and see the other persons’ perspective better. This method is useful for my investigation because my research questions are policies determined on a specific issue, which is the effects that family reunification has on

transnational families from Denmark and Norway. Furthermore, interviewing will help me bring personal values into the research, help me collect interviewees meaning and collaborate with the participants (Creswell, 2014: pp. 18).

Interviewing method is a method that is designed to help examine issues related to policies, society and identity. To elaborate, it is designed to examine issues where individuals are experiencing something unusual or different over time (Creswell, 2014: pp. 19). In this investigation, the research problem focuses on individuals who migrated from Norway and Denmark to apply for family reunification in Sweden, and this group that is targeted in the research happen to experience transnational life because of belonging to more than one country and society, or going beyond national boundaries. Interviewing participants, will help me as a researcher to collect information on how they were experiencing the different social effects because of family reunification policy in Norway or Denmark, and how moving to Sweden to reunite as a family has impacted their lives. The qualitative approach of this research method is going to help me with the material because the interviews are long enough to determine the participants experience of family reunification as a transnational (ibid).

Furthermore, interviewing does not only provide the researcher with information, but interviews ’yield rich insights into people’s biographies, experiences, opinions, values, aspirations, attitudes and feelings’ (May 2001: pp. 120). An interview will therefore not only be based on what the participant opinion on the matter is, but on what the participant have gone through as a family, and their experience from migration because as mentioned in the

Page 18 of 40 theoretical framework, ‘the intensity of migrant connections to home countries are deepening and diversifying. And leaving one’s home is never easy even though it may be voluntary’ (Soong, 2015: pp. 22). An interview with experienced transnational migrants, will provide me with rich details on how difficult it was leaving their homes because Sweden’s family

reunification laws are more liberal. Last not least, qualitative interviews are going to let the participant talk freely about their experience. Unlike structured interviews which limit the participant answer because the questions are limited (May 2001: pp. 121). It is important that the participant gives as much details as possible, because the more a participant talks, the more knowledge will be gained regarding transnational families and effects of family reunification on them.

4.2 Semi-structured interviews

In social research, there are many interview methods that a researcher can use. However, for this investigation I will use the semi-structured interview. The semi-structured interview method fits my research because as it was described earlier, participants need to talk freely about their experience. Structured interview does not contain open questions, and therefore the answers will not provide me with enough information. However, semi-structured

interview, can have open questions that can be freely answered. Even the questions in a semi-structured interview can be modified if the participant experienced problem with answering the question (May 2001: pp. 123). The importance of semi-structured interview is to let participants answer something other than ‘’yes’’ or ‘’no’’. Moreover, interviewees have the chance of giving answers rich of informational when the questions are open.

Moreover, semi-structured interviews allow the interviewer to get involved in a conversation with the interviewee, which is important for this investigation because it will let the

‘interviewer to seek both clarification and elaboration on the answers given…’ (May, 2001: pp. 123). With the example question given in the previous paragraph, the interviewer could ask the interview further to elaborate what they mean with ‘’strict laws on family

reunification’’. If an answer contains a lot of details in a semi-structured interview, it will still allow me to compare the answers with other interviews In addition, if the answer contains a

Page 19 of 40 lot of information the interviewer will have the opportunity to think of new ideas or new questions based on what the interviewee answered (ibid.).

4.3 Data Collection and Coding

To answer the aim of this investigation, semi-structured interviews will be carried out to investigate the two research questions:

1) What are the reasons for and experiences of Nordic citizens that move to Sweden for family reunification?

The focus of those research questions are why the participants chose Sweden for family reunification and how that has affected their lives and shaped it before the reunification and after the reunification. The participants of the semi-structured interview are individuals who are citizens of Norway or Denmark. Selection of some of the participants happened through a Facebook post where I described what my investigation is about, the targeted group, and the purpose of the investigation. People who sent messages to volunteer also forwarded the Facebook Post to people they knew had similar situation. The rest of the participants were people I knew were transnational families and I contacted them to ask if they would like to participate. It was important that not all participants were picked through Facebook because validity and reliability are important. Picking participants of only Facebook, can bias

interviews. For example, the participant might choose to have the interview over the phone, however, that will not allow me to interpret interviews the same way when I look at

participants face-to-face and interpret their facial expressions on different topic during the interview.

This investigation does not target any specific ethnic group or gender; therefore, participants were not selected based on one selected ethnic background, race, gender, sex or age.

However, the participants may express certain attitude because the interviewer is from a different ethnic group. For example when a study was conducted in Tennessee among black people, because the interviewer was white they did not express their opinion as much as they expressed it when they were interviewed by a black guy (May, 2001: pp 128). For that

Page 20 of 40 purpose, I made sure that there is variety of ethnic backgrounds when the participants were selected.

The material of the analysis was gained through five interviews that lasted 45-60 minutes each. The reason why the interviews were 45-60 minutes is because some participants had a lot to answer on some questions and needed more than 45 minutes to elaborate. The

interviews were individual face-to-face, over the phone and some were over text. Interviews were written down or recorded and transcribed. The questions were open-ended questions as described in the method section, and the questions were structured in a way an answer does not end up ‘’yes’’ or ‘’no’’ (May, 2001; pp. 123-134). The language that was used in the interviews was Norwegian, English and Arabic depends on the participants background and language skills.

The interview itself is divided into two sections. It starts with warm-up questions that are less sensitive than later questions. The first section is questions that are based on what happened before the family reunification, and it covers parts like the reasons and experience before the reunification. In the second section, questions are post-family reunification based, and cover topics such as integration, identity and belonging. That way, I made the warm up with least sensitive questions, and the more personal and sensitive questions were asked in the second section, as the participant might start feeling comfortable and want to talk about their experience (May, 2001: pp. 121, 124-127).

I have documented the procedure by coding all the data. The data is organized by bracketed text segments, and written words that represent a category in the margins (Creswell, 2014: pp. 198). This system is used to analyse the data, and it allowed me to emerge information collected by the interviews. I used a combination of emerging and predetermined codes when I developed them, however, some categories were broad and had to be divided to

subcategories. The only issue I encountered when I made the list of codes was that during the analysis some codes were irrelevant and had to be replaced with relevant codes. Furthermore, I had to look for the frequency of the codes and determine which way they appeared and how often. The codes will be represented under how often they have appeared in the interviews.

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4.4 The Researcher

The researcher is the primary role in the investigation, and that is because the researcher is personally interviewing the participants for the material. According to Tim May ‘’The interviewer, who can seek both clarification and elaboration on the answers given, can then record qualitative information about the topic’’ (May 2001: pp. 123). Secondly, the

researcher’s task is to identify possible bias in participants answers, as well as look for personal values and assumptions in the interviews (Lutz & Collins, 1993: pp. 135). Furthermore, the ontological position of the researcher, me, in this investigation is

constructivism. Constructivism is based on that others hold a different view of the world, and participants who took part of the interviews are individuals who have developed opinion and experience. According to Creswell, ‘’Social constructivists believe that individuals seek understanding of the world in which they live and work’’ (Creswell, 2014: pp. 8).

Transnational migrants’ experience and thoughts are what I am seeking in this investigation, and as a researcher my goal is to rely on the participants answer and views and study them to come to a conclusion. Moreover, interviewing the participants with open-ended question puts the participants in a position that makes them construct a meaning of the situation (ibid). Last not least, not being familiar with participants situation or of the topic has prevented me from over-criticizing the topic. However, it has made me sympathize with the transnational families but not over-sympathize.

4.5 Validity and reliability

Validity is important for a qualitative research, and that’s because validity concerns whether the material is accurate or not (Creswell, 2004: pp. 201). Moreover, there are strategies that can be implemented to check for validity. One of the primary strategies to implement is the triangular strategy. I triangulated the data resources by looking for evidence. The sources that were used to improve the validity of the material are literature on cases and theories of transnationalism that were mentioned in the literature review. The patterns between the content of the literature, theory and interviews were drawn to check for accuracy of validity (ibid). This primary tool was effective and helped me justify the answers according to the sources of literature. Reliability was handled by documenting every step of the procedure.

Page 22 of 40 Reliability indicates that the quality of the research approach is trustworthy and is consistent in other research and other investigations. Furthermore, to check for reliability transcripts were checked for mistakes and checked for drifts in the coding system (Creswell, 2004: pp. 201, 203).

4.6 Ethical Aspects

It is important that the interviewees are aware of why I am conducting my research and where I am placing the information that he or she is providing me with. Therefore, I explained to the participants the aim of the research, and that it is only used for this investigation. The

participants have the right to know who they are providing this information to, and how the information is recorded. Therefore, an interview protocol was signed by both ends. The interviews that were recorded with a recording device, the participants were informed that their voice was being played in in that device (Creswell, 2014: pp. 101, 2014). For this investigation specifically, it was difficult to convince some of the interviewees that this information is not going to be shared with the Migration board (Migrationsverket). However, I explained that the interview protocol that they signed, allows me to use their information only for this investigation and nothing further. I also explained that my university and the migration board were two different places that do not share information with one another either ways. Anonymity was the most important ethical aspects, and interviewees answered the questions anonymously without giving any first name or last name but rather subject generated identification codes.

4.7 Limitations

There have been many limitations during the investigation. The first limitation was the number of interviewees. Many individuals wanted to participate in the research, however, since it is time consuming to do semi-structured interviews, I had to limit the number of participants to only five people. The second limitation was that I did not use a second method for the investigation. If another method was used in this investigation, it would have helped me to draw patterns and see things clearer during the investigation. However, the positive

Page 23 of 40 side is that I did not have to focus on specific groups when I did the investigation, which meant that selecting the participant was easy. For example, I did not have to choose only individuals with Middle Eastern background, or maybe even only females or only males. This delimitation saved me time.

5 Analysis

5.1 Results

The codes that were chosen from the interviews, were codes that were relevant to the investigation. Those codes are words that have been repeated in interviews. By presenting those codes, it will be possible to draw connections between the codes, their meaning, and draw patterns that can analyse the effects of family reunification of Danish and Norwegian citizens in Sweden. The aim is to analyse and see how transnationalism has shaped those individuals lives in Sweden.

Codes Appearance and Repetition

(Often – Rare)

The codes meaning

Temporary Solution Often Moved to Sweden

temporary for family reunification because it was their only solution

Distance Relationship Very often Distance relationship

struggles, and lack of communication

Family ties Often Connections in the two

countries Norway/Denmark and Sweden.

Address and Work Very often Under staying / Over staying

Page 24 of 40 one of the countries and address in the other

Children Often Children were affected by

the family reunification process

Communication Very often Communication with the

other partner outside EU

Fear Rarely Individuals feared having

their applications declined

Society Often Belonging to two societies at

once

Identity Often Struggling which society to

belong to

Citizenship Often Waiting for the Swedish

Citizenship to plan future intentions

Future Rarely Future intentions on staying

in Sweden or moving out

The results show that the codes distance relationship, address and work appeared very often. Other codes like temporary solution, ties, children, society, identity struggle and citizenship appeared often. However, future and fear were mentioned in the interviews but rarely compared to other codes. While reading the interviews, distance relationship was often followed by communication and children. The interviewee’s discussed how distance

relationship affected them during the family reunification process, and how communication played a role during that time on the family. Citizenship and temporary solution were also paired, and interviewees often discussed them in the same context because citizenship was important for their future intentions. The word society and identity struggle were also paired in the interviews, where interviewees talked about integration and belonging and the most important work, address and ties were paired up with society and identity. The least mentioned words were fear and future. It was in the context that interviewees rarely feared

Page 25 of 40 that their applications for family reunification will be declined in Sweden. Those phenomena will be discussed further.

5.2 Distance Relationship, Communication and Children

Distance relationship, communication and children were often paired up in the interviews when interviewees talked. Distance relationship was concluded as an effect of the

individual’s family reunification process. Distance relationship was a risky activity that risked the relationship with their partners outside the EU. Interviewee’s described distance relationship with their husbands/partners outside EU as horrible, horrific, unsettling and risky. None of the interviewee connected distance with positive adjectives. Families with children, described distance relationship worse because children were emotionally connected with the parent.

In one of the interviews the interviewee said that her husband was deported from Norway which is why they migrated to Sweden for family reunification. However, because the children had already lived with their father, after the deportation they struggled with having distance family life with their father. It was described as ‘’not the same’’ as when the person is physically there. According to Vetrovec technologies do not create new social patterns (Vetrovic, 1994: pp. 449). However, none of the children struggled with change of language or change of place because the families that were interviewed had the oldest children around seven years old. It is also something that I found in the interviews, that most families who migrate from Norway/Denmark to Sweden for family reunification are persons who had recently established partnerships or family life. Although, the care circulation framework is still an issue, specifically when it comes to giving and receiving emotions.

Furthermore, distance relationship for families without children was also described in similar ways in each interview. The description was based on negative adjectives that illustrated how difficult distance relationship was. The word difficult was repeated in interviews specifically on the topic of distance relationship. Some explained how distance relationship risked the entire relationship and that it physically doesn’t work to be a family over the phone or over the internet. Even though Vetrovec argued that technology has enabled individuals to be in

Page 26 of 40 dual places at the same time or be ‘’here and there’’, it was difficult to maintain healthy relationships as interviewee’s described (ibid).

Furthermore, distance relationships prevent families from caregiving (Baldassar & Merla: 2014: pp. 25). Which was obvious in the interviews. Interviewee’s have talked about the effect of one of the parents absence in family life, and how important it was for families with children that care is given and the concept of family doesn’t become something else . The stigma of transnational families having fragmented and broken families was evident in the interviews, however, interviewee’s have also talked about how they tried to overcome distance relationship issues. According to Baldassar and Merka, individuals found ways to maintain their kinship even across countries and they introduced ways of communication to keep their family status, which is what interviewee’s said but they still struggled and defined the whole idea as ‘’difficult’’.

It explains why not so many interviewee preferred started a new family, and that’s according to Grillo, since situations vary, also decisions vary, basically ’while some families will go back to their families and countries of origin after temporarily living abroad, others will like to reunify with their families at their current locations and others will probably start to make new families’ (Grillo, 2008: pp. 89). There are still individuals choosing other options than starting a new family. In fact, when interviewees were asked about post-family reunification, the word ‘’improvement of relationship’’ was repeated in the five interviews. One can

analyse from the interviews that the effects like distance relationship in transnational families is the most common activity, and the frustration over how long applications took added is evident that distance relationships are rough. According to Grillo, partners struggle to find a way to be together during the period from when the family reunion application is sent, until the application is approved or declined (Grillo, 2008: pp.105).

Interviewee’s have also used the word obstacle to describe transnational marriage, and according to transnational marriage theories, transnational marriage is viewed as an obstacle (Charsley 2012: pp. 71). One of the interviewee’s stated that ‘’marrying someone outside the

EU is an obstacle but if you consider each other family it isn’t an obstacle after all’’. Many

Page 27 of 40 outside EU if they are family. For children, interviewees still described distant parenthood as an obstacle for children because they grow up with disadvantages and leaves psychological effects. In one of the interviews, the interviewee described her child’s behaviour towards the situation as ‘’ she was always curious of why her father has not come back yet, and

constantly asking related questions’’.

From a transnational perspective, transnational migrants in this investigation have connection to more than two countries at the same time. It is important to keep in mind that the country the spouse/partner lived in before the reunification, is the third country that the transnational migrants have a connection with. To elaborate, Nordic citizens do not only have connection between Denmark – Sweden or Norway – Sweden, but rather Denmark/Norway – Sweden – Spouses country. This triangle explains how Nordic citizens who are in Sweden for family reunification are transnational migrants in three countries at the same time:

This shape illustrates the transnationality of Nordic citizens that move to Sweden for family reunification. This shape is important for this investigation because it also illustrates the connection of transnational migrants at the same time, as well as illustrates the

communication that is happening in a transnational family through three countries. In the analysis, one of the interviewees explained how distance relationship played a part of her transnational identity. She said because the family reunification took longer than intended, she went to visit her spouse in Albania. The same case was in another interviewee where the person explained that he travelled to Thailand often to meet his partner, because otherwise

Page 28 of 40 distance relationship would have been tougher if the applicant did not connect with the third country.

5.3 Society and Identity

Secondly, society and identity were paired up codes in interviews. They often fell into the same sentence when interviewees described their lives in Sweden. Society and identity were concluded as two important things in the interviewee’s life. In four out of five interviews, interviewees discussed how they do not feel that they belong to the Swedish society, but rather belong to Norway/Denmark because they grew up there. They concluded that Norway/Denmark and Sweden are two different societies, and that they struggled with finding their identity in Sweden. However, when they talked about Norway/Denmark it was obvious that Norway/Denmark were the places they felt they belonged to and that they did not struggle with their identity there. Furthermore, interviewees discussed how they fell into the issue of belonging to two societies because of their work, address, and kinship.

According to Steph Lawler, the definition of identity is people’s uniqueness that differs them from each and another, and the differences (Lawler, 2008: pp. 2). However, transnational communities often face issues like dual identities or multiple identities because of having connection with more than one country. Moreover, ‘’identity is not something foundational and essential, but something produced through narratives people use to explain and

understand their lives’’ (Lawler, 2008: pp. 17). It was evident in the interviews that

interviewees struggled with their identity when they answered the question ‘’Which country

do you feel that you belong to?’’. They interviewees were not sure where the felt they

belonged to, mostly the country they came from, but since they already started building their lives in Sweden, they felt that they struggled to belong to just one country.

Transnational migration effects of multiple identity were obvious in one of the interviews. In one out of the five interviews a woman worked in Denmark and lived in Malmö so she could be reunited with her husband who lived outside EU. She talked about identity and that the reason why she felt that she belonged to Denmark was her family, friends and work.

Page 29 of 40 However, her son goes to a Swedish day-care and her husband is working in Sweden. She talked freely about her Danish identity but said ‘’if I find a job in Sweden, I will remain in

Sweden because I have already established my life here. I will still have to be in Copenhagen because I am used to be around my family’’. She had established the idea of dual identities

because of her connection with two societies. At this point she wouldn’t only have

connections with Denmark because of work, but family ties were another reason for her dual identity. According to Vertovic, transnational migration is basically ‘home away from here’, and here and there or ‘’British and something else’’ (Vertovec, 2012: chap 2).

Moreover, I found that that integration played a major role of what interviewees felt. In the analysis of the interviews, 3 out of 5 interviewees did not feel that they were integrated in the Swedish society. However, when they were asked if they integrated in the Danish/Norwegian society, they said that they were more integrated in the Danish society because they grew up there and knew the language. Which highlights an important point, that integration is also part of their struggle of belonging. If they feel non-integrated in the Swedish society, the more connection they feel that they must maintain with Denmark/Norway. Hence the more they will fall into the transnational dimension. This investigation was not concerned about ethnic background, but the interviewees who were not ethnic Danish or Norwegian were asked about integration because it could play a role when it comes to social belonging and identity.

In the analysis of the interviews, the issue of identity and belonging occurred only in the second section of the interview, about post-family reunification. Interviewee’s struggled with identity and belonging after their spouses/partners came to Sweden. It was evident in the analysis that when the spouse/partner started establishing their lives in Sweden, it meant that their family life is being established in Sweden as well and they must stay in Sweden. Some interviewees discussed this issue and referred to this situation as being stuck between two countries where family life exists in both. However, the main reason behind the struggle was that they had to remain in Sweden for five years after the reunification because of their

partners citizenship. The code citizenship was repeated in the analysis often, and it was paired with living in Sweden, post-family reunification, living in two countries at the same time very

Page 30 of 40 often. It illustrated that post-family reunification families kept their connection with both countries post-family reunification because of the Swedish citizenship. This point will be discussing in ‘Temporary Solution and Citizenship’ section.

Last not least, in the analysis of the interviews, there were patterns drawn between what the interviewees said about travelling to their partners or spouses outside EU to meet with them under the family reunification procedure, and between their identity and social belonging. The story that the interviewees tell during the interviews describes their identity, and ‘’Identity is a story one tells oneself and to others. That story is partly objective and real, partly imagined and subjective’’ (Alake, 2005). Interviewees talked about how they also started developing a new identity in the society of the country the spouse or partner lived in. The transnational perspective is introduced once again in the life of the Nordic citizen who visits their spouse in their country for long periods of time under the family reunification procedure. This is how the transnational migrants unintentionally reproduce a new social identity in the spouses’ host country. The triangular shape that was introduced in Distance

relationship, communication and children section can also be used to explain how

transnationalism is produced between three countries, and how individuals shape their

identity and social belonging in three countries at the same time by unintentionally producing them.

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5.4 Legal status and Citizenship

Along with having to stay in Sweden after the family reunification, regardless the struggle of identity, interviewees highlighted an important reason to remain in Sweden. The codes temporary solution and citizenship were often paired up in interviews. Family ties was also mentioned often. Interviewees answered questions on how they got help to migrate to Sweden, and who helped them. Some of them said family, friends, advocates, while some talked about NGOs like ‘’grenseløskjærlighet’’ or borderless love NGO that was mentioned in the literature review. Those types of NGOs help individuals to find solutions, and they often suggest the EEA solution to individuals who keep having their decisions declined by UDI or if their partner has an entry ban from Denmark/Norway. Interviewees stated that they would never have left Norway/Denmark in the first place if the regulations allowed them to have a family life. According to Soong, leaving one’s home is never easy even though it may be voluntary’’ (Soong, 2015: pp. 22). Interviews therefore highlighted that moving to Sweden was just a temporary solution until their partner gets their Swedish citizenship, which was also recommended by their friends and families.

Furthermore, since Sweden for family reunification was a temporary solution, work, address and family ties have prevented individuals from living in just one country. After the family reunification, individuals were concerned about maintaining their connections in

Denmark/Norway because they ‘’cannot walk away from family’’ or leave their jobs, or because the wages in Denmark/Norway are better than Sweden, and many other reasons. It does not mean that some individuals did not stay in Sweden or like Sweden. In fact, when one of the interviewees were asked if they were integrated in Sweden, they said ‘’yes, I have

a job, the language is similar to Norwegian, and it is easy to always hop in the bus and get to Norway whenever I miss it. I like it here in Malmö’’. It shows that not all the interviewees are

concerned about living two countries at once.

Moreover, 3 out of five interviewees talked about their legal status. When they were asked why they did not end up living in Denmark/Norway if they felt that they belonged to Sweden, they said that in order for the invited family member to get the Swedish citizenship, the invited family member must live at least five years in Sweden. According the Swedish

Page 32 of 40 migration board ‘’to become a Swedish citizen, you must have been living in Sweden on a long-term basis for a certain period. As a rule, you must have been resident in Sweden for a continuous period of five years. Habitual residence means that you are a long-term resident and intend to remain in Sweden’’ (Migrationsverket: 2019). That meant that individuals who came to Sweden for family reunification, have a bond with Sweden for five years if they are concerned about citizenship.

When interviewees were asked about their future intention, they often repeated citizenship. Citizenship and future intentions were connected because the person used EEA solution as a temporary solution to reunite with their partner. It affects the Danish/Norwegian couple who applied in the first place to wait five years in Sweden, in addition to living in two countries at the same time for five years in a row where their legal status is risked. It is obvious in the interviews what the interviewee’s future intention were. One of the interviewees stated that ‘’yes, I have intentions of going back to Norway. I am in Sweden until my husband gets his citizenship, otherwise I have no purpose here’’ She further highlighted an important fact about her belonging and said that ‘’I want to go back to my family, to my life in Norway. It’s

where I grew up and it’s where I always want to be’’.

Another problem that was encountered during the interviews, was that the Nordic citizens spouse or partner started establishing their life in Sweden regardless of the citizenship future intention. That meant that the person coming outside EU started to become integrated in the Swedish society, learned the language and maybe found a job. This person will also start developing a new identity in Sweden and will have a bond with Sweden even after the five years’ time span. In one of the interviews, this was an issue for one of the partners because she said it will affect their relationship in the future if their partner intended to stay in Sweden even after he got his citizenship. The person stated that ‘’it will be hard to make my partner

give up his new identity, in the end of the day this is where he started establishing his life. Going back to Denmark will mean that he will have to learn the Danish language after five years, find a new job and establish his life again in Denmark. It will cost him a lot of time and he is not willing to do that. I can understand why’’. She further discussed how family

Page 33 of 40 originally came from Gaza. She stated ‘’Family reunification was important for both of us,

because he hasn’t established himself in his home country, but here he did. Therefore, it is important for him to stay where he has established himself. Sweden is his new society and he made friends, bought a car and is investing in a new apartment. It is hard to start over in Denmark’’.

5.5 Further discussion

There were no evidence in interviews that showed that someone started new family as Ralph Grillo explained, that ’while some families will go back to their families and countries of origin after temporarily living abroad, others will like to reunify with their families at their current locations and others will probably start to make new families’ (Grillo, 2008: pp. 89). Only in one interview the interviewee explained that if they had their application declined by the Migrationboard, they would have ended the relationship. However, it plays a role when only five people were interviewed. If more than five people were interviewed, for example 20, there would have been variety of cases like Ralph Grillo presented. Also, if more than five people were interviewed, some participants maybe would have a different identity after the relationship has ended. There could have been stories of how family reunification affected their live negatively even post-family reunification, especially that persons coming from outside EU start establishing new identity and new life.

In the analysis, the codes that were rarely repeated were fear and future but were codes that were often paired up together in sentences and paragraphs. Those words represented what individuals feared during their time in Sweden under the family reunification procedure, and their future in case the application was declined. The interviewees did not fear that the migration board would have declined their application. Some interviewees talked about that they had backup plans in case the application was declined, like for example moving to their spouses and partners countries or appeal their cases in the migration board. An interviewee stated ‘’from what I knew and heard, back when I applied for family reunification, and even

before I moved to Sweden, it is very rare that applicants have their applications declined’’.

Which is interpreted as if the interviewees were certain about the decision in the future. It makes sense in one of the interviews, because the person stated that her sisters had migrated to Sweden from Denmark for the same purpose and they all got their applications approved.

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6 Conclusion

The aim of this investigation was to study why Sweden has become a solution for EEA citizens for family reunification, and how the family reunification policies shaped their lives. In 2010, a major change in the family reunification law resulted in numbers of declined applications. Families were no longer able to reunite with their partners or spouses outside the EU if they did not meet the new requirements. A similar change happened in Denmark and several requirements including language requirements, employment and age

requirements prevented many Danish citizens from reuniting with their non-EU partner or spouse. These major changes in the policies in Denmark and Norway led to emigration of EEA citizens to Sweden for more liberal regulations, and possible solution to practice their right to family life.

The different requirements for family reunification were discussed in the investigation to have an overview over possible reasons for why EEA citizens migrated to Sweden for family reunification. The difficult regulations of family reunification in Denmark and Norway prevented individuals from being reunited with their family members mainly because high income requirement and age requirement. Some individuals seek the EEA solution because their spouse was deported from Denmark or Norway and cannot be reunited into Schengen areas. However, Sweden would allow the person to come into the country if their family member in Sweden meets the requirement for family reunification.

Furthermore, the transnational perspective was used to explain the effects of family

reunification of Nordic migrants in Sweden. The conclusion of the transnational perspective was that transnational migrants have connections with more than two countries at the same time on a political, cultural and economic level. This connection was established through work, family ties or school. Transnational family is a concept that was introduced to

investigate what effects family reunification had on families when it came to communication, caregiving and family relationship in general. Distance relationship was also described as an obstacle and has negative effects on transnational marriages and transnational families. Children for instance experience distance parenthood even though technology has allowed individuals to be together even though they can’t physically be together.