Introduction

Dutch migration control mechanisms are not limited to the nation's borders and gates of physical entry. Instead, the Netherlands has had a history of administrative measures by which to regulate entry and residence of foreign nationals. Indeed, with progressing integration into the European Community – and, subsequently, the European Union – the significance of national borders and their controls has been modified to the extent that it is now Schengen partners who control territory borders, including ones on behalf of the Dutch government. What is left in terms of old-fashioned border control is now concentrated at the Netherlands’ seaports (notably, Rotterdam) and international airport (Amsterdam Airport Schiphol), both of which are gates of entry to the Dutch territory as well as the Schengen area at large. Administrative controls within the Dutch state have, in the meantime, been intensified.

After providing a brief historical overview, this chapter will look at Dutch – and, consequently, Schengen – interventions in migration processes aimed at the Netherlands. This analysis will examine physical controls at borders and gates of entry, internal controls and the measures used to address the failings of these controls (e.g. regularisations of irregular residents and the application of penal law).

Overview

Labour migration

Until the mid-1970s, labour migration to the Netherlands was only minimally regulated. Even though both a residence permit and a labour permit were required for a foreign worker to be regularly present and active in the Netherlands, the enforcement of these provisions was limited and post factum regularisation was common (Penninx et al. 1994). Once such regularisation had taken place, access to rights and entitlements on equal footing with Dutch nationals followed. Moreover, the ‘guest worker’ policy pursued at the time contained little to actually enforce the temporary nature of this labour migration. In other words, there was no government desire to curtail or, for that matter, restrict labour migration and the ‘regulation’ amounted to the absorption capacity of the economy.

From 1975 onwards, it was no longer the employee who needed to secure permission to (come and) work in the Netherlands. Rather, it became the employer's responsibility to demonstrate a need for foreign workers.