Love As a Lens on the Economic and Gender Processes of Couple Migration

ABSTRACT This article examines how love shapes the economic and gendered aspects of migrant couple relationships. Drawing on narrative interviews carried out between 2015 and 2016 with couples Brussels, Barcelona and London, the study focuses on couples whose mobility was primarily because of love. I argue that a couple's shared understanding of love shapes how they negotiate economic and social factors and takes precedence in their migration decisions and trajectories. Presenting the novel concept of love migration, as mobility motivated by the negotiation and development of the couple's relationship, this article contends that love should occupy a more central place in migration research. Situating the findings in relation to empirical data from a wider global context provides a useful point of comparison and provides insights about what might be unique about love migration.