Categorical misalignments in immigration systems: spillovers, omissions, liminality, and the production of inequality

This article examines how immigration classification systems generate categorical misalignments through regulatory requirements, leaving certain immigrants in liminal legal status, thereby creating and perpetuating exclusions and inequalities with far-reaching consequences for integration. By misalignments, I mean situations in which immigrants ‘do not fit’ state-created categories that determine eligibility for admission, lawful status, or related benefits. Using illustrative cases from major destination countries and applying a critical lens to categorical analysis, I foreground the role of state power in producing these misalignments. I identify three dimensions of categorical misalignment: spillovers, neglect, and in-betweenness. These dimensions are neither comprehensive nor mutually exclusive, as misalignments can (and do) occur simultaneously and often overlap. As growing numbers of immigrant workers and asylum seekers worldwide become entangled in increasingly complex systems of rules, regulations, and deadlines, understanding these impacts becomes essential. I argue that by rendering immigrant lives fundamentally provisional, categorical misalignment has critical implications for the persistence of inequality, immigrant rights, and integration processes.