Conditionality of legal status and immigrant occupational attainment in western Europe

This paper advances a novel theoretical perspective on the determinants of immigrant occupational attainment in western Europe. Previous research has not accounted for the process of legal status transition or the implications of this for migrants. A new measure of the conditionality attached to legal status transitions is advanced and its hypothesised role in the determination of migrant outcomes in interaction with other features of legal status policy is tested utilising large-scale European microdata for 14 countries in the context of multilevel modelling. Results support the hypothesis and the paper concludes by discussing implications for policymakers and for future research.