Enduring the everyday: Women navigating immigration insecurity in the UK

In this guest lecture, Louisa Long presents new ethnographic research on how austerity measures, legal aid cuts, and the UK’s “hostile environment” agenda shape everyday experiences of justice, belonging, and survival in London.

Women living with precarious immigration status in the UK face growing obstacles in accessing justice and securing their rights. Over more than a decade, government austerity measures, cuts to legal aid, and increasingly restrictive immigration policies have made legal processes more complex, lengthy, and costly, while also weakening the advice and support services many rely on.

Louisa Long presents findings from a doctoral study examining how these developments affect women navigating the UK’s immigration system. Based on semi-structured interviews and 15 months of ethnographic accompaniment in London, the research provides detailed insights into how women seek legal advice, learn about their rights, and manage the uncertainties of prolonged immigration procedures.

The lecture highlights how barriers to justice reinforce experiences of deprivation, social isolation, and insecurity. At the same time, it explores the ways in which women build knowledge, resources, and support networks to care for themselves and their children, cope with the challenges of the present, and create possibilities for the future.