Immigrants in the Legal System of the Welcoming Country: Considering the Role of Intermediaries

Abstract

Immigrants‘ encounters with the new legal system of the welcoming country might vary from challenging to an easy process of integration in the field of legal relationships. The newcomers‘ path of interaction with the field of welcoming countries‘ legalities often lies in the legal knowledge, understanding, and variety of assumptions about the legal world and how it is embedded in the social reality of a welcoming country. There are many factors, that shape this complexity but one of them is highly meaningful - the role of intermediaries. Therefore the subsequent research focuses on identifying and discussing the different statuses and roles of the intermediaries as they participate in the process of immigrant‘s interaction with the legalities of the welcoming country. These assumptions are based on the 34 qualitative interviews of foreign third-country residents in Lithuania. The results of the analysis reveal different the main roles of the intermediaries while immigrants interact with the new legal system of the welcoming country. This research indicates that intermediaries actively or passively participate in the processes of migrants‘ gaining legal knowledge, influence their legal behaviour and become a part of migrants‘ legal interactions. Intermediaries are also seen in the variance of official statuses, visible gaining different roles in legal relationships. Therefore, this research draws attention to the need for more profound attention to the immigrant‘s legal integration processes and deduces practical implications for it as well.