Abstract (eng)
This sociological master thesis deals with the current Austrian immigration law and its effects on the lifesituation of binational married couples, who are living in Austria. Furthermore, the coping processes concerning the lifesituation, which is caused by the immigration law, will be analysed.
Marriages between austrian citizens and third country nationals will be the focus of attention because they are worst affected by the law.
After a discussion about relevant parts of the immigration law, some important theoretical concepts relating to coping will be described. Later on, the results of the research – obtained through qualitative methods like the Halfstructured Interview and the Qualitative Content Analysis – will be presented.
The main goal of this thesis is to convey the meaning of immigration requirements for binational couples and to show which coping strategies they develop regarding the obstacles of the law. Apart from the description of the couples’ difficulties with the legal restrictions, the Austrian immigration law and the immigration politics in general will be analysed critically.