Transnational marriages and reunification: Ghanaian couples between Ghana and Europe

Possibilities for migrant couples to migrate together or to reunify in destination countries are increasingly limited as family reunification and migration laws are becoming more stringent. Consequently, there is an increase in transnational couples, whereby one of the spouses is living in a different country. Yet, little is known about the dynamics of transnational marriages and to what extent couples reunify. Additionally, it is commonly assumed that reunification takes place at destination, disregarding cases where reunification takes place at origin. This paper addresses these gaps by focusing on Ghanaian couples with migration experience using a multi-sited research design.
Different trajectories of couples’ marital and migration histories are analysed using sequential analysis. We examine whether variation in trajectories is associated with migration-related variables, such as destination or period of migration, focusing on couples that have experienced ‘living-apart-together’. Secondly, we distinguish between reunification at destination and at origin and examine which factors influence reunification in these two settings. We use discrete-time event-history analyses, applying a comparative risks approach. Data from the MAfE-Ghana project on Ghanaian migrants is used (N=741).