Institute for Research into Superdiversity

When immigration control becomes Higher Education policy, Nando Sigona on the latest Home Office rules for universities and what they mean for students
https://nandosigona.info/2026/06/05/when-immigration-control-becomes-higher-education-policy/

When Immigration Control Becomes Higher Education Policy New Home Office rules measure universities through immigration compliance metrics while ignoring how surveillance and immigration control shape international students’ lives and chances of su…

New article based on data on immigration enforcement operations in Birmingham between 2023 and 2025.
The data reveal a sharp increase in raids following the change of government in July 2024, but also limited enforcement outcomes: around half of visits resulted in no arrests, and only a small proportion led to removals.
But the impact of the raids must be understood beyond the numbers: for the authorities it reinforces the 'tough on migration' narrative, for migrant communities, local businesses, and workers in sectors such as food delivery, where immigration hashtag increasingly intersects with digital surveillance and platform work they mean worse working conditions and less protection from abuses, as the findings from the I-CLAIM research show.
“The Home Office is everyone” became a recurring phrase in our fieldwork, capturing how border enforcement now extends deep into everyday life.

“The Home Office is everyone”: Immigration Raids in Birmingham under Labour - I-CLAIM PRESS & MEDIA “The Home Office is everyone”: Immigration Raids in Birmingham under Labour FOI data reveal rising raids, limited outcomes and growing impacts on migrant communities by Nando Sigona Freedom of Information data on immigration enforcement operations in Birmingham between April 2023 a...

Thank you very much to colleagues at Museu Paraense Emílio Goeldi for hosting Nando Sigona and Angelo Martins Jr for an insightful visit to the exhibitions “Diversidades Amazônicas” and “Brasil: Terra Indígena” during their research visit to Belem as part of the Connect Amazonia initiative:

Museu Goeldi apresenta exposições “Diversidades Amazônicas” e “Brasil: Terra Indígena” para representantes da Universidade de Birmingham Professores do Reino Unido conheceram as mostras com objetivo de fortalecer parceria, que visa promover intercâmbios multidisciplinares sobre as questões climáticas e o futuro da Amazônia. Também parceira, a Uepa acompanhou as atividades no Parque Zoobotânico.

New episode of Conversations with Iris is out! Nando Sigona speaks with Nandita Sharma about the figure of the migrant.

IRiS - Institute for Research into Superdiversity 1 like. "Boundaries of membership and the figure of the migrant: Conversation with Nandita Sharma"

Next IRIS talk is on 26 March, 2-3.30pm at University of Birmingham. Our guest speaker is professor Vicki Squire, author or Making and Unmaking Global Citizenship (2025). To register: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/making-and-unmaking-global-citizenship-iris-talk-tickets-1984389225592

Who is allowed to belong in Europe – and who is treated as permanently “irregular”?

Racial Logics of Irregular Migration in Europe: Policy, Perception, and Precarity shows how visa rules, employer-tied permits, welfare conditionality and everyday bureaucracy turn racism into a concrete system that governs the lives of migrant workers across Finland, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland and the UK.

The report - written by IRIS staff in collaboration with European Network Against Racism - ENAR as part of the www.i-claim.eu project - uncovers how racialised migrants and minorities face surveillance, exclusion from welfare and the labour market, and are pushed into highly exploitative work in sectors like agriculture, domestic work and food delivery.

Nando Sigona
Stefano Piemontese
Laurence Lessard-Phillips
Emmanuel Achiri

https://zenodo.org/records/18693465

New episode of Conversations with Iris
We speak with Michelle Pace, author of Unwelcome to Denmark (Manchester University Press, 2025). Recommended listeninf for Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood ;)

Unwelcome to Denmark: Asylum on Probation with Michelle Pace Conversations with Iris: Podcast on migration, diversity and displacement · Episode

British dual citizens are not a homogeneous group, and their different constituent parts are affected differently by the new UK passport rules — changes whose wider consequences the government does not appear to have fully appreciated, Nando Sigona (University of Birmingham) writes for The Conversation Australia + NZ The Conversation UK

UK’s new passport rules for dual citizens are a result of border control in the digital age The number of people holding both British and EU passports increased significantly between 2011 and 2021.

Call for Papers, Panels and Workshops | IRIS 2026 Conference: Unsettling Communities: Diversity, Mobility and Displacement in an Age of Growing Authoritarianism
7-9 September 2026, University of Birmingham

Deadline for proposals: 16 March 2026

IRIS 2026 Conference | Unsettling Communities 7-9 September, University of Birmingham CALL FOR PAPERS, PANELS AND WORKSHOPS Deadline: 16 March 2026 All submissions via the online submission page. We  are living in times  where profou…