The Role Of Middlemen In The Facilitation Of Labor Market Access Of Migrants In Ghana.
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Date
2022-01
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Publisher
University Of Ghana
Abstract
Migrants have increasingly become much more reliant on intermediaries for their migration. Consequently, migration intermediaries or "middle men' have become increasingly critical for understanding of the current patterns and experiences of international migration. The main objective of the study is to generally examine the activities of migration intermediaries/middlemen in facilitating the acquisition of immigration permits to migrants in Ghana. The study employed the structuralist approach as its theoretical foundation to show the role middlemen and migration intermediaries play in the facilitation of labour access entry for newly migrants. The study employed a qualitative research design in exploring how middlemen and migration intermediaries facilitate labour access entry for newly migrants. An interview guide was used as the primary data collection instrument. Twenty-Five (25) respondents were chosen using purposive and snowballing sampling. The respondents interviewed includes ten (10) Ghana Immigration Service Officials, five (5) migrants and ten (10) migration intermediaries stationed in Greater Accra. According to the findings of the research, newly migrants benefit from the facilitation roles played by migration intermediaries. The research also shows that the majority of these intermediaries are unregistered and operate illegally. This research strongly recommends that the operations of the GIS be digitized to eliminate the activities of goroboys who are not regulated by any law in Ghana. It also helps to reduce the human element in the immigration permits processing chain thereby reducing extortion, corruption and exploitation of migrants and the loopholes in the current manual processing system being used.
Description
M.A. Migration Studies
Keywords
Ghana, Migrants, Middlemen, Labor Market