In the quicksand: the suspended lives of non-returnable migrants in Italy

Although, as in the rest of Europe, there is no precise data on the number of non-returnable migrants, in Italy an estimated 80% of third-country nationals who have been served with an expulsion order have not been returned for policy reasons or due to de jure (legal) or de facto (practical) factors. The category of "non-returnability," first introduced in Italy in 1998, has been subject to various amendments over the years and subsequently divided into distinct categories. These changes have occurred alongside constant modifications in the legal status of migrants, whose rights have been expanded and restricted in line with the changing political priorities of those in power. However, the rights of non-returnable migrants have never been clearly defined, leaving them in an uncertain and paradoxical situation, particularly when it comes to accessing services, health, education, work, and housing, stuck in a limbo between an irregular and a regular migration status. Based on the Horizon Europe Project "MORE - Motivations, experiences and consequences of returns and readmissions policy (n° 101094107)," this article presents the findings on the condition of non-returnable migrants in Italy through an analysis of the relevant policy and legal frameworks, as well as interviews with experts, state agents, and migrants. The study reveals that non-returnability does not equate to regularization, thus hampering these migrants' socio-economic insertion; furthermore, it shows that there is much administrative arbitrariness in relation to this category, meaning that different non-returnable migrants find themselves in different social conditions and enjoying different social rights as a result of various factors (for example, the constant variability of policy framework or the local context). Trapped in a legal limbo and with their lives in a social limbo seemingly "on hold"-in terms both of their migratory status and their social situation-these un(der)documented migrants find themselves one step up from "irregular" undocumented migrants and one step below "regular" documented migrants, navigating uncertainty, precarity, and liminality.