"We write for the courts, not for the people". Irregular migrants, social workers and welfare bureaucracies in French-speaking Belgium

In Belgium, depending on their immigration status, foreigners are entitled to different forms of social assistance, ranging from emergency medical care to welfare benefits. In a context where residence permits are constantly updated, re-examined or withdrawn by the administration, this paper explores the ways in which welfare bureaucrats deal with irregular migrants. Based on ethnographic fieldwork within welfare offices in French-speaking Belgium, it examines the daily practices of social workers, their interactions with beneficiaries, lawyers, with the central administration that supervises them and with the courts. It delves into social workers’ double-bind relationship with the state, and asks how they navigate conflicting norms such as professional ethics and instructions from above. It finally analyses the role of labour courts in defining welfare policies and the effects of the judicialization of social assistance on administrative practices.