Marriages Across Borders? Comparing Origin and Embeddedness of Uni-National and Bi-National Couples in Belgium

It has often been suggested that life is becoming more and more globalized and international oriented. In this paper we question to what extend this also holds for union formation by comparing uni-national and bi-national European couples in Belgium. We study the origin of these couples and their characteristics. Furthermore, we ask what effect their origin has on their social embeddedness in Belgium. We start from the assumption that social ties at multiple levels influence the experience at the place of residence as an integrative place for settlement. These networks might have however a different meaning for partners in uni- and those in bi-national relations. In this study we focus on three empirical settings of embeddedness of uni-national and bi-national couples: friendship-, family- and civic society networks. Our data come from the EUMARR survey which is the first survey designed to collect comprehensive data on European bi-national and uni-natonal couples, their lives and life styles in eight major European cities. The Belgian part of the survey  (with more than 600 respondents) includes both those with a foreign European nationality with a long migration history to Belgium ( Italians, Spanish, Dutch...), more recent EU migrant groups (Polish) and the native Belgians. This allows for a comparative approach to capture diversity in couples and their embeddedness in Belgian society.