Undifferentiated Integration for Asylum Seekers: The Normative Relevance of Non-asylum Grounding Vulnerabilities

Abstract Recently, some European states, including Norway, have implemented a new policy that prioritises the early integration of asylum seekers classified as having high prospects of being admitted as refugees. In this paper, I present a three-tier normative argument for undifferentiated paths to early integration for asylum seekers. I begin by arguing that this subcategorization shifts focus away from the common vulnerabilities that asylum seekers face during the asylum adjudication period. I refer to these vulnerabilities as ‘non-asylum grounding vulnerabilities’. This critique starts from a general examination of the categorisation of migrants and narrows down to the specific subcategorization of asylum seekers. I demonstrate that states’ legal and moral obligations to asylum seekers require them to equally protect this group from facing non-asylum-grounding vulnerabilities through the provision of early measures for social and economic inclusion. As the last step of my argument, I discuss five hypothetical scenarios to assess whether undifferentiated inclusion of asylum seekers would be incompatible with the state’s priority to ensure to its citizens the continuity of the welfare system during times of increased immigration.