A Life Course Approach to Sub-Saharan Migrants’ Journey in Search of a Better Life in Morocco

Abstract This article utilises the life course approach to study the presence of undocumented sub-Saharan African immigrants in Morocco. It approaches the immigration experience holistically and explores the causes, challenges and aspirations of sub-Saharan immigrants within a South–South framework. The study involved 15 undocumented sub-Saharan immigrants, ten males and five females, and focused on their behaviours, choices and decisions and their migratory experiences. The results show that immigration is a human experience that cannot be dissociated from other determinants, drawing on triadic analysis, which incorporates the macro, meso and micro determinants of immigration, along with migrants’ stage of life, agency and relation to significant others. They also show that immigration is a survival strategy for both men and women within South–South immigration patterns. Immigration decisions do not happen in a vacuum, given the notion of “linked lives”, or the interconnectedness of individuals’ lives, and the crucial role of this in migrants’ propensities and destination preferences.