Migration Intermediation and Ethical Boundary Work The Case of Italy's Legal-Administrative Field

This open-access article, published in the Journal of International Migration and Integration, investigates the role of intermediaries within Italy’s legal-administrative migration system, focusing on how they navigate ethical dilemmas in a highly complex and bureaucratic context.

Based on 27 qualitative interviews with intermediaries involved in visa and residence permit processes, the study maps a diverse range of actors (spanning profit-driven, solidarity-oriented, and rights-based intermediaries) operating at the intersection of legal support, advocacy, and business. The analysis centers on four key ethical challenges shaping their practices:

• handling falsified documentation,
• filtering applicants based on perceived deservingness,
• setting service fees, 
• managing relationships with government authorities

Employing the concept of ethical boundary work, the article shows how intermediaries draw moral and professional lines that can either reinforce or contest institutional norms. The findings reveal how these actors both facilitate and restrict migrants’ access to legal status, at times circumventing restrictive policies while simultaneously reproducing inequalities through selective practices.

By unpacking the tensions between solidarity and profit, empowerment and exploitation, this study contributes to wider debates on migration governance, informal economies, and the moral intricacies of legal-administrative intermediation. The article concludes with policy recommendations aimed at enhancing transparency, regulating intermediation practices, and promoting equitable access to legal assistance for migrants.