As noted above, most of the literature on immigration focuses on individual immigrants, despite the notion that immigration is embedded within a family context. Yet what the relevant definition of a family is when we are talking about immigrant families is a complex question, because families and individuals migrate in different compositions. A starting point on this issue might be the definition of who has the right to immigrate as part of a family. Existing legal arrangements appear to define it as the nuclear family – a couple and their children, usually under the age of 18 (Kofman, 2004). It should be noted, however, that even if the nuclear family is accepted as the definition of a family, it is not clear to what extent families are to