Organizing illicit and informal livelihoods: Chinese immigrants and economic networks in the United Kingdom

This study examines how Chinese immigrants in the UK engage in illicit and informal livelihood strategies under legal precarity and labor-market exclusion. Drawing on 70 semi-structured interviews with documented and undocumented immigrants, this study analyzes cannabis distribution, massage parlors, and informal currency exchange. The findings reveal differentiated roles and organizational functions rather than cohesive organized-crime structures. The participants are embedded in migrant networks with internal labor divisions. Undocumented immigrants occupy precarious, labor-intensive roles, whereas documented immigrants control more resources and organizational functions. This study reframes illicit economic participation as a structured response shaped by exclusion, hierarchy, ethnicized criminalization, and victim–offender overlap.