Résumé
Undocumented migrants face numerous challenges, including the risk of denunciation,
precarious working and living conditions and discrimination. All these factors have the
potential to influence their satisfaction with life. While men and women can be differently
affected by those issues, data showing their influence on life satisfaction among female
and male undocumented migrants are scarce. Even less is known about what happens once
they have the opportunity to obtain a legal status. This paper examines the evolution of
life satisfaction among undocumented migrants over time, taking into account changes in
their residence status and the role of gender stratification in their contrasted life circum-
stances. It is based on unique longitudinal quantitative data collected over 4 waves in
Geneva, Switzerland, along an exceptional regularization policy. Over the course of the
study, women reported greater satisfaction with life than men despite their more adverse
economic resources, housing, family and health circumstances. By using fixed and random
effects models, we assess how these multiple gendered determinants along opportunities
for regularization influence their respective well-being in specific ways.