Application of Grounded Theory on social security challenges of immigrants living in Tehran (Case study: Citizens of foreign countries visiting the Bureau of Social Security of West of Great Tehran)

Immigrants face social security challenges after entering Iran. The purpose of this study is to investigate the challenges of immigrants and citizens of foreign countries regarding social security. The research method was qualitative and the study population were citizens of foreign countries visiting the Bureau of Social Security of West of Greater Tehran. The research sample was selected by "purposeful" and "theoretical" methods and the theoretical saturation was obtained after interviewing 50 persons. The data analysis resulted in extracting 425 primary codes, 78 sub-categories and 14 main categories. The central phenomenon is the "poverty of knowledge about laws and services." The causal conditions governing the central phenomenon are "deprivation of labor rights, weakness of job status and ambiguity in the status quo." The existing areas include "heterogeneity in the provision of insurance services, weak financial means of immigrants and tightening of immigration law”, which influence the central phenomenon through the intervening conditions of “poor performance of social security, sense of inferiority and negative self-concept about citizenship”. The strategies adopted by citizens of foreign countries are “equivalent communications and actions and the policy of survival security”. The results show that paying attention to the performance of the relevant organizations in eliminating discrimination against immigrants and providing knowledge packages to raise their awareness of social security rights and regulations can solve some of their challenges.