The interdependency of border bureaucracies and mobility intermediaries: a street-level view of migration infrastructuring
Abstract Building on the case of visa procedures, this article analyses the relationship between border bureaucracies and intermediaries understood as actors, organisations and knowledge that facilitate, shape, and enable human mobility. I take the street-level view to shed light on the interplay of...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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SpringerOpen
2023-01-01
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| Series: | Comparative Migration Studies |
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| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1186/s40878-022-00324-x |
| _version_ | 1797946001654284288 |
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| author | Federica Infantino |
| author_facet | Federica Infantino |
| author_sort | Federica Infantino |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract Building on the case of visa procedures, this article analyses the relationship between border bureaucracies and intermediaries understood as actors, organisations and knowledge that facilitate, shape, and enable human mobility. I take the street-level view to shed light on the interplay of multiple dimensions and logics, which affects how people are mobile. I argue that the analytical lens of interdependency between dimensions and logics that characterize bureaucracies and intermediaries makes sense of migration infrastructuring processes at the street-level. The case of visa policies and practices, which are characterized by the twofold objective of stemming and spurring mobility, is particularly apt to put forward that intermediaries’ socio-economic activities, which bridge borders, by facilitating, shaping, and sustaining mobility, respond not just to the policies and practices that build and reinforce borders but also to those soliciting certain kinds of mobility. The analysis builds on the comparison of ethnographic literature to put forward three empirical situations that exemplify the dynamics of interdependency: Local guides and experts who develop in response to the opacity of bureaucratic procedures and to the distance between visa applicants and state actors; The providers of pieces of documentation, whether counterfeit or ‘real-but-fake’, who respond to the impossibility of complying with bureaucratic requirements and to restrictive border regimes; Authorized administrative agencies, tour operators, travel agencies, and agencies that facilitate the supplying of specific kinds of workforce, who respond to the objective of soliciting the mobility of tourists, businessmen and workers. The street-level view of migration infrastructuring processes connects the micro-perspective of the trajectory of individuals to macro structures such as policies and drivers of international mobility. The investigation of the effectiveness of these actors and activities in obtaining visas, on which further research could systematically focus, shows that they might produce immobility as well. In a nutshell, (im)mobility also results from the interplay between border bureaucracies and mobility intermediaries. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-10T21:03:58Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-2163fedf70be463dabb93567caf36656 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2214-594X |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-10T21:03:58Z |
| publishDate | 2023-01-01 |
| publisher | SpringerOpen |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Comparative Migration Studies |
| spelling | doaj.art-2163fedf70be463dabb93567caf366562023-01-22T12:07:13ZengSpringerOpenComparative Migration Studies2214-594X2023-01-0111111510.1186/s40878-022-00324-xThe interdependency of border bureaucracies and mobility intermediaries: a street-level view of migration infrastructuringFederica Infantino0Migration Policy Centre, European University InstituteAbstract Building on the case of visa procedures, this article analyses the relationship between border bureaucracies and intermediaries understood as actors, organisations and knowledge that facilitate, shape, and enable human mobility. I take the street-level view to shed light on the interplay of multiple dimensions and logics, which affects how people are mobile. I argue that the analytical lens of interdependency between dimensions and logics that characterize bureaucracies and intermediaries makes sense of migration infrastructuring processes at the street-level. The case of visa policies and practices, which are characterized by the twofold objective of stemming and spurring mobility, is particularly apt to put forward that intermediaries’ socio-economic activities, which bridge borders, by facilitating, shaping, and sustaining mobility, respond not just to the policies and practices that build and reinforce borders but also to those soliciting certain kinds of mobility. The analysis builds on the comparison of ethnographic literature to put forward three empirical situations that exemplify the dynamics of interdependency: Local guides and experts who develop in response to the opacity of bureaucratic procedures and to the distance between visa applicants and state actors; The providers of pieces of documentation, whether counterfeit or ‘real-but-fake’, who respond to the impossibility of complying with bureaucratic requirements and to restrictive border regimes; Authorized administrative agencies, tour operators, travel agencies, and agencies that facilitate the supplying of specific kinds of workforce, who respond to the objective of soliciting the mobility of tourists, businessmen and workers. The street-level view of migration infrastructuring processes connects the micro-perspective of the trajectory of individuals to macro structures such as policies and drivers of international mobility. The investigation of the effectiveness of these actors and activities in obtaining visas, on which further research could systematically focus, shows that they might produce immobility as well. In a nutshell, (im)mobility also results from the interplay between border bureaucracies and mobility intermediaries.https://doi.org/10.1186/s40878-022-00324-xMigration infrastructuresStreet-level researchVisasBorder bureaucraciesEthnography |
| spellingShingle | Federica Infantino The interdependency of border bureaucracies and mobility intermediaries: a street-level view of migration infrastructuring Comparative Migration Studies Migration infrastructures Street-level research Visas Border bureaucracies Ethnography |
| title | The interdependency of border bureaucracies and mobility intermediaries: a street-level view of migration infrastructuring |
| title_full | The interdependency of border bureaucracies and mobility intermediaries: a street-level view of migration infrastructuring |
| title_fullStr | The interdependency of border bureaucracies and mobility intermediaries: a street-level view of migration infrastructuring |
| title_full_unstemmed | The interdependency of border bureaucracies and mobility intermediaries: a street-level view of migration infrastructuring |
| title_short | The interdependency of border bureaucracies and mobility intermediaries: a street-level view of migration infrastructuring |
| title_sort | interdependency of border bureaucracies and mobility intermediaries a street level view of migration infrastructuring |
| topic | Migration infrastructures Street-level research Visas Border bureaucracies Ethnography |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1186/s40878-022-00324-x |
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