Governing Migration Through Paperwork

To better understand migration governance and the concrete daily practices of civil servants tasked with enforcing state laws and policies it is important to focus on documents which are core artefacts of bureaucratic work. These can include certificates letters reports case files decisions internal guidelines and judgements in both digital and paper form. Based on ethnographic studies in various geographical and bureaucratic contexts this collection shows how civil servants produce statehood restrict migrants' movements and engage with migrants' strategies to make themselves legible. It contributes to the study of the state as documentary practice and highlights the role of paperwork as a powerful practice of migration control.