Visa Issuance and Denial in an Unequal World

Abstract

AbstractThis chapter examines the visa-issuing regime. It begins by placing the visa system in the broader context of strategies that states use to externalize their borders and notes along the way that such a system persists in privileging citizens in relatively wealthier countries by giving them access to a wide range of easily accessible travel options. The distinction between permanent and temporary migration is muddy, in ways that states recognize and respond to, often unjustly. The chapter then considers the specific visa requirements that are attached to gaining the necessary travel documentation, assessing their justifiability. To gain access to visas, applicants must often prove that they are not criminals, or dangerous in other ways; they must prove that they are financially solvent, and often that they really do intend to return to their home countries when their visa expires; and they must consent to the restriction of certain rights, as a condition of accepting the visa for travel. The chapter argues that several of these conditions cannot be justified because they undermine a state’s claim to meet the minimum criteria of immigration justice.