The Spatiotemporal Disguises of Asylum

This article investigates the tactical use of temporality for altering the legal geographies of asylum in Europe, that is by obstructing migrants from becoming asylum seekers. It does so by analysing how administrative measures arbitrarily enforced by Greece, such as the legal fiction of non-entry, have been systematised and turned into obligations under the new EU Pact on Migration and Asylum. The article argues that state authorities enforce spatiotemporal disguises, meaning by that a tactical use of geography and temporality in order to hamper migrants from getting access to asylum. Engaging with migration scholarship on temporal borders, the piece begins by conceptualising spatiotemporal disguises, exploring how these disjoin migrants’ physical presence from the legal one, positing that migrants are not there, yet. The article then focuses on three Greek islands – Crete, Gavdos and Lesvos: it illustrates how Greek authorities have tactically manipulated temporality and geography to widen the scope for enforcing discretionary measures. Spatiotemporal disguises have been put in place by lengthening rescue operations (Crete and Gavdos) and by deferring migrants’ identification (Lesvos). The final section situates spatiotemporal disguises within a broader colonial legacy of governing racialised populations and contends that any critique of the border regime should take into account the invisible temporal bordering mechanisms that disjoin migrants’ physical presence from the legal one.