(Im)mobile islanders: protection seekers enacting and imagining onward movements from Malta

The Maltese government often touts its successful containment of so-called ‘irregular’ (that is, forced, racialised) migration, obscuring the fact that most migrants do not settle in Malta permanently, but either leave through EU resettlement schemes or, more commonly, unauthorised routes. Through narrative biographical interviews, this paper traces how individuals who have migrated to/through Malta navigate Malta’s (in)formal immigration policies and practices. The paper highlights the untransparent, arbitrary and punitive nature of Maltese migration governance, arguing that these features ultimately ‘nudge’ migrants out. The variegated experiences of ‘being nudged’ are further explored: how do migrants understand and exert their mobility and agency despite the impositions made by Maltese/European migration governance and the protracted uncertainty they experience in Malta? The paper argues that the notion of ‘nudging’ helps us better understand the interaction between government policy and migrant agency, and prompts us to question the established dichotomies of ‘forced’/‘voluntary’ and ‘regular’/‘irregular’ migration.