Tajikistan’s Bureaucratic Management of Exclusion: Responses to the Russian Reentry Ban Database

Abstract

This article analyzes the consequences of the Russian Federation’s introduction of an electronic database that dynamically generates lists of individuals with reentry bans, with a focus on its effect on the Tajik migration management bureaucracy and Tajik migrant workers. Countering standard narratives about the passive citizenry of authoritarian states, it demonstrates how Tajik citizens change the emphasis in the bureaucracy through their everyday encounters with civil servants and bureaucrats. However, this is not a clear case of subversion or subaltern agency, but rather an engagement that remains structured by capitalist needs for expendable, disciplined, and most importantly deportable alien labor.

Class dynamics in Tajikistan: Development of urban middle class at the intersection of migration and capital

“…As public anxiety around reentry bans in Tajikistan is high (Bahovadinova, 2016;Zotova, 2017), it is not surprising that migration policies have become a shared narrative among our study participants.…”

“…As public anxiety around reentry bans in Tajikistan is high (Bahovadinova, ; Zotova, ), it is not surprising that migration policies have become a shared narrative among our study participants. For instance, Latif, 38, has spent almost 20 years working in Russia and was banned from reentry for the breach of migration laws, particularly, the lack of residential registration.…”

“…Enforcement of the entry bar legislation affected a large number of labour migrants from Central Asia. By 2016, Russia's FMS (Federal Migration Service) electronic database included names of 330,000 Tajik citizens who had been denied entry to Russia for three years (Ulmasov, , p. 101; Bahovadinova, ).…”

“…Tajik citizens who had been denied entry to Russia for three years (Ulmasov, 2016, p. 101;Bahovadinova, 2016).…”

Left Behind? Russia’s Entry Bars and Gender Relations in Tajikistan

“…Russia's immigration laws have become more restrictive over the past decade (Abashin 2017). Three-year entry bars (zapret na v'ezd) were issued in Russia for migrants with a record of two or more administrative offenses, including an overstay of their time in the country, lack of residential registration or other documents, and traffic offenses (for an overview of the entry bars' gradual implementation and a legal analysis, see Bahovadinova 2016 andKubal 2017). The names of individuals banned from re-entry are added to Russia's Federal Migration Service (FMS) electronic database, which "became an issue for Tajik migrants in 2012" (Bahovadinova 2016).…”