Mobility in a globalised world: How countries regulate mobility with passports and visas

• Published date: 01 August 2024
• Author: A. K. M. Ahsan Ullah,Diotima Chattoraj,Arju Afrin Kathy
• Date: 01 August 2024
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1002/pa.2932

RESEARCH ARTICLE

Mobility in a globalised world: How countries regulate mobility

with passports and visas

A. K. M. Ahsan Ullah

1

| Diotima Chattoraj

2

| Arju Afrin Kathy

3

1

Geography, Development and Environment,

Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences (FASS),

Universiti Brunei Darussalam (UBD), Gadong,

Brunei Darussalam

2

James Cook University, Singapore, Singapore

3

UNDP, Dhaka, Bangladesh

Correspondence

Diotima Chattoraj, James Cook University,

Singapore, Singapore.

Email: diotima.chattoraj@jcu.edu.au;diotima.

chattoraj@gmail.com

Citizenship has a significant impact on migrants' freedom to travel. While citizens of

the Global North can travel without major problems, citizens of the Global South

have to queue at consulates to obtain a visa before they can travel. They may have

to wait in long queues at the border or at the airport, where they may be subjected

to unpleasant interrogations. The aim of this article is to uncover how a passport

becomes powerful or weak depending on the country that issues it, and what impact

this has on the (geographical and professional) mobility of passport holders. We

explore why some countries impose visa restrictions while others allow visa-free

travel. We interviewed 32 people who had travelled on a number of occasions for

professional reasons or as tourists. The externalities created by visa regulations may

lead to an increase in the number of alternative destinations in lockstep, even if

countries' policies remain unchanged. This study has critical policy implications for

both source and destination countries.

KEYWORDS

international relation, migration, security, strong passports, visa regime

1|INTRODUCTION

When the body of 3-year-old Aylan Kurdi washed up on a Turkish

beach and was snapped by a photographer of a Turkish news agency,

the image became a symbol of the migration crisis that had shaken

the conscience of the world. Abdullah, Aylan Kurdi's father, was afflu-

ent. The money he paid to a human smuggler (4000 euros/£2500/

$4460) might have bought air tickets for all of them. If they had the

appropriate documents, Aylan Kurdi would not have died that tragic

death. It may sound reasonable that the name of the country on the

passport decides where people are legally allowed to go and work.

However, the standardised visa policy does not spare those who

should simply enter the country or who need urgent entry to save

lives (Anderson, 2000; Mau et al., 2015; Neumayer, 2006).

The course of a journey is determined by a combination of impor-

tant documents, including the passport, as well as additional materials

such as the purpose of the journey, financial documents, return flight

tickets and accommodation reservations. While citizens from wealth-

ier and friendlier countries travel with little to no hassle and pass

through immigration controls with fully automated systems such as

‘e-gates’, people from poor and politically unstable countries, espe-

cially from South and Southeast Asia, the Middle East and Africa,

often require a travel visa and have to wait in long queues at the bor-

der to satisfy the immigration officer (Czaika et al., 2018).

Human mobility is one of the critical issues in the globalisation

processes and characterising modern society, which has attained great

magnitude and complexity (Beckmann, 2004; Chattoraj, 2022b).

Urry (2007:8) defines mobilities as ‘different types and temporalities

of bodily movement […]’All forms of migration involve movement

over space, cultural and socioeconomic divides. As a result, the con-

cept of mobility is crucial to our knowledge of the processes and dis-

courses that relate to our movements (Ofer, 2015), as well as an

understanding of those experiences (Urry, 2007; Gerharz, 2012;

Hannam et al., 2006:10).

Received: 2 February 2024 Revised: 17 April 2024 Accepted: 12 June 2024

DOI: 10.1002/pa.2932

This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium,

provided the original work is properly cited.

© 2024 The Author(s). Journal of Public Affairs published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

J Public Affairs. 2024;24:e2932. wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/pa 1of13

https://doi.org/10.1002/pa.2932