ABSTRACT
In March 2015, Zebo sat on a bench in St Petersburg airport, awaiting her deportation. Upon arrival from Dushanbe, she had learned that as a Tajik citizen she was required to purchase medical insurance to enter Russia. After passing through passport control, the passengers from her flight were rounded up by burly men representing the Russian Federal Migration Service and cornered into a small room. For many in the migration bureaucracy, this story would serve as one more proof of the general ‘lack of knowledge’ about the laws and regulations of Russian Federation – on Zebo’s part, as well as on the part of many others on the flight. Zebo, however, was a manager in one of the UN organizations working on migration management in Tajikistan that was tasked with preparing migrant workers for Russia, including increasing their legal knowledge through pre-departure orientations.
