ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the interplay between residency, citizenship and a sense of belonging across borders during the COVID-19 pandemic. One of the most immediate consequences of the pandemic was travel restrictions. These had unprecedented effects on transnational families. Residency and citizenship statuses that had previously been relatively easy to navigate became very difficult to handle. This chapter problematises the issue of citizenship through the eyes of those who live on the border between multiple legal statuses. The chapter includes a policy analysis of the series of changes to border rules in Norway, as well as online ethnography, and it employs a bottom-up approach to citizenship. During the pandemic, some individuals with Norwegian citizenship found their citizenship status to be inadequate in terms of securing family life. Others found that their ties to Norway were not strong enough in the eyes of the state. Individuals and groups argued for their rights and expressed opposition to travel restrictions. They were mostly unsuccessful in their protests. The intervention of the national authorities in transnational mobilities has a direct consequence in terms of people’s relationship with the state. The pandemic revealed a disjuncture between the lived experience of citizenship and its legal complexities.
