ABSTRACT
This edited volume challenges the traditional perception of visas as merely technical or bureaucratic instruments, arguing instead that they constitute a central and highly consequential tool in the governance of contemporary international mobility. Far from being neutral administrative devices, visas operate as a decisive “key” that can open or close access to State territory, shaping migration trajectories even before movement begins. By addressing a significant gap in migration and asylum scholarship, the volume offers a structured and interdisciplinary analysis of visas as instruments of law, policy, and power at both national and supranational levels. Guided by two overarching research questions—how States conceptualize and deploy visas within their legal and policy frameworks, and to what extent visas can serve the needs and rights of migrants and asylum seekers—the book is organized around the dual nexus of visa and migration, and visa and asylum. Through contributions examining EU visa policy, international diplomacy, legal challenges such as due process and digitalization, and the instrumentalization of visas, the first part explores visas as tools of migration governance. The second part investigates their potential role in international protection, including humanitarian visas, resettlement schemes, and national asylum-related visa regimes across different regions. Overall, the volume highlights both the opportunities and the profound legal and political constraints that characterize the use of visas in regulating mobility, protection, and access to rights in a globalized world.
