Lives stalled

The Costs of Waiting for Refugee Resettlement

Bibliographic Data

ID3657698
AuthorsMolly Fee (0000-0002-1004-5769, University of California, Los Angeles, corresponding author)
Year2022
Volume48
Issue11
Pages2659-2677
Publication date2022-08-18
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueNew Community (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0047-9586 • E-ISSN: 1469-9451
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/1369183x.2021.1876554
OpenAlexW3130062410
LanguageEN
Citations received32
References cited23

During their migration, refugees often pass through transit countries, especially before resettlement elsewhere. These stays in cities or camps may last several months or years as refugees await the next step of their journey. This paper examines the context of waiting for Iranian religious minorities who must first travel to Vienna, Austria in order to apply for resettlement to the U.S. Drawing on theories of waiting, I demonstrate how uncertainty and the passage of time shape refugees’ experience in transit contexts. While in Vienna, they endure months of compulsory idle waiting, free from persecution yet unable to begin the long-term process of settling in a new country. I argue that the duration of stay and conditions of life in transit contexts can have meaningful consequences for refugees. My findings demonstrate that even when waiting is temporary and remedied by eventual resettlement, time spent in transit carries material, emotional, and physical costs. Based on 43 interviews and participant observation with Iranian refugees in Vienna, this paper examines the precarity that is born from the uncertainty of waiting. Because resettlement ultimately provides stability, we tend to overlook the insecurities associated with this ‘pre-resettlement’ phase

Criminology · Economic growth · Economics · Political science · Refugee · Sociology · Asian Geopolitics and Ethnography · Law · Migration and Labor Dynamics · Migration, Refugees, and Integration

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