Offshore Citizens: Permanent Temporary Status in the Gulf

Noora Lori
Cambridge University Press, 8/22/2019
EAN 9781108498173, ISBN10: 1108498175

Hardcover, 302 pages, 22.9 x 15.2 x 2.1 cm
Language: English
Originally published in English

When it comes to extending citizenship to certain groups, why might ruling elites say neither 'yes' nor 'no', but 'wait'? The dominant theories of citizenship tend to recognize clear distinctions between citizens and aliens; either one has citizenship or one does not. This book shows that not all populations are fully included or expelled by a state; they can be suspended in limbo - residing in a territory for protracted periods without accruing citizenship rights. This in-depth case study of the United Arab Emirates uses new archival sources and extensive interviews to show how temporary residency can be transformed into a permanent legal status, through visa renewals and the postponement of naturalization cases. In the UAE, temporary residency was also codified into a formal citizenship status through the outsourcing of passports from the Union of Comoros, allowing elites to effectively reclassify minorities into foreign residents.

1. Limbo statuses and precarious citizenship
2. Making the nation
citizens, 'guests' and ambiguous legal statuses
3. Demographic growth, migrant policing, and naturalization as a 'national security' threat
4. Permanently deportable
the formal and informal institutions of the Kafāla system
5. 'Taʿāl Bachir' (come tomorrow)
the politics of waiting for identity papers
6. Identity regularization and passport outsourcing
turning minorities into foreigners
7. Conclusion
8. Methodological appendix
Bibliography
Index.