Administrative Limbos: Exploring Conditions of Entrapment Among Racialised Citizens, Ethnic Minorities and Migrants
On 4 September 2025, we organised the MIGLOBA x GOVTRUST workshop and symposium on administrative limbos and racialised citizens. In this cross-over event between migration studies and public administration, we zoomed in on the question of how racialised citizens can become stuck in liminality and what the impact of such experiences are.
In recent years, multiple studies have explored how asylum seekers and refugees may find themselves in conditions of limbo, characterised by waiting that can last years, as well as a suspension of time associated with the permanence in liminal areas, such as camps and other border zones (Brun and Fabos, 2015). However, research has increasingly suggested that limbo-like situations are not limited to migration affairs. Limbo seems to be part of the everyday life for many groups of citizens when engaging with bureaucratic systems. Especially, individuals belonging to ethnic minorities, migrants and racialised citizens are disproportionally confronted with delays over missing documents, administrative exceptions and racially targeted burdens (Moynihan et al., 2022).
The event included a workshop aimed at academics during the day, and an evening symposium aimed at a broader audience, including practitioners, academics and other interested parties. The event was hosted by Bjorn Kleizen (GOVTRUST Centre of Excellence) and Milena Belloni (MIGLOBA).
Academic Workshop
During the morning and afternoon, we convened an academic paper workshop on administrative limbo. Academics working on limbo discussed their ongoing research on limbo and racialized citizens (including migrants and racialized citizens, such as second-generation migrants), focusing on both the individual-level experience and the causes of limbo.
Evening Symposium
During the evening symposium, two experts (Bjorn Kleizen & Milena Belloni) discussed the state of the art on administrative limbo and how government and civil society should respond. In addition, we welcomed practitioners as keynote speakers to provide their own contributions, drawing on their experience with administrative limbo. The symposium will finish with a panel discussion with all speakers. We will close the evening with a reception.
The program contained contributions by:
- Suzanne Arakelyan, AKL Advocaten (in Dutch) | Topic: Legal limbo and the Dutch childcare benefits affair
- Simon Horsten, MOVE Coalition | Topic: Administrative detention of migrants
- Milena Belloni & Bjorn Kleizen, UAntwerpen | Topic: The state of the art on administrative limbo & racialization, drawing on sociology and public administration scholarship
Recent publication on the topic
Bjorn Kleizen, Wouter Van Dooren, Muiris MacCarthaigh, Céline Vanden Abbeele, Stuck in the waiting room: citizen experiences of administrative limbo in three European crises, Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, https://doi.org/10.1093/jopart/muaf017.
Abstract: In recent years, there have been numerous cases where citizens have found themselves stuck in highly protracted administrative processes affecting outcomes vital to their lives and livelihoods. However, systematic inquiries into the experience of being trapped by bureaucratic procedures or state inaction for sometimes multiple years are still lacking. To study the interactions between citizens and the state when long waiting times and significant outcomes are involved, we introduce the concept of administrative limbo. We examine administrative limbo using primary and secondary interview data from the Irish defective concrete block crisis, the Dutch childcare benefits affair, and the Dutch Groningen gas crisis. Findings suggest that experiences of administrative limbo are marked by prolonged and extensive uncertainty, accumulating strain, and negatively impacted life perspectives. We find that the effects of being stuck in administrative limbo are profound, indicating that temporal experiences of inaction and action should be further explored in public administration.