Paper short abstract:

Acknowledging the need to further the understanding of the temporalities of border production, this paper explores the politics of the future at the border site of the German "Ausbildungsduldung".

Paper long abstract:

The past years critical border scholars within geography and anthropology have explored the role of temporality in the production of borders. Studies often have focused on external border sites where the "temporalities of control" produce effects such as waiting, immobility, uncertainty. In this paper, my point of departure is somewhat different. I endeavor to explore the temporality of borders from the vantage point of what Allison Mountz (2011) has called an "unconventional border site". This border site is the new legal construct of "the Ausbildungsduldung" in Germany. As part of the Integration Act of 2016, this regulation foresees a five-year suspension of deportation for declined asylum seekers starting vocational training. I suggest that investigating the temporalities of this particular border site might contribute to deepening the understanding of the temporalities of borders. The Ausbildungsduldung is closely associated with the future. Whereas scholars have focused on "temporal borders", such as deadlines and time limits and the different tempos of the border, I pay attention to the politics of the future of the border. I base my analysis on eight months of ethnographic fieldwork amongst irregular migrants in Hamburg in 2017 and 2018.