Temporary Residence Permit instead of a Refugee Status: The Legal Indeterminate of Syrian Circassian Refugees in Russia

Abstract

In this article, I examine how indeterminate the legal statuses of Syrian Circassian refugees are, based on their experience of fleeing Syria after the beginning of war in 2011 to the Republic of Adygea, their historical homeland and one of Russia’s regions. Asylum legislation in Russia allows forced migrants to obtain refugee status only if they have sufficient reasons for it. In practice, this system is not effective. Since 2011, Syrian refugees in Russia have only been able to obtain refugee status on two occasions. The article draws on mixed methods, including participatory observation, in-depth interviews with Syrian Circassians who arrived in Russia between 2013–2019 and local and federal experts, and document analysis. I show how, on the one hand, Russia has become a non-accessible context for them on the federal level. Unable to obtain refugee status, Syrian Circassians have taken advantage of the social capital of their compatriots, primarily the regional authorities of the Republic of Adygea. The latter are interested in the safety of refugees and help them to receive Temporary Residence Permits and Residence Permits. Not all Circassians in Adygea are covered by the quota for obtaining TRPs. Many refugees amassed administrative fines in the process of obtaining legal status. For these reasons, migrants pursued various other paths of legal recognition and applied for temporary asylum status while taking advantage of the social capital accumulated within the migrant network to travel to and obtain citizenship in Abkhazia.