Post-Pandemic Migration Dynamics: Impact on Africa’s Early Career Scholars in Border and Migration Studies

Following the COVID-19 pandemic, migration has increasingly become a focal point in the populist rhetoric dominating political discourse in many Western countries. This shift is characterized by heightened securitization of borders, restrictive visa regimes, and an overt discouragement of migration from the Global South, particularly Africa. These developments hinder human mobility and have adverse effects on global academic collaboration, notably among early-career scholars. The rise in visa denials for African academics is emblematic of a broader trend of profiling and exclusion that needs to be critically examined and discouraged.

The pandemic exacerbated existing anxieties in the West surrounding migration, linking it to economic strain, health insecurity, and cultural threats (Triandafyllidou, 2022). Populist leaders capitalized on these fears, framing migrants as burdens or risks to national welfare systems and public health.

This narrative resonated strongly in Europe and the US, leading to policy shifts that restricted entry and emphasized national interest over global solidarity. Migration control became central to electoral strategies, with the “othering” of migrants, particularly those from Africa and the Middle East, used to galvanize domestic support (Farris & De Jong, 2021).

Institutionalized Exclusion After COVID

Post-COVID, these exclusionary tendencies have become institutionalized through stricter visa regulations and increased scrutiny for applicants from the Global South. Africans, especially, face disproportionately high rejection rates when applying for visas to Europe and North America.

According to the Henley Passport Index (2024), African passport holders continue to have limited mobility, with citizens from countries such as Nigeria and Sudan facing some of the highest visa refusal rates. As further shown by Maru (2024) Schengen Visa data reveals that African applicants are significantly more likely to be denied a visa compared to applicants from other regions, often without clear justification.

Impact on Early-Career Scholars

This trend is particularly troubling for early-career scholars in the fields of border and migration studies, who seek to participate in international conferences, workshops, and collaborative research projects. On this backdrop, it is crucial to highlight the ordeals faced by scholars who, despite being invited on merit, face unjust visa denials that hinder academic exchange.

As an example, at the 8th edition of the Neuchâtel Graduate Conference of Migration and Mobility Studies that took place in July 2025, four participants, including some authors of this blog, were denied visas on baseless claims that they were unlikely to return to their countries of residence. More specifically, the reasons cited for the refusal were that:

• The information submitted regarding the justification for the purpose and conditions of the intended stay was not reliable.
• There were reasonable doubts about the applicants’ intentions to leave the territory of the Member States before the visa’s expiry.

Despite submitting all required documents, including a formal invitation, these four scholars had their visa denied by the Swiss Authorities. Such actions not only undermine academia but also reflect the persistent disregard some Western countries show toward African academics.

These claims expose a prejudiced stance by the consular officers, who appeared to dismiss both:  the academic credibility of the nccr – on the move, the organizer of the conference, which is funded directly by the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) through its most ambitious funding instruments known as National Centres of Competence in Research (NCCRs); and the merit of the participants’ invitation. The organizers were shocked by this decision and had to intervene by submitting appeals, which were only accepted between five to one day before the conference, forcing one of the participants to endure a stressful last-minute process to secure the visa on the morning the conference was due to start, before literally jumping onto the plane in Istanbul.

Even after securing the visa, the participant faced further humiliation at the airport (Istanbul Sabiha Gökçen Airport), where passport control officers suspected the visa to be fake and made the participant wait for extended checks. It was only after he firmly protested the treatment that he was allowed to proceed.

Broader Implications for Academic Equity

This series of ordeals reflects a disturbing reality in which African scholars, as well as many scholars from the Global South, face systemic barriers in international academic spaces, despite their achievements and rightful invitations. All of the aforementioned participants have returned to their base to be with their families and to work.

This denial of access to these intellectual spaces will not only limit professional development but also reinforce epistemic inequality. Despite the critical insights into migration that these young scholars bring to such global gatherings, especially from the African perspective, they may likely face exclusion from global academic discourses through a system of gatekeeping masked as immigration control, and be experiencing the same exclusionary dynamics they are researching.

Intellectual Monoculture

The problem extends beyond mere travel restrictions; it symbolizes a form of academic profiling. African scholars in border and migration studies, whose work is crucial in understanding global mobility, should not be subjected to the very barriers they seek to critically unpack.

Moreover, the exclusion of African voices creates an intellectual monoculture in migration studies, dominated by perspectives from the Global North. Without diverse viewpoints, particularly from those who experience migration pressures firsthand or come from regions where migration is a lived reality, the field risks reproducing biases and overlooking critical dimensions of human mobility. This intellectual isolationism also hinders efforts to formulate equitable and inclusive migration policies, both within and beyond academia.

A Call for More Inclusive Academic Practices

Therefore, we call on Western institutions and policymakers to refrain from imposing structural or epistemic borders that hinder the free exchange of knowledge. The record shows that none of the participants in the nccr – on the move’s Graduate Conference have absconded or attempted to abscond.

Borders, whether physical, institutional, or ideological, should not be a barrier to knowledge exchange and intellectual mobility. Decentralizing knowledge production is essential to fostering inclusive academic environments that actively engage scholars from the Global South.

Establishing safe, equitable, and accessible pathways for early-career African researchers is not merely a question of fairness; it is a critical necessity for enriching global scholarship and for effectively addressing complex transnational challenges in a post-pandemic world. We should focus on people’s abilities and qualities, not where they come from.

Samuel Okunade, Ph.D. University of Johannesburg, South Africa. He is a scholar of African borders and migration, with research interests in youth out-migration, intra-African mobility, cross-border criminal activities, and border management.

Yussif Issah, Ankara University, Turkiye. He is a graduate in Geography and Rural and Rural Development with a Master’s in Urban and Environmental Science whose research focuses on sustainable development, migration, and rural–urban dynamics. 

Fella Djilaili, Ph.D. in Political Science and Public Administration from Ankara Yıldırım Beyazıt University, Türkiye. Her research primarily focuses on migration governance in the Maghreb region, with particular attention to the dynamics of irregular im/mobility of sub-Saharan migrants within the Algerian context.

References:

–Farris, S. R., & De Jong, S. (2021). Migration, Populism and the Politics of Exclusion. Routledge.
–Henley & Partners. (2024). Henley Passport Index Q1 Report.
–Piccoli, Lorenzo, Jelena Dzankic, and Didier Ruedin. 2021. ‘Citizenship, Migration and Mobility in a Pandemic (CMMP): A Global Dataset of COVID-19 Restrictions on Human Movement’. PLOS ONE 16 (3): e0248066.
–Triandafyllidou, A. (2022). Migration and Pandemics: Spaces of Solidarity and Spaces of Exception. International Migration, 60(1), 3–6. https://doi.org/10.1111/imig.12856
–Maru, M.T. (2024). Predetermined Bias: Comparing the Visa Rejection Rate of Africans versus the Rest of the World.