Description
How do Sudanese migrants and refugees in Egypt confront new legal restrictions and seek innovative ways to navigate an increasingly hostile authoritarian environment? To address this question, this paper draws on a year-long ethnographic study undertaken in Cairo with Sudanese humanitarian workers, day-laborers, and artists to see how these individuals negotiate autonomy under heightened state constraint. Through this lens, this paper contributes new empirical analysis of Sudanese migrants in Egypt, as well as a new conceptual contribution towards the debates surrounding autonomy of migration.
Egypt has historically been a prominent destination for (forced) migration, yet it has increasingly positioned itself as a transit country, facilitating the return or resettlement of migrants while dismissing local integration as a viable solution. This framing conflicts with the European Union's extensive efforts to manage migration from North Africa. In response to longstanding EU pressures and recent conflicts in Sudan and Gaza, Egypt ratified a new national asylum law in December 2024 and a new labor law in September 2025.
The new asylum law shifts responsibilities from UNHCR to the Egyptian government, which, while commendable, raises concerns about protection and political repression. Although the law includes provisions for access to healthcare and education for refugees, increasing instances of raids and illegal refoulement of Sudanese asylum seekers in 2024 and 2025 suggest a troubling trend. This is coupled with the new labor law, released in September 2025 which states that all foreigners need to obtain a work permit prior to entering the country, meaning many refugees will still be unable to obtain work permits.
This paper poses critical questions regarding the impact of the new asylum agreements on the treatment of Sudanese in the country and how they negotiate these new barriers in order to keep their own agency and autonomy.
