The Platformization of Migration Management Across the Global South

Team members

Project facilitators: Esther Weltevrede (University of Amsterdam, DMI), Johan Lindquist (Stockholm University)

Participants: Bas de la Rie, Milan de Bruijn, Lars van der Voorden, David van de Velde, Maya Swart, Floor Schuurmans, Praya Prayono, Anna Hohwü-Christensen, Zoila Villanueva Fernandez, Mai Chen, Jonathan Krämer

Designer: Alice Dezio

Project report: Mai Chen, Anna Hohwü-Christensen, Praya Prayono, Zoila Villanueva Fernandez, Jonathan Krämer, Johan Lindquist and Esther Weltevrede

Summary of key findings

The platformization of migration management in the Global South, is characterized by the centralization of authority through app infrastructures, the super-appification of migrant management platforms, and the datafication of the migrant body. Through digital methods, including app infrastructure analysis, data-centred walkthrough, and actor composition and services analysis, this research investigated migration processes through four applications from key sending countries Bangladesh (Ami Probashi), Ethiopia (E-LMIS), and Indonesia (SIAPkerja) to destination countries Malaysia and Saudi Arabia (Musaned). The apps investigated were developed by the government with the exception of Ami Probashi, which is privately-owned, but nevertheless displayed strong ties with the Bangladeshi government through its actor-network. The operation of migrant management through apps included organization of visa and contract processes, for which the data collected was done via licensed agencies, thus providing the migrants’ personal information in exchange for access to the apps’ services.

The datafication of the migrant body is exacerbated through platformization of migrant management, revealing imaginaries centered on efficiency, transparency, interoperability, and migrant protection that aims to cut out intermediaries as highlighted by the super-app ecology of Ami Probashi. This is also evident in the extensive personal data required to complete the sign-up process of the app, evident in SIAPkerja and E-LMIS. The results of this research reveal variegated data requested by the apps, signifying not only a transition towards digitalization from paper documents, but also a centralized data center for government and private entities in the interests of better migration systems, and not necessarily for the interest of migrants.

Introduction

This project represents a first attempt to investigate and map digital platforms increasingly used to manage state-sponsored migration processes across key corridors in the Global South, notably from key sending countries Bangladesh, Ethiopia, and Indonesia to destination countries Malaysia and Saudi Arabia. These platforms and associated apps are infrastructures that shape interactions between stakeholders such as labour recruitment companies, government agencies, and employers through the collection, processing, and circulation of data concerning prospective migrants (Poell et al., 2019). Migrants, or their intermediaries, must relabor and upload a wide range of compulsory migration data and documents on these platforms, notably biometric data, health and training certificates, passports, visas, work contracts, and police clearances.

The self-professed aims of these platforms are to cut out intermediaries who are making money off migrants while creating an increasingly efficient and transparent process. Platformization represents an ongoing attempt to regularise and redirect undocumented migration flows into documented time-limited circular migration programs centered on ‘low-skilled’ occupations such as domestic, construction, and plantation work. The programs, which involve millions of workers annually, aim to create work opportunities and capture remittance flows in sending countries, fulfill demands for labor while deflecting demands for residency in destination countries, and align with international calls for “safe” migration (Xiang & Lindquist, 2014). At the same time, the platforms are often part of broader Labour Market Information Systems that aim to collect data and ideally regulate broader national labor markets. The use of platforms for border control and migration management points to a ‘wider geopolitics of mobility’ (Leese, Noori, and Scheel, 2022, p.6), where platforms are subject to amplifying existing power dynamics in nation-states.

As the title suggests, the platformization of migration management represents a shift from a migration process centered on paper documents that are physically collected and circulated to one centered on digital platforms, thus transforming migration logistics and shaping the migrant as a digital persona. The project represents a preliminary attempt to describe how these platforms are constituted and ideally function. With the available digital methods at hand, the larger question of how this is affecting migrants and shaping the migration process in practice remains unanswered but suggests directions for further research inquiries.

This project has focused on platforms in sending countries Bangladesh, Ethiopia, and Indonesia and the receiving country, Saudi Arabia. Through diverse methods, we have investigated and compared these platforms and apps and attempted to contextualize them with secondary literature.

Data Set

We started with an extensive array of migration management applications during the preliminary phase of the research (see Table 1). These applications were developed by either the countries of origin or the countries of destination with the aim of digitizing the pre-departure and post-departure journeys of migrating workers. To have a thread throughout the study that contextualizes the inquiry, we have relied on the predominant migration corridors within the Global South as a departure point. We selected three significant corridors in accordance with existing anthropological and sociological studies on migration. They are (1) Indonesia to Malaysia (palm oil), (2) Ethiopia to Saudi Arabia (domestic work), and (3) Bangladesh to Malaysia/Saudi Arabia (palm/domestic).

Table 1 - Migration management apps from the Global South.

This project involved four representative migrant management apps related to the three aforementioned migration corridors. Three apps concern the migration management of the sending countries — Ami Probashi (Bangladesh), SIAPkerja (Indonesia), and LMIS (Ethiopia) — while Musaned manages the reception of migrating low-skilled workers in Saudi Arabia. These apps were selected for their remarkable download numbers and access; some required local IDs for sign-up, and our existing informants in different countries were mobilized to conduct the study. The respective URLs and functions of the four apps can be found in Table 2.

Table 2 - Migration management applications studied and their respective URLs.

Research Questions

We have maintained a very open approach towards the research since it is an original attempt to anthropologically study the platformization of migration management using digital methods. The general question anchoring the study has been: how has platformization changed the mechanisms of migration management? This inquiry is, indeed, a generic one that gives space to numerous methodologies, along with associated sub-questions, several of which are articulated below:

• Who are the key stakeholders in migration management platforms, and what roles do they play?

• What permissions, trackers, and other third-party dependencies are embedded within the app software packages?

• What types of personal and employment-related data are collected from migrant workers through these apps?

• What array of features and services do migration management apps offer?

• How do migration management apps compare in terms of functionality and user interface? How does this compare with traditional migration management practices and with the development trajectories of super apps?

Methodology

We utilized digital research methods to gather natively digital data sourced from the apps and platforms (Rogers, 2024). A web-based approach has led us to engage with specific approaches in our methodology that focus on developing migration management through technological advances.

App Infrastructure Analysis

Using the research tool AppInspect, we dissected the technical components of Android App Packages (APKs) and uncovered embedded tech infrastructure (Chao et al., 2024). This method made the underlying architecture visible, allowing us to screen the ‘integrated third-party code of apps’ (p.245) and determine the level of permissions needed for the app to collect data. Our primary foci were (1) permissions and (2) tracker packages that each app requires. This method is useful for detecting the hidden infrastructural architecture of apps and enables us to take a closer look at the data accessible by third-party companies for each app. However, another method such as walkthroughs and service analysis would need to be used to detect what kind of data collection is mandatory for users to gain access to the app, as well as what kind of data collection is optional and can be declined by users.

Data-centered Walkthrough

The data-centric walkthrough method (Weltevrede and Jansen, 2019) involves directly interacting with the migration management apps to document their functionality and assess them systematically and directly. Specifically, it includes testing the accessibility of app features and analyzing data collection practices during initial setup and regular use. The data-centered walk-through provides information on the ‘ideal user’ of selected apps, the intended purpose, and even the implicit cultural meanings, specifically from the user’s perspective (Light et al., 2018). This user-centered perspective – similar to the emic perspective in anthropology – complements the technical-material-oriented app infrastructure analysis and actor composition analysis by bringing the empirical experience of data collection within platformized migration into the light, presenting both the narrative they create and the thresholds they set. Following Weltevrede and Jansen, we used a ‘research persona’ to map out the inbound data flow revolving around users, giving us insights on “the app’s vision, operating model and governance (2019).”

Actor Composition and Services Analysis

The final method for this research is adapted from Helmond and van der Vlist (2019) of platform historiography. This approach focuses on analyzing the websites associated with migration management platforms to understand stakeholder roles, functionalities, and service offerings. More specifically, Helmond and van der Vlist support a multi-sided perspective to ‘capture the interplay between a platform’s evolving programmability and its expanding use of cultures and presence in society’ (2019, p.7). By reconstructing user groups and structural embeddings, in this case, through the data collection of actor composition and services analysis, this research compares past and current histories of the platforms through a combination of document and interface analysis. The interface analysis was conducted by observing the features of each app or platform and is triangulated by document analysis, or a ‘systematic procedure for reviewing or evaluating documents—both printed and electronic (computer-based and Internet-transmitted) material’ (Bowen, 2009, p.27) from government and organizational reports as secondary findings. This allows us to reconstruct a comprehensive illustration of the differences and similarities in each app.

Findings

Since we had different levels of access for different apps, the methods we used to study each app were selective and partial. Thus, in the coming sections, we will present the findings for each app in greater detail.

Ami Probashi - Corridor: Bangladesh to Malaysia/Saudi Arabia

App Data Infrastructure & Actor-Composition

Figure 1 - Data Infrastructure of the Bangladeshi app Ami Probashi

Figure 2 - Actor-composition of the Bangladeshi app Ami Probashi

Ami Probashi (AP) is the only privately owned app among the four apps that were studied. However, our app data infrastructure scraping indicates that the app shares information with the BMET (Bureau of Manpower, Employment and Training), a governmental institution in Bangladesh. This demonstrates that although private ownership of migration management platforms exists, the nation-state remains a key stakeholder and collaborator in the emergence of these platforms. Ultimately, the nation-state system is fundamental in both border formation and the controlling of border-crossing/migration. The institutional embeddedness of AP is also reflected in a review of the app in the Google Play store, which calls the app a child of government corruption.

Furthermore, AP seeks to develop a long-term relationship with migrant users through its super-appification process. Specifically, AP adopted the ‘Swiss-Army Knife’ style of super-appifications commonly seen in the Asia-Pacific region, which “integrates multiple services across industries into a single app (van der Vlist et al., 2024)”. As Figure 2 demonstrates, AP is collaborating with an extensive network of private third-party companies that cover services in e-training, banking, telemedicine, entertainment (streaming), and microfinance (loans) on migrants’ return. AP could be said to have the ambition to not only facilitate migrants’ departures but also to maintain a strong presence at every stage of their migration journey as a super-app. This characteristic of AP marks its distinction from the paper-based era of migration; they have a sticky relationship with users that is not one-off.

Although AP claims to democratize migration and eliminate intermediaries, the actor composition map indicates that licensed recruitment (placement) agencies are also targeted users of the app. Currently, there are more than two thousand licensed recruitment agencies on AP, exemplifying the continuation of migration management's mediated nature from the paper era to the platformized era. While many users could use the app directly to find a job, many others go to a third-party agency that uses the app; the same is true for the employer side.

Finally, AP has a clear vision to bring capital into Bangladesh and aligns with the national political agenda. On the one hand, incorporating banking services in collaboration with AB Bank facilitates migrant workers to send their remittances from their destination countries back to Bangladesh. On the other hand, providing micro-loans to returnees encourages an entrepreneurial aspiration in migrants who have acquired experience and capital abroad and seek more opportunities in Bangladesh.

Walkthrough

Figure 3 - The Visualised Data Collection Flow of Ami Probashi

Registration and Entry

Prospective worker migrants can sign up for the Ami Probashi app with their mobile phones using one of the following methods: (1) their mobile phone number; (2) email address; (3) Google account; (4) Facebook; or (5) WhatsApp. During registration, the app asks for the user’s personal information: name, gender, date of birth, education level, address, and country. In addition, prospective migrants may indicate their job preference, destination country preference, work experience, and whether they hold a passport.

In offering these options, Ami Probashi retrieves existing user content from partner services Google, WhatsApp, or Facebook if selected. Automatic functions of this kind alter the connection between user and app, prompting us to reflect on the tie between elements (e.g., usernames, email accounts, passwords) of the connected service, and how partner services become actors within the registration process (Light et al., 2018, p. 893). Moreover, by weaving well-known platforms and messaging apps into this process, Ami Probashi creates a sense of familiarity and authenticity from the user's point of view. This is one way in which the user experience can be shaped and steered by an app, as Light notes in their literature on the walkthrough method (Light et al., 2018, p. 884).

Pre-departure

After the sign-up process, prospective migrants must complete their BMET registration. All prospective migrants are required to be registered in the BMET system, as it acts as the central repository of information for managing labor migration. Ami Probashi facilitates this process in cooperation with the Bureau of Manpower, Employment, and Training (BMET) – the government body that was previously solely responsible for this process. With Ami Probashi stepping into the migration management industry, it has not only contributed to the digitization of this process, but also created new dependencies between itself, the state, and other partners, making itself an indispensable part of the management process.

BMET registration is the first step to becoming a labor migrant in this corridor and can be divided into the following parts. First, applications indicate which country they want to migrate to, the job they intend to perform, and whether they have relevant work experience. Next, they are required to provide a scanned copy of their passport. Then, they are asked for their full name, passport number, passport issue and expiry dates, national ID number, birth district, date of birth, and gender. Following registration and payment of an issuance fee, the user’s data is added to BMET’s database. If the user indicates that they do not hold a passport, the app asks the user for permission to access their location. Based on their answer, the prospective migrant worker is recommended the location of a nearby embassy where they can officially apply for a passport.

Should the prospective migrant worker not possess a higher degree certificate, they are required to complete a Pre-Departure Orientation course at a designated Technical Training Center. The user can book themselves into a PDO session via the app. A QR code certificate is sent to their phone after successful course completion.

Following their BMET registration and PDO, prospective migrants must complete their BMET clearance. This entails providing a visa issued by the destination country, a copy of their passport, and proof of BMET registration. Additionally, biometric data such as fingerprints must be submitted. The biometric enrollment is conducted at one of the 42 designated district and manpower offices in the country. Higher education certificates or proof of PDO completion as well as medical clearance are also mandatory. The submission of a work permit and employment contract is optional.

Notably, Ami Probashi has proposed to the government that fingerprint collection should be facilitated at union digital centers across the country with the aim of bringing this service “to the doorsteps of the aspirants,” to quote Namir Ahmad Nuri – the owner of the app (The Financial Express). This proposal highlights the ambitions of Ami Probashi in reshaping migrant management in the country, actively influencing not only the digital realm but also the offline, everyday management of migration and collection of biometric data at the practical level.

After completing all of the above steps, the prospective migrant can access and download their QR-based BMET Smart Card on the app. The BMET Smart Card can later be scanned at the airport when the migrant leaves the country. As such, the QR code embodies all the steps and documentation, representing an aggregated, datafied version of the migrant’s personal information and profile. Whereas in the past, the prospective migrant had to physically go from office to office, carrying stacks of papers that required checking, approval, stamping, and eventual storage. Today, these physical files have been digitized and compressed into a single QR code, embedding this process and the migrant subject within the digital infrastructures of a privately owned app.

Figure 4 - BMET Clearance Procedure and Smart Card (source: Ami Probashi)

Services

The ambitions of Ami Probashi extend far beyond that of traditional migration management, which becomes evident when we peruse the range of services the app offers and plans to offer. During our forensic examination of the app in the browser version, we discovered Ami Probashi’s health services (online doctor) alongside upcoming services such as an “entertainment hub, “e-learning hub”, and the possibility to open a bank account under a category named “lifestyle services”. The Probashi Entertainment Hub promises to stream TV shows, live events, and music in the future. Similarly, the Probashi E-Learning Hub purportedly plans to offer courses, such as language learning and professional skills for prospective migrant workers.

Here, the neoliberal language of aspiration is being employed, with words such as “empowerment” and “lifestyle” reflecting the cultural values embedded within the app. Migration is in this way portrayed as a “personalized journey” of self-improvement and financial empowerment – an arrow of personal and professional progress that points upwards. The fact that the entertainment, e-learning, and digital banking services are listed as “coming soon” is also worth noting. Although not yet available, these services are part of the app’s imaginaries – they are the fantasy it aims to project that aligns with the discursive and ideological positions of its creators (Light et al., 2018, p. 885).

However, the constructed neoliberal migrant subject in the “lifestyle services” section sharply contrasts with the questions posed in one of the app’s other services – specifically, the AI-powered CV-builder. The discoveries we made in the CV-builder paint a different picture of the migrant’s identity and socioeconomic status. After asking us for personal information, about our education, language skills, and former work experience, the CV-builder pose the following questions: (1) if we have a bank account; (2) how much we are willing to spend to go abroad; (3) how we plan to manage expenses abroad; and (4) how much we currently earn per month. For (3), we were given four different options to choose from: “own savings”, “family support”, “land sale”, “loan”, and “other”. In this way, the questions asked in the CV builder provide insights into the app’s vision and targeted user base, while revealing the real-life sacrifices migrants regularly must make in order to finance their migration, which may include incurring debt as a result.

Musaned - Corridor: Saudi Arabia

App Data Infrastructure & Actor-Composition

Figure 4 - Data Infrastructure of the Saudi Arabian app Musaned

Figure 5 - Actor-composition of the Saudi Arabian app Musaned adapted from ILO Report 2020

Musaned was developed by the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development (MoHRSD) in Saudi Arabia. The app infrastructure of Musaned as shown in Figure 4 reveals that the app employs US-based trackers Sentry and OneSignal, which was also found in most of the apps in our research. Meanwhile, permissions needed by the app included biometrics and fingerprints, indicating storage of personal data of users in order to access the app’s features. The collection of data on the app corresponds to the collection of data processed by government authorities.

Figure 5 depicts the actor-composition of Musaned, which includes the involvement of licensed recruitment agencies to ensure the contractual and visa processes between workers and employers. Our research found 600,000 employers and 605 Saudi recruitment agencies on Musaned (Migrant-rights.org, 2019). Not pictured in the diagram are also the affiliated government partners, including the Ministry of Labor in countries of affiliated workers as well as the Saudi Arabian embassies in countries of respective workers that cooperate with Musaned during the onboarding and recruitment process. Additionally, Musaned also partners with other government bodies, including the Najiz Center for Judicial Services for complaints and legal disputes between workers and employers that can be filed from employers via the Musaned platform. Findings from Migrant Rights articles reveal that many migrant workers lack access to communication technologies and thus find it difficult to report abuse through the platform (2024).

It is important to mention that the Musaned app allows the migration process of foreign workers to be operated by affiliated agencies. This indicates that although Musaned is a government app, the affiliated agencies ultimately exercise authority over the migration of workers as they organize visa and employment contracts.

Datafied Persona of Migrants

Figure 6 - Migration flows to Saudi Arabia and monthly hiring cost for employers

Figure 7 - Example of datafication for the migrant persona

In contrast to the Bangladeshi and Indonesian apps, we were unable to onboard and sign in to the Musaned app as we had limitations in obtaining a legal iqama (residence permit) or Saudi Arabian identification. Our findings were based on the interface and service features of the platform’s website as well as a sample of the licensed recruitment agencies.

We found that Musaned developed two separate apps, one for workers (com.laborer) and another for employers (sa.tamkeen.musaned). The laborer app is specifically for domestic workers already hired to work in Saudi Arabia to provide them with access to government services and information, including access to personal information, housing details, work status, and accessing inquiries services. Meanwhile, the tamkeen app is used by employers or agencies seeking to hire domestic workers in Saudi Arabia.

Although we could not find more information about the two apps without an account, we analyzed the websites of 106 agencies related to Musaned to see their operations and data collection requirements for onboarding migrants onto the Musaned platform. We found dedicated agencies for specific countries or nationalities and collected (1) the average cost of processing and transportation of workers from 10 countries, namely Bangladesh, Burundi, Ethiopia, Ghana, India, Indonesia, Kenya, Philippines, Sri Lanka, and Uganda and (2) the extent of data requested by agencies to cater to the needs of employers in Saudi Arabia.

Figure 6 shows the current migrant flow in Saudi Arabia, which accounts for 75% of the total workforce and highlights the significant role of migrants in the country as of 2023 (U.S. Mission Saudi Arabia, 2023). Data gathered from the 106 agencies we sampled revealed that the average monthly hiring costs for employers to process workers to Saudi Arabia shows the top three most expensive workers came from Indonesia (~3508,3 SAR or 908 Euros/Month), Philippines (~3500 SAR or 906 Euros/Month), and India (~3440 SAR or 890 Euros/Month).

The data requested by recruitment agencies include a detailed account of each worker, which generally comprises name, gender, marital status, language spoken, education, height, weight, religion, marital status, experience, and a picture with vitals. We found several agency websites who display these kinds of personal data on their website, open and accessible to employers, but also the wider public as exemplified in Figure 7. Our findings revealed that there are predominantly more male than female migrant workers in Saudi Arabia, with close to 83% male migrant workers as of 2021 (ILO.org, 2021). However, nannies are exclusively female as also presented on Musaned.

SIAPkerja - Corridor: Indonesia to Malaysia

App Data Infrastructure & Actor-Composition

Figure 8 - Actor Composition of the Indonesian app SIAPkerja

Figure 9 - Data Infrastructure of the Indonesian app SIAPkerja

The SIAPkerja Android app itself requires an extensive range of permissions and includes a small number of trackers. It requests permissions for accessing the network, flashlight, keeping the app foregrounded, as well as access to location, camera, storage, and audio recording. Additionally, it includes a range of permissions specific to the app that relate to notification services and permissions that allow it to adjust the interface produced by a range of common phone manufacturers. The app also contains several trackers, notably Onesignal, used to facilitate notification services, Google ML Kite, a machine learning service, and Google Firebase Analytics, providing free app analytics.

The SIAPkerja app is developed by the Indonesian Ministry of Manpower as a government project. It provides a central platform that collects the documents and assessments issued by a range of actors involved in the migrant workers’ pre-departure recruitment process and makes them available to the relevant government authorities for verification. Thus, the app includes a number of stakeholders, including prospective migrant workers themselves, who are required to download and sign up on the app, following the procedure outlined above, before they can apply for jobs abroad. Another key node is private recruitment companies in Indonesia, which post job offers on the app’s marketplace and process applications as well as documents. Other actors, such as medical clinics issuing health certificates, training centres providing skill certificates, and local government offices undersigning application letters and documents, are not directly connected to the app. However, the documents they provide are uploaded and verified on the app, thereby marking their presence in the system. Ultimately, all these documents need to be verified and approved by the appropriate government agency, with the prospective migrant having to present them in person before being able to finalise the recruitment process. As such, the SIAPkerja app forms only one node in the pre-departure migration process, albeit a central one.

Geographical Accessibility: We tested app features from our actual location (Amsterdam), and we discovered regional accessibility blockings. Some others were security bans since we didn't have local personal data (iqama, Ethiopian security numbers).

Trackers: AppInspect shows enclosed permissions and third-party trackers in-app packages, causing concerns about data treatment and privacy.

Stakeholder roles: Governments and, in some other cases, private companies in partnership with job agencies are behind the websites and apps mentioned, where each of these stakeholders plays specific roles in the management of the services offered (see Figure 8).

Walkthrough

Indonesia’s SIAPKerja collects an extensive set of personal data about its users during the registration process. Broadly, this process is divided into two main parts: the initial sign-up and the profile completion for prospective migrant workers. The initial sign-up requires users to enter their national identification number (NIK), full name, their mother’s maiden, as well as contact information in the form of an email address and phone number, and a password. Upon submission, the system automatically verifies the identification number against the national database of identification numbers, and if it is approved, the account is created.

Once the sign-up is completed, prospective migrant workers need to complete their profile before they can apply for jobs abroad. This profile completion is an extensive, step-by-step process that includes both entering personal information and uploading documents. The following table provides summaries of each step in the order they appear on the platform:

Table 3 - The Profile Completion Flow of SIAPKerja.

Figure 10 - The Visualised Data Collection Flow of SIAPKerja

E-LMIS - Corridor: Ethiopia

App Data Infrastructure & Walkthrough

Figure 11 - Data Infrastructure of the Ethiopian app LMIS

Initial analysis of the app data infrastructure did not reveal much information about the personal data extracted by the platform. Furthermore, we were not able to complete the registration process to log into the LMIS platform due to extensive requirements of personal data, with biometrics such as fingerprints, iris scan, and facial scan. This was similar to our limitations with the Musaned app, despite acquiring an Ethiopian identity from our project facilitator’s resources.

Due to the limited resources of our research, we were thus unable to conduct an in-depth analysis of the E-LMIS app. Our findings concluded that the app had a direct affiliation with the Ethiopian Ministry of Labor and Skills, therefore, the data requested as part of the registration process is most likely stored in a centralised database managed by the government. However, there was limited information found for the other actors.

Discussion

In summary, migration processes are evolving from paper-based systems to digital platforms. Apps have been created to regulate informal migration and transition towards a more efficient migration process through the centralisation of migration applications, documentation, and services. We have observed that private migration management platforms have a high level of institutional embeddedness, whereas in countries such as Ethiopia, Saudi Arabia, and Indonesia, these platforms are government-run. Meanwhile, in Bangladesh, where the platform is privately owned, collaboration with the national government is still significant.

In Ami Probashi (Bangladesh), there is an observable trend of super-appification. Services such as banking, entertainment, and telemedicine are aggregated into the super-app that interacts with users beyond the initial migration process. Micro-finance programmes will soon be launched to serve returnee migrants as part of their reintegration process; meanwhile, training programs and badges are in place to emphasise individual credentials such as CV to support worker employment. The incorporation of returning-related services and remittance transfer exemplifies the former Bangladeshi reigning party Awami League’s political agenda - Vision 2021 - which was established in their 2008 Election Manifesto. The manifesto states that Awami League aims to “make Bangladesh digital in 2021” under the sub-section Human Resource Development and attributes an entire sub-section to Elimination of Poverty (Bangladesh Awami League, 2008). Ami Probashi’s goal to democratize migration through digital migration infrastructures caters to both goals set by the Awami League.

In the case of SIAPkerja (Indonesia), the app clearly reflects an attempt to centralize key aspects of the pre-departure migration process on the part of authorities. The mandatory collection of detailed data and submission of copies of key documents through the app signifies the role that personal data collection and the production of documentation play in the regulation of documented labor migration. By moving these into a single, digital platform to be accessed and navigated by prospective migrants themselves, the SIAPkerja project directly intervenes in and challenges large parts of what Xiang and Lindquist (2014) have termed the “migration infrastructure” – the host of institutions that enable and facilitate the movement of migrant workers from one country to another.

While recruitment agencies, for example, are not directly replaced by the app, their work is redirected onto the app, potentially reconfigured by app procedures, and possibly more easily supervised by authorities running the app. As such, the SIAPkerja app fulfills a control function that is also represented by its gatekeeper position as a mandatory documentation platform without which necessary government certificates cannot be produced, consequently requiring prospective migrant workers and their recruiters to engage with the platform.

This is very similar to the operation of the Musaned app, in which workers’ rights are also ‘relocated’ to the host country, Saudi Arabia. The streamlining of visa and immigration, in addition to recruitment processes, is conducted within the app in partnership with placement agencies. The Musaned app centralizes the migration process for external agencies to regularize and redirect undocumented migration flows. It is interesting to note that there are still significant instances of undocumented migrants, whose numbers exist outside of the 10.9 million foreign workers in Saudi Arabia in 2023 (U.S. Mission Saudi Arabia, 2023), thus exemplifying the limited control of sending countries over their migrating citizens. This relates to the wider issue of the geopolitics of migration and mobility, where datafication further exacerbates potential risks for low-skilled workers.

Therefore, two important issues arise in the mechanism of platforms for migration management that should be recognized: the first being intermediary parties such as recruitment agencies who profit from the platform and the users as licensed third parties, and the second being the precarious datafication of migrant bodies. Platformization creates a ‘digital persona’ of migrant workers by collecting their biometric data (fingerprint, iris, height, weight, marital history, children, religion, etc.), while accessibility to their data and personal information online represents not only the platformization of migration but the acceleration of datafication of migrants themselves. This datafication process, from paper to app, potentially makes migrant bodies more transparent than ever for intermediary parties to traffic, employers to select from, and nation-states to control their border crossings.

Conclusion

Our research was a novel one standing at the intersection between anthropology and digital media studies. Primarily, we adopted Xiang and Lindquist’s Latourian approach towards migration studies — thinking of migrations, not in terms of migrants but “constellations consisting of migrants and non-migrants, of human and non-human (2014, p.124)”. The foci of our research could be best captured in Xiang and Lindquist’s notion of ‘migration infrastructure’, which included “the systematically interlinked technologies, institutions, and actors that facilitate and condition mobility” that are also sites of mediation (ibid.). Specifically, we mobilized the AppInspect tool to investigate the permissions and trackers embedded in migration management apps serving as infrastructures of digitized migration. We also used a data-centered walkthrough and actor-composition mapping method to recreate ideal users of apps, demonstrating the high level of regulation imposed by the emergence of migration management apps and their demands in data assemblages. While the aim of nation-states is to develop better infrastructures and to eliminate illegal human trafficking and brokerage, our study has shown that platformized, datafied migration management retains a ‘migration industry’ (legalized) that profits from migrants through layers of mediation.

In contrast to platforms’ public aim at eliminating intermediaries in migration processes, our research has demonstrated that intermediary parties such as recruitment agencies are more involved in the migration process than ever, albeit they became a licensed part of the migration control system at an affinity with the platforms and the states. In addition, the strong presence of states in each of the four platforms’ actor-composition suggests the ideal of centralized and strengthened state power in border control by means of platformization. That is, the legitimacy of mobility is more and more defined in relation to the existing nation-state system. A prime example of how states define the legitimacy of mobility is that we cannot access many migration apps without having a local ID, number or address, meaning that a migrant has to have legal status in a state in order to go through a legitimate migration. For those who were already underprivileged/unrecognized in a state, it is likely that they will still have to rely on illegal means to cross borders, but this remains a speculation waiting for more empirical research to testify.

One important implication of this power centralization is that the migrant body is being investigated more intensively as a transparent entity by creating a digital replica of bodies. Biometric data such as fingerprints and iris scans that used to be collected at the actual geopolitical borders are now collected in stages far prior to the migrant’s departure. In the case of female domestic workers, their biodata, along with their images, are openly displayed on platforms in the receiving country for customers to pick from. For the scope of the study, we did not delve into the gendered aspect of migration, specifically how datafication transforms gendered labor and migrations. However, our observations show that low-skilled labor migration embodies gender-specific and job-specific controls. The implication of migration management platforms/apps on gendered bodies is yet to be explored.

Finally, through the case study of the Bangladeshi app Ami Probashi, we have observed that migration apps are also incorporating an extensive array of services that go beyond traditional migration management. The collaboration between AP and private companies in various sectors exemplifies AP’s ambition to grow into a super-app that will retain a sticky relationship with migrants who are likely to bring capital back to the country. This vision aligns with Bangladesh’s developmental aspirations, which are closely related to digitization. However, since many of the services beyond migration management have still not been launched yet, the super-application of Ami Probashi and migration management apps in general also remains a field for future research.

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