Akademik Veri Yönetim Sistemi
Global Networks, cilt.26, sa.2, 2026 (SSCI, Scopus)
This study examines the intersection of digitalization, migration, mobility and citizenship through the case of Estonia's e-Residency program and proposes the concept of digitalized migration. Unlike conventional migration approaches centred on physical relocation, the study conceptualizes digitalized migration as a selective transnational process in which individuals remain spatially immobile while integrating into another national context through digital infrastructures. Within this framework, e-Residency is analysed as a form of mobility reconfigured through digital technologies that shares characteristics with migration. Empirically, the study is based on digital ethnographic observations of the online interaction networks of Turkish citizen e-Residents, complemented by in-depth interviews. The findings show that e-Residency produces transnational forms of subjectivity through digitalized business practices, virtual mobility and platform-based state-citizen relations. Although Turkish e-Residents pursue migration aspirations digitally, they remain embedded in local socio-economic and political contexts, as their engagement with e-Residency is primarily driven by economic opportunities rather than socio-cultural integration. At the same time, e-Residency operates as a digital border regime, limiting its cosmopolitan promise through selective access mechanisms, digital skill requirements and neoliberal mobility norms.