The exile project hijacked by the virtual

The profiling procedures that enable international programme officers to verify that individuals caught up in armed conflicts do indeed meet the eligibility criteria for migration encourage candidates for exile to prove their credentials. Digital self-presentation strategies on social media are increasingly used by those concerned not only to demonstrate that their profile meets the criteria applied by ‘examiners’, but also to develop a network of sponsors and particularly to attract attention and secure the support of contacts abroad. The article, situated within the field of digital migration studies, explores these ‘profiles’ in their own right, along with the strategies underpinning their construction and maintenance. These virtual profiles are treated as actants, ‘world-individuals’ distinct from the people who constitute them, participating fully in the migration process. The article shows that, through a feedback effect into reality, the specific dynamics and life of the ‘profile’ produce divergences in personal trajectories, and often seemingly paradoxical outcomes involving the re-rooting of individual projects in the local context.