Every year, millions of migrants move across borders pursuing better lives, or at the least safety. These migratory mobilities follow patterns largely shaped by unequal capitalist development and social conflict, often accompanied by excessive violence. Legal access to a host country is only available for the few who are well educated or ‘desirable’ for the local society for other reasons. The decision whether an individual can stay is made by bureaucracies that enact often very rigid immigration regimes. The question what role the nation-state plays within these regimes and how standards travel between these regimes was the starting point of our Einstein project at the FU Berlin: ‘Sovereignty and International Law in the PRC. Global Migration, Global Terrorism and International Law: Chinese Perceptions and Responses’.