This article examines the responses of West Papuan refugees from Indonesian Irian Jaya to an asylum policy developed by the PNG government and UNHCR and implemented from 1997. The policy required refugees to decide whether to integrate locally as 'permissive residents' in Papua New Guinea, or accept assisted repatriation to Irian Jaya. Refugee decision-making was informed by a politics of exile. Repatriation before political independence was deemed by most refugees to be premature, i.e., before a 'result' had been achieved. Those who chose repatriation interpreted independence in terms of a framework of development rather than statehood. Most refugees opted for 'permissive residency' which allowed them greater agency in relation to the timing of their return to the homeland. The article elaborates uses made of 'permissive residency', and illuminates some of the risks of the 'permissive residency' arrangement. © Oxford University Press 2004; all rights reserved.

[No Keywords available]

Pacific Ocean immigration policy Pacific islands refugee Papua New Guinea repatriation asylum seeker Melanesia