Frost C  omparative Migration Studies (2024) 12:23 citizenship and migration policies could be limited to more autocratic regimes, where executive leaders tend to control policymaking in most areas. Overall, intentional ambiguity represents an important type of law-regulation gap. In addition to conceptualizing a critical phenomenon in citizenship and migration policy, it restores agency to policymakers in “developing” contexts as well as emphasizes how active they can be in migration management, even if such activity is not apparent in law or more public-facing institutions. Intentional ambiguity shines light on how leaders can govern in the shadow of the law as well as undermine the implementation of new laws. Likewise, it reveals patterns in the governance of citizen and noncitizen groups that open further avenues for research on how citizenship operates across residents in a state, as well as on the conditions under which intentional ambiguity is possible. Abbreviation MOI Ministry of Interior Acknowledgements The author acknowledges the participants in the “Citizenship from Paper to Practice: Perspectives on the Implementation Gap” Workshop, organized by the Standing Committee on Migration, Citizenship and Political Participation of the International Migration Research Network for their feedback on earlier drafts of this article, particularly the workshop organizers, Jean-Thomas Arrighi de Casanova and Luicy Pedroza. Author contributions Not applicable (single-authored). Funding This study uses legal, archival, and interview data collected with funding from the Virginia Tech Department of Political Science and College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences, Cosmos Club Foundation, Harvard Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs’ Middle East Initiative, Fulbright Program, Council of American Overseas Research Centers, Project on Middle East Political Science, Southeast Regional Middle East and Islamic Studies Society, Boston Consortium for Arab Region Studies, and the George Washington University Institute for Middle East Studies. These funders had no role in the design of the study, collection, analysis, and interpretation of data, or in writing the manuscript. Availability of data and materials Data sharing is not applicable to this article as no quantitative datasets were generated or analyzed during the current study. Archival data are accessible through the U.S. and British National Archives. Interview transcripts are confidential and cannot be shared. Legal data are accessible through the subscription-based Qistas legal database. Declarations Competing interests The author declares no competing interests. Received: 2 March 2023 Accepted: 7 March 2024 References Abu Odeh, A. (1999). Jordanians, Palestinians, and the Hashemite Kingdom in the Middle East peace process. United States Institute of Peace Press. Akram, S. M. (2018). The search for protection for stateless refugees in the Middle East: Palestinians and Kurds in Lebanon and Jordan. International Journal of Refugee Law, 30(3), 407–443. Akram, S. M. (2021). Palestinian Nationality and ‘Jewish’ Nationality: From the Lausanne treaty to today. In L. H. Farsakh (Ed.), Rethinking statehood in Palestine: Self-determination and decolonization beyond partition (pp. 192–224). University of California Press. Akram, S. M., Bidinger, S., Lang, A., Hites, D., Kuzmova, Y., & Noureddine, E. (2015). Protecting Syrian refugees: Laws, policies, and global responsibility sharing report summary. Middle East Law and Governance, 7, 287–318. Arcarazo, D. A., & Freier, L. F. (2015). Turning the immigration policy paradox upside down? Populist Liberalism and discursive gaps in South America. International Migration Review, 49(3), 659–696. Brand, L. (1988). Palestinians in the Arab world: Institution-building and the search for state. Columbia University Press. Brand, L. (1995). Palestinians and Jordanians: A crisis of identity. Journal of Palestine Studies, 25(4), 46–61. Brand, L. (2006). Citizens abroad: Emigration and the state in the Middle East and North Africa. Cambridge University Press. Brunsson, N. (2019). The organization of hypocrisy: Talk, decisions and action in organizations (3rd ed.). Samfundslitteratur. Page 16 of 18