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Drawing on an ethnographic research study, this article focuses on Syrian consular administration in Istanbul. More specifically, it analyzes the link produced by the consulate between Syrians living abroad and the regime that forced them to leave, a link that persists beyond exile. Through an analysis of the spaces in which these administrative encounters take place, and the multiple time frames that govern them, this article examines the Assadian regime’s policy toward exiles by exploring a dual hypothesis. On the one hand, that the regime’s power is exercised through its control over the time of those under its jurisdiction, through a policy of waiting. On the other, that it implements a policy through waiting, in which waiting is used to subjugate exiled populations.