The article analyzes the legal doctrine of entry fiction, which permits states to treat foreign nationals in their territory as if they were “outside” of it, thus disjoining their physical and juridical presence for the purpose of determining their rights during immigration proceedings. The leading argument is that the doctrine conveys a specific understanding of the relationship between individuals and space, which can be interpreted as a geographical “sense” granting meaning and legitimacy to legal procedures that would otherwise appear arbitrary. This sense is analyzed genealogically, starting from its most recent manifestation in the so-called border procedures under EU asylum law, and tracing it back to its first appearance in late 19th-century US law. It was in this historical context that entry fiction emerged, allowing for an analysis of its geographical sense in relation to US policies of the time, particularly the country’s transition into an imperialist power. The article thus reconstructs the genealogy of entry fiction to highlight its political and historical premises and demonstrates how its exclusionary force is rooted in a legal geographic imaginary more than a century old.