A growing body of literature on transnationalism points to how legal status and rights influence the maintenance of family relations. Refugees and asylum-seekers are dependent on the outcome of the asylum procedure as it indicates their chance of mobility, education and professional prospects, financial support, communication and emotional involvement. In the acknowledgement that care-giving does not end with migration, I have documented the experiences of transnational refugee mothers from Afghanistan in Germany. I illustrate this framework through qualitative methods employed on a group of Afghan women with family members in the transit country Greece. The literature used is grounded in the care-giving capabilities and resources that mothers have according to their legal status. I argue that the rights according to the legal status can hinder and impede certain forms of engagement in family life. I conclude, that in refining the literature on transationalism, future research should be more inclusive of refugee experiences.