Dear Schengen.
You broke my heart. Twice.
And I have been trying to move on ever since.
Just to clarify — and reiterate — I am a human, not a robot, born and brought up in a very lovely part of Middle East, schooled there, universiti-ed there, jobbed there, married there — basically spent my life there. My family lives there, so does my spouse’s family.
As I write this, I become very mindful of the word “spent”, as the realisation hits me that I have s-p-e-n-t my l-i-f-e there; i.e, more than just lived. I gave my time, existence, and investment to a place that I cannot help but call home after all this time (30 years).
YET, the audacity, to label me someone with a short term visa, hold me accountable for not being able to attain citizenship for a place that respectfully has their own policies and laws? Umm *side eye*. (please note this sentence was edited multiple times, so I’m leaving you with a non-verbal sound “Umm” due to certain nuances.)
Here’s the story: In the bleak mid-summer as it is so all year around where I LIVE, my spouse and I decided upon a trip to the Nordic middle ground, to visit my brother and his wife who had recently given birth to a gorgeous plumpy boy. I wanted to meet my 4 year nephew as well, as I hadn’t seen him in over a year.
Thus, as soon as I saw the window of opportunity in July 2023 to apply for a visa appointment through VFS on 22nd August 2023, not minding the duration till the appointment date, accepting it as an ample amount of time to understand the requirements, research, and gather documents, I took advantage of that opening and immediately booked a slot — even though it was 2 hours away in another city.
Like chickens, my spouse and I pecked at the tiniest of details, ensuring that everything was legit and to the point, that there were no extra documents (although we took a print of extra documents — you know, just in case), ensuring the photo requirement was met, we took double photos for double the price, reprinted documents for each application, paid whatever amount asked, submitted our passports with all the confidence and trust in the world.
Two weeks later, we got them couriered back (of course, there was a fee for courier as well). Along with a beautiful letter.
Not only did this letter reject us for an entry, it ensured to crush our souls and discourage us from ever thinking of applying for any other Schengen based visas. You know, the kind of letter that sort of bashes your income, highlighting that your very weak socio-economic status, assuming you would not return once you gain an entry, the purpose of travel (tourism) was not trusted given your nationality and livelihood. (just thinking out loud, isn’t it a bit low-key discrimmy?)
Nonetheless, I didn’t want to give up, not after purchasing real return tickets (2 flights), Travel insurance, VFS visa applications in a city 2 hours from us for 2 people, travelling to that city and considering milage and toll gates — the total rounding up to AED 4.5K (doesn’t all this waste of money drop our socio-economy status further down the drain — especially only to get rejected?) — no, i wasn’t going to just sit back. I wrote a letter of appeal, highlighting that I WOULD ENSURE TO RETURN BACK GIVEN THE RETURN TICKETS SUBMITTED, MY FAMILY HERE, MY JOB HERE, MY SPOUSE’S JOB HERE, WE PROMISE NOT TO RUN AWAY.
With little hope I sent this letter. YET. Parallelly, as competitive with myself and the universe that I am, I opened VFS Global, with hearsay on the most effortless Schengen visa that I could get, I, in a moment of spur and desperation, hit an axe on my own foot, and applied for an appointment for the visa of another Schengen country.
:)
Because I saw appointments open. Because maybe it was the one, and not my previous country of choice. Maybe that was the little ray of hope that we could travel to a majestically rich in history and culture region.
A very long story short, it got rejected as well. we didn’t appeal this time although this ate up about another AED 770 of our cash, we tried to be “smarter” — that’s what broken hearts do. In my defence, I did try to reschedule the appointment but there were no other dates available. I could have chosen the refund route, which honestly I now agree would have had been a way better choice, but something in my mind said, “ hey, if you can’t reschedule, maybe it’s a SIGN.”
A sign to stop being naive I guess.
People of our nationality, despite their backgrounds and lives have to go through heaps of stereotyping, and we are expected to accept and move on. Even IF in “greed” I do decide to stay back in the country, isn’t that me, as a human trying to better my socio-economic status that I had been pointed out for?
What I’ve learnt from this is that the elders were right. Life is tough. They do promise it gets better, but if this is the better, then man, the system has failed us. Policies, people, laws and regulations, — everything that prejudices against skin color or “socio-economic status” is a facade.
This isn’t just happening to me; a large amount of population is facing this, and has been facing this for years (remember that Pakistani girl who went viral when her husband’s visa got rejected? They planned an Europe trip for their honeymoon. No? Here you go). Despite the frustration, I hope that open conversations can lead to positive changes, nudging some improvements into the immigration system, which, while maintaining security, also ensures a fair and transparent process for applicants, because we’ve stepped into 2024 (come on people). Together and with all the progress in the world (Digitisation, AI, even evolved human courtesies), I am sure we can contribute to a more efficient immigration experience for everyone involved.
In the meantime, I visited Global Village which accepted me as I am (thank you), to check stepping into Europe off of my bucket list for the Year 2023.
