Hello, welcome to Long Wave. This week I will look back at the difficulty of many travel and immigration from the continent, as well as how one country plans a smooth path.
Parallel travel experience
I've just returned from vacation and am not used to how different the trips are when I'm not using my African passport. My British citizenship, which I acquired about five years ago, not only changed my ability to travel in a short period of time, but also eliminated the intense stress and bureaucratic hurdles that come with applying for a visa on a Sudanese passport overnight.
It is difficult to explain how different life is for people with “strong” passports without them. It is a completely parallel being. Getting permission to travel to many destinations is often a long, expensive, unpleasant and uncertain process. Tourist visas to the UK cost up to £1,000, along with fees for private processing centres that process many of European visa applications overseas. And there are documents: bank statements, employment documents, academic records, certification of ownership of assets, birth and marriage certificates if you are traveling to visit family members. This is a non-exhaustive list. We have submitted 32 documents for our recent family-friendly visa applications.
It may sound dramatic, but such a process instills a kind of low-level trauma after submitting to the violation of what feels like a bureaucratic cavity search. And all fees are non-refundable, whatever your decision is. Processing time is in the hands of the visa gods – it once took me over six months to receive a US visa. By the time it arrived, the meetings that needed to be present for work had been passing comically for a long time.
Separation and disconnected relationship
It's not just travelling for work or holidays that are hindered by such high barriers. The relationship is suffering. This is nothing more than a distinctive feature of the world, as many families in the black diaspora are spread across the continent. Last month, Trump restricted citizens from 20 countries to the United States. Half of that is in Africa. This decision is even more cruel to consider it to be true in countries like Sudan, where civil wars have urged many to seek evacuation with their families abroad.
It is not just a political act that restricts immigration, but a deep, personal act that deprives the connection between family, friends and partners. Refugee families in these countries are also prohibited, so you cannot visit relatives who have already been able to migrate. The International Rescue Committee warned that the decision could “have a far-reaching impact on the lives of many American families, including refugees, Asilies and green cardholders.
Global promotion of barriers
This Trump Order's fallout is huge. There are students who cannot graduate. A spouse who cannot join a partner. Children separated from their parents. It's a tough policy, but the shade of it exists elsewhere by other means. The UK recently ended its right to bring children and partners to the country for foreign care workers and most international students. And even for those who simply want their families to visit them, access is closed for everyone except those who can clear high financial hurdles and meet important evidence to show that they can afford to maintain their visitors or return to their home country.
Nesrine Malik and Jason Okundaye offer weekly black lives and cultures from around the world
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It was ten years ago that I (someone with fairly stable employment and higher education qualifications) could meet the requirements of the Ministry of Home Affairs and ultimately have my mother visit. When I saw her face on arrival I broke down and realized how difficult it was for both of us. The fact that she hadn't seen the life I had built as an adult. Compare this to some countries in this Gulf Coast, including actual visa categories, Saudi Arabia, which was processed quickly at low cost for parent visits and residence.
New African model
However, when some countries close, others are open. This month, Kenya removed visa requirements for almost every African citizen who wishes to visit. Here, at the end, there is a kind of regional solidarity that reflects that of the EU and other Western countries.
It's a wise move as it boosts tourism in Africa and makes Kenya an attractive destination where people will soon meet for professional or festive reasons. However, it also suffers from visa restrictions and sends important signals to continents divided across borders set by colonial rule.
We are not solely responsible for being judged by the number of resources we may take from a country that has previously been permitted. We are tourists, friends, relatives, entrepreneurs and, more than anything, Africans with the right to meet and interact without fear, and yes, a light empty of the suspicious visa process. If the African diaspora is separated overseas, then at least now, some of us have a path to options that may be reunited at home.
