NABILA: Visa applications face concerns over costs, rejections

Have you ever applied for a visa abroad? Did you get it? How much did you pay just to be told “you do not qualify to visit our country?”

Most of us have seen the widely circulated video from a press conference held in Nairobi last week.

The video sparked a lot of debate on the matter.

Kenyans could apply for the Fifa World Cup visa when they met all the requirements. The first requirement being that one must hold a ticket to attend the World Cup.

Secondly, purchasing a ticket is not enough to guarantee you holding the visa. Thirdly, having a visa does not entitle one to entry into that country. I think that was enough for most of us to make up our minds on the matter.

Just last year, my husband and I applied for someone to visit us as we prepared to welcome our second baby. We not only supplied all the relevant paperwork indicated from the checklist, but we provided more than needed supporting documents only for the person to receive the infamous ‘pinkslip’ of rejection.

In a fit of anger, I wrote a letter. I had supplied everything possible up to and including my admission letter for the hospital clearly indicating the date I will be admitted for surgery.

I did not beg or plead, I expressed myself as an exasperated tax paying resident of a foreign country with no family, simply asking for a relative to visit to help us during a difficult period.

While I understand that it is not a right to be guaranteed entry into a foreign country, it is also a basic right to be treated fairly. Most of these countries treat us like criminals who will disappear into their precious land and take up all their resources. When in reality those of us living abroad pay a hefty price to live here and we pay good money to apply for our families to visit us.