Your Visa will be denied. Trust me.

"Ah you’re Nigerian. You two are together?"

Hi guys,

Hope you are well. I’m doing okay, Alhamdulillah.

Earlier in the year, T and I were on a trip to a small European country. It was a short trip (only a few days), and we planned to de-stress a little and do some touristy things as well. We arrived on a Thursday morning and the plan was simple. Get off the plane, go through immigration, get an Uber to our accommodation and get a few hours of rest.

As is normal, we joined the “Non-EU” immigration queue and were waiting our turn as the line moved swiftly. Then T was called to the immigration officer’s desk and went ahead of me.

European airports generally have separate immigration paths for “Non-EU” citizens - image from NPR

For whatever reason, he was spending a long time with the immigration officer. While most people had used about 30 seconds, a few minutes passed and he was still there.

Me: Bro, what’s going on?

T: Bro I don tire o, he dey check am

It appears the immigration officer was doubting the validity of T’s papers and decided to take a more rigorous look at them. Also, T’s trip did not make sense to him. His mindset probably was, “Another illegal African immigrant trying to find a way in? No way!”

Then I was called up to go through immigration as well.

Me: Hi

Officer 1: Hello, please hand me your passport and travel documents

Me: *hands them over

Officer 1: Ah you’re Nigerian. You two are together?

Me: Yes

Officer 1: Go join him…*hands my documents to Officer 2 (T’s Officer)

I moved to Officer 2’s desk and joined T. He looked tired. Officer 2 began poring through my papers as well. Both our documents were clearly in order, so there was nothing he could complain about. But he remained doubtful and continued to review them. Until he saw something in my passport.

Officer 2: You’re a French resident!

Me: Erm yeah, I had their residency for a year

Officer 2: You studied in France?

Me: Yes I did, but left after school

Officer 2: Ah, I see. Okay okay.

Officer 2: So what are you guys doing here and how come your trip is so short?

Me: We’re just taking a few days off to rest and see the city. We have jobs to go back to.

Officer 2: And your accommodation documents are in order?

Me: Yes, look at them.

Officer 2: *spends some seconds confirming and then stamps our passports

Officer 2: Enjoy your stay!

While being a former French resident does not make much difference to me, it turns out it mattered to the immigration officer’s perception. Think of it like this - If someone shows up at the Canadian embassy with proof of having lived in the US in their passport, then it is unlikely they are an illegal immigrant or intend to overstay their welcome.

After all, the US is a much better place to stay illegally than Canada. Also, many of these countries share data, and had there been any negative reports of my time in France, they would have been flagged in his system for sure.

Anyhoo, we moved on from the immigration officer and that was the end of it.

Or so I thought.

The very next day, T and I were in a train travelling between cities when the train halted at a station. Two policemen came in and looked around. In our train car of about 80 people, there were only 3 black Africans present, ourselves included.

The policemen announced something like, “Immigration! Everyone please bring out your passports and IDs”. Then they proceeded to check documents not for the entire train car, but only for the 3 Africans present. T and I were fine of course, but our third black ‘brother’ appeared to have been an illegal migrant. They did not bother to check for anybody else afterwards - just took him off the train, and we resumed our journey.

This experience took me back to what happened the previous day. While I initially had a bad vibe towards the officer that gave us a lot of wahala, now I saw things from his perspective. In a random search of three Black Africans in their region, one was illegal. A whole 33%? Wowza!

Think about it.

If someone told you in your Software Engineering job that 33% of a certain type of code had bugs in them, then you would scrutinize every line of code you saw there. If a pilot found out that 33% of flights in foggy weather had a crash, then he or she will likely ground any flights in such weather until they get clearer. If you found out that 33% of households in a particular neighborhood had experienced violent crimes, then you would probably choose to live in a different neighborhood.

It is sad, but it is true.

My lesson from this experience was that many of us Africans will continue to experience the racism, profiling and discrimination that we endure in oyinbo land. We will continue to be denied visas. We will continue to be denied jobs. We will continue to be treated with suspicion.

As long as our Nigerian brothers and sisters continue to prostitute women in South Africa, engage in cultism in Dubai, and perpetuate other illegal acts around the world, things will be the same.

No, worse.

** Jara content:

رَّبَّنَآ إِنَّنَا سَمِعْنَا مُنَادِيًۭا يُنَادِى لِلْإِيمَـٰنِ أَنْ ءَامِنُوا۟ بِرَبِّكُمْ فَـَٔامَنَّا ۚ رَبَّنَا فَٱغْفِرْ لَنَا ذُنُوبَنَا وَكَفِّرْ عَنَّا سَيِّـَٔاتِنَا وَتَوَفَّنَا مَعَ ٱلْأَبْرَارِ

Our Lord, indeed we have heard a caller calling to faith, [saying], ‘Believe in your Lord,’ and we have believed. Our Lord, so forgive us our sins and remove from us our misdeeds and cause us to die with the righteous.

- Surah 3 verse 193

Have a great week. ✨