I seem like i nice enough guy, but i have a dark secret. Yes, im from Colombia. Under the eyes of every airport, embassy and consulate i have been to, this seems to be a serious offense.
I have been picked for “random” checks at Italian airports and being taken to the “small room” to be searched. For no reason other than being the only non white on the plane (me and the poor african dude who also got “randomly” searched)
When i was in the airport in Germany, right off the airplane door, in the little tunnel that connects the plane to the airport, there was a big mean looking police officer waiting for me. He picked me from the crowd, asked for my documents, took out a magnifying glass and stared at them for some minutes. Ok, so that one was kind of funny.
There was even a time, when there was in Interpol arrest warrant for a guy with my same name. I would get stopped and my passport taken until they could rule me out.
It’s logical for me at this point to feel nervous at airports, embassies and consul offices.
I guess what hits me the hardest is not that every aspect of my life is questioned by every foreign nation i visit, but that in some cases i don’t get a fair chance to “defend” myself (what did i do wrong in the first place?). I don’t want a free ride, im not a freeloader and i certainly understand each country’s right to oversee who and why visit their territory.
I want to be treated the same as someone not born in Colombia, because I didn’t choose to be born were i was born. I had no control over that.
Judging someone based on their nationality is called racism, last time i checked. And no matter how many other Colombians are caught in the airport with coke, that shouldn’t be a reason to treat EVERY Colombian like this. because:
- I’m not those Colombians. It’s not me. Furthermore i had nothing to do with the fact that i was born in Colombia.
- It’s the same thing as any other racial minority getting singled out because of their race. With this, you are saying that all Colombians are the same, which is the same as saying all asians are the same, or all black people are the same.
- If the above are true, this is effectively, government sponsored racism, and people, regular people, agree with it.
In my life i have never been guilty of any crime. Im not a drug dealer or a needy poor inmigrant. I work for a Eropean company and make a good enough salary (even by European standars). I’m pretty much like any other western guy.
I’ll explain the reasons why i think Holland it’s not just unfair to someone in my position but it’s also very unethical with the migrant candidate (myself), the migrant’s spouse and their children, who in our case don’t exist, but would be 100% dutch citizens.
This is my situation : Im a Colombian and i have been married to a Dutch woman for a year now. We met in 2004 while i was in studying in Italy and have been together since. This is not a marriage by convenience and if asked to proove it , i gladly would. Seriously. Challenge my marriage. I will show you this is not that kind of thing.
I would like to go and join my family in Holland for some time. Is not clear to me at this point if i even want to become a Dutch citizen but i would like the right to come and go, visit my family and stay as normal resident for the time i do.
Under the Dutch law, first off, my marriage counts for nothing. As the spouse of a Dutch citizen, because i am from Colombia, i get absolutely no rights. Unlike most (about every other) country in the world, marriage does not help an immigrant (from the 3rd world that is….).
Most notably, i met a Colombian friend who married a Spanish and was granted a resident visa instantly. I heard her story with disbelief after a couple of frustrating experiences trying to get a TOURIST visa to go to Holland and visit my wife in Christmas. They were giving me a hard time even for that last year.
Moving on…
To be able to be a resident, my Dutch spouse has to live in Holland, have a one year contract signed making X amount of money and i have to learn to speak Dutch and pass an oral exam over the phone with consulate personnel.
This conditions mean to proove that i have valid reason to go there, that we have enough income to sustain ourselves and that i’ll at least integrate to the point of learning dutch.
This seems logical enough but in reality is extremely unethical and these are the reasons why:
The contract my spouse has to have means to proove means of income. But it assumes immediately that the immigrant is poor and has no money to sustain himself/herself. In my case, i have a good job and i make enough money to sustain myself and would be enough in Europe too. We have sufficient savings in the bank. But for the Dutch law, it doesn’t matter. My spouse is the one who has to have the job. It doesn’t matter what i do, or if i have a job or savings. It’s infuriating to be treated like i am an imported bride that goes to Holland to live off my Dutch spouse. Im self sufficient. But i get no chance to proove that. None whatsoever. I’m an immigrant from Colombia, therefore im poor and unable to sustain myself. Period.
So what does that mean for my spouse and I?
She has to interrupt her studies and go off to find a job, in economic recession times. This can take some time. Then after she finds the job, the procedure can start but the procedure itself takes months. Months in which we would have to be separated.
So… my wife has to drop her studies to get a job and we have to be separated. Despite us having a good living with my salary.
In my case this is an extreme annoyance and a total disrespect towards my nationality if we consider the easy treatment people from other countries get.
But let’s say my wife and I had children. The children would be Dutch citizens. Their mum would be forced to work and live on her own without a father despite the fact that the Colombian father makes more money than the Dutch mother.
Does this seem fair?
Furthermore, it seems the policy at the consulate, not surprisingly, is to try and discourage all the applicants. My wife tells me that the officials are very rude on the phone. Yes Dutch Consulate in Bogotá that means you.
One time they gave us very bad information saying our case was special enough to bypass some requirements. We submitted our request and were told it would take 3 months. Almost 3 months later, some lady called and said that the request had “just gotten to her desk” (3 months later) and that there was no way it would work.
I know Holland has had their problems with immigrants. I know all about Theo van Gogh and i know how unsafe it is to go on the metro train late at night in cities like Rotterdam. I know lots of second and third generation immigrants have not integrated into the Dutch society and can turn violent against the free society they see as sinful.
Still i don’t approve of discriminating minorities for the greater good, i mean, this is Holland we are talking about. Its supposed to be a progressive country.
And i don’t see how keeping me out of the Netherlands helps this situation. If anything they should encourage positive immigration. I don’t need a Dutch job, cause i already have a job from abroad. If anything im going to spend my money with them, pay taxes and sustain my Dutch wife while she does her studies. Im a total treat to national security.
hansi, and 
chato are discussing. 
Fernando, 
chato 2:37 pm on September 30, 2009 Permalink
racism and hipocrisy, the biggest problems of europeans, and boy, and the saddest it’s that they are not new ones.
hansi 3:58 am on October 1, 2009 Permalink
hey!
but i have the impression that it won’t get any better any time soon. even opposite, europe constantly makes nasty little right shifts in the last years.
here’s some recent candy about german foreign policy:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V5zqt0Jr-Gg
Juan Rios 1:54 am on October 3, 2009 Permalink
Las delicias de los hechos azarosos de la vida y una condena a la discriminación y la sospecha.
Dat is waarom ik Nederlands te leren.