As a Syrian, I Can’t Even Open a Bank Account
As outcasts of the 21st century, we struggle daily just to live ordinary lives
Last September, upon arriving to the U.K. for my master’s course, one of the most mundane tasks I had was to open a bank account in which to receive my scholarship’s monthly stipend. Sounds easy enough, right? Well not if you happen to have the blue passport that identifies you as a citizen of the “Syrian Arab Republic.”
Carrying this document, which is, by the way, the most expensive passport in the world with a cost of up to $400 per year, will definitely put you into some awkward situations. Who among us, who also carries this document, hasn’t encountered funny or humiliating reactions from passport-control officials in most of the world’s airports?
What usually happens is that the previously smiling official behind their nice desk with cameras and thumb scanners suddenly realizes the country name on your passport, immediately drops the smile, and becomes grumpy and jumpy. Once I even heard someone whispering “Oh shit, not another Syrian!”
Witnessing these reactions usually means one thing: the normally two-minute process of checking your visa and stamping your passport turns into an excruciatingly slow process of overly examining your passport, checking…
