每个护照背后都有一个故事
这对于国家的公民很不公平,因为他们生下来没有权利做出选择,有些人必须要办签证才能出国。
Madagascar, Eastern Africa
Story by Fortunat Miarintsoa Andrianimanana. Translated by Jie Li
Published on March 1, 2022.
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护照上有许多自己的个人信息。这上面不只是有姓名或者出生日期。海关工作人员永远不会忽略掉三个事情:护照信息页上的签证、签证截止日期还有最重要的护照签发国。这些简单的信息可以让你的生活变得艰难,也会让你童年拥有的“自由环游”世界的理想破灭。当然,事情可能也会按照相反的趋势发展。事实是,如果你现在还没有对自己持有的护照感到愤怒,那可能是因为你生在了“对的”国家。
我仍记得我要去西班牙留学的时候给西班牙大使馆准备的一堆文件,我也记得在英国或者去美国时必须通过签证官的面试 。所以,如果不用提前办理签证或者办理落地签,护照签发国决定了该国人们可以去几个国家。人们只拿护照就可以去的国家越多,这本护照就越“有影响力”。
各国护照每年都会进行排名。2020年,日本、新加坡、韩国、德国、意大利等国家的护照被评为最有影响力的护照。然而,阿富汗、伊拉克叙利亚、巴基斯坦、索马里等国家的护照被评为最不具有影响力的护照 [1]。我拥有马来西亚的护照,这本护照能够让我免签进入55个国家。关于护照不平等的原因的信息很少。但是这一定是因为国家之间的外交和贸易条约。
显然,护照的免签率越大,护照持有者就越可能在世界自由的通行。所以,就我而言,我如果想去非免签国家,我必须拿着我这本影响力小的护照去官方机构办理相关手续,才可以离开我的祖国。这对于国家的公民很不公平,因为他们生下来没有权利做出选择,有些人必须要办签证才能出国。
在影响力小的护照上盖的签证越多,护照持有人越有可能拿到签证,因为大使馆或者签证官知道,这名护照持有人不太可能永久停留在签证签发国内。这就是护照上签证多的好处。就我个人而言,如果我有在欧洲国家或者美国的居住权,我可以免签进入一些国家。
拿着这本影响力小的护照持有人一定会被要求陈述这次旅行的原因、持有人的经济状况、在出国前的表达出要返回原国的意愿。换言之,你的个人财富越多,其他国家越欢迎你。因此,护照首先能筛选出想拿到影响力大的护照的移民。
你的护照没有告诉你的是你的故事。准确的说,你上交护照后申请签证的原因。不幸的是,这是签证官最不关心的事情。看望在另一个国家垂死的家人?想要逃离战事连连的国家,寻求一个庇护所?或者只是想和你的爱人团聚?有成百上千个理由让你短暂或者永久的离开我们的祖国。
你只需要一点运气就可以得到印上签证的护照。但是,你会注意到你的故事将取决于你在签发国发生的事。
[1] 2020年亨氏护照指数 (https://www.henleypassportindex.com/passport)
商业内幕 (https://www.businessinsider.com/best-passports-most-countries-no-visa-henley-index-2020-1)
美国有线电视新闻网 (https://edition.cnn.com/travel/article/henley-index-world-best-passport-2020/index.html)
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