What It’s Like to Travel When You Have a “Bad” Passport
May 7, 2019 6:53 AM   Subscribe

I am a Kenyan, an African, someone from the ‘global south.’ It is my job to prove I deserve to travel. It doesn’t matter how talented or smart or wealthy I or others like me are; we need a good passport.
posted by CatastropheWaitress (17 comments total) 43 users marked this as a favorite
 
Your story made me cry. The unfairness and unjustness of it all is just crushing, even from the safe distance of my white privileged maleness.

My mate is also Kenyan, and as I often witness her bear the injustices you recount, I can only feel shame and immense sadness.

We lived for some time in Shenzhen and every 60 days had to cross into Hong Kong for visa purposes. Every time we did so—every time—she would be detained in a holding room for 30-45 minutes, be quizzed by a Hong Kong immigration official, and always eventually let cross. But this detention and deeper questioning was part of the 'bad passport' drill. Never did I suffer this indignity, this unnecessary humiliation; but why would I, a white American male?

My heart goes out to you and to all holders of bad passports, 99.8% of whom, in my experience, have heart, soul, and love in excess of many of us privileged 'good' passport holders.
posted by lometogo at 8:04 AM on May 7, 2019 [6 favorites]


This is a fantastic piece.

As a white person who has lived in an African country, I felt this hard:
As James Baldwin wrote, “The white man takes the astonishment as tribute.” We can see it in that walk of theirs, like they already belong; in that confidence, like even your novelty is a gift to them.
It's true. And man, do white people LOVE talking about how they understand what it's like to be a minority, because they've been to India, or Japan, or Turkey, or South Africa, or wherever. As though the experience of a white foreigner in one of those spaces is at all comparable to the experience of Black people in predominantly white spaces. As though the "novelty" of an outsider in those contexts is felt, seen, lived the same way. As though the power and privilege granted by your skin vanish when you're no longer among "your own." Fucking galling.

Also:
This is why people from passport-privileged (read white, read economically powerful) countries are ‘expatriates,’ not ‘immigrants.’ This is why the word expatriate exists—a person who lives outside their native country—so that migrant/immigrant can be for the other.
I've known many self-described expats. Some of them were lovely! But I made the mistake of referring to one as an "immigrant" once and she never spoke to me again.
posted by duffell at 8:09 AM on May 7, 2019 [35 favorites]


But I made the mistake of referring to one as an "immigrant" once and she never spoke to me again.

Oooh, I want to try this!
posted by Harald74 at 8:38 AM on May 7, 2019 [10 favorites]


Isn't the difference that expats expect to move back, but immigrants don't?

(That's why I'm an immigrant to Canada but an expat in the US).
posted by airmail at 8:54 AM on May 7, 2019 [5 favorites]


Henley Passport Index.
posted by Bee'sWing at 9:18 AM on May 7, 2019 [1 favorite]


The 'good'/'bad' language is pretty loaded, but she's not wrong about the privilege of having a passport from a wealthy country.

She's also pretty dead on about the 'immigrant' vs. 'expatriate' divide as well. I'm an expatriate and it wouldn't offend me to be called an immigrant -- in fact I would like to one day be a citizen of my new home rather than an American citizen living abroad -- but I'm very much in the minority here. And I can't say I blame people because American citizenship confers some amazing benefits when abroad.

“I can’t get lost here. Everyone knows exactly who I am and who I am with.” What else can you do but joke?

Trevor Noah does a good bit on this, specifically the problems Idris Elba would have as James Bond.
posted by Tell Me No Lies at 9:23 AM on May 7, 2019 [8 favorites]


Isn't the difference that expats expect to move back, but immigrants don't?

I've known plenty of British "expats" in Europe who flat-out said -- even before Brexit -- that they were never going to physically reside in the UK again. And plenty of Latin American "immigrants" in the US who plan on going back to their homes once the political situations calm down, or once they've made enough money to support a family.
posted by Etrigan at 10:33 AM on May 7, 2019 [13 favorites]


On the other end was the guy who told me my family, who fled Europe as stateless persons after the end of WWII, came to the USA as "expats" and that we therefore couldn't understand what it was like to be immigrants. This came as a surprised to my mom, who didn't know she was so fancy.

Migration is complicated and it wasn't that long ago that people from Eastern Europe had (basically) worthless passports, complete not only with entry visa requirements but exit visas from their own governments as well.
posted by 1adam12 at 12:01 PM on May 7, 2019 [1 favorite]


Migration is a social construct based on borders created by wars, genocide and colonialism. If you move from Nevada to NYC to find work you are not a migrant I suppose. But trying to move from Tijuana to San Diego, a few miles away, may be nearly impossible. Borders make no sense and we should acknowledge that instead of conceding it as a default state.

I come from Spaniards and Portuguese Jews who fled to Mexico. Their children fled to the United States. I have fled the US to go to Europe. When have we not been migrating?
posted by vacapinta at 12:27 PM on May 7, 2019 [15 favorites]


Your story made me cry. The unfairness and unjustness of it all is just crushing, even from the safe distance of my white privileged maleness.

Oh dear! I just want to clarify that this isn't my personal story; I'm glad it touched you, though.
posted by CatastropheWaitress at 1:50 PM on May 7, 2019


Yeah, I'm not buying the idea that the expat/immigrant distinction has anything to do with intention to return, or plans regarding citizenship.

I'm an immigrant. Have been basically all my life. When I was an immigrant to Hong Kong, people kept trying to call me an expat, because I was white. Nobody calls me an expat in Britain. Because you only get to be an expat if you're more privileged than the country you've moved to. And in English, Britain is considered top of the food chain, maybe alongside some other English-speaking countries at a push. You can tell because nobody gets to be an expat in Britain, except maybe Americans and Canadians. Maybe. Sometimes. Meanwhile Brits are expats - not immigrants - wherever they go. Except maybe the US. Maybe. Sometimes.
posted by Dysk at 3:46 PM on May 7, 2019 [7 favorites]


But I made the mistake of referring to one as an "immigrant" once and she never spoke to me again.

This is the reason I deliberately call myself an immigrant. Because that's what I am, no different from any other person who moves abroad for a better life. I have this privilege, and if seeing my privileged white American-passport-holding face next to the word "immigrant" changes the word even just the tiniest bit in the mind of even one person, it will have been worth it.
posted by gloriouslyincandescent at 11:36 PM on May 7, 2019


I also call myself an immigrant, especially with people who are complaining about the problems with immigrants. When I call myself an immigrant, people immediately rush to tell me I'm an expat. "No, you're one of the good ones."

But with Brexit and Theresa May's "hostile environment" policy, the UK has shown me that expats can easily be transformed into immigrants and then into undesirables. Despite my 17 years living in Spain, if the right wing gets back into power here and decides to emulate the UK, I might not be able to produce the necessary documentation to continue living with my wife.

I will still have a lot more options compared with the nightmare experience of having a bad passport, but it's also important to realize that when society tries to distinguish between the "good" and "bad" kinds of immigrants, the abuses handed out to one class of people can be extended to us all.
posted by fuzz at 3:29 AM on May 8, 2019 [3 favorites]


Yeah, I'm not buying the idea that the expat/immigrant distinction has anything to do with intention to return, or plans regarding citizenship.

I'm an immigrant. Have been basically all my life. When I was an immigrant to Hong Kong, people kept trying to call me an expat, because I was white. Nobody calls me an expat in Britain. Because you only get to be an expat if you're more privileged than the country you've moved to. And in English, Britain is considered top of the food chain, maybe alongside some other English-speaking countries at a push. You can tell because nobody gets to be an expat in Britain, except maybe Americans and Canadians. Maybe. Sometimes. Meanwhile Brits are expats - not immigrants - wherever they go. Except maybe the US. Maybe. Sometimes.


Intent is important. I have lived in four countries that are not my own as an expat. I've recently made the mindset transition from being an expat in London to being an immigrant purely by deciding to stay here.

I've lived in the UK three times.

The first time I was an expat, I was a child and one of my parents worked for a multi-national on a three year assignment. There was no intention for us to remain, we rented a place rather than bought, education decisions were made in such a way as to keep options open in terms of compatibility with the education system of our home country.

The second time I was a student. I don't think that really fits into the expat / immigrant framework but if it does, I was an expat again as I always intended to leave afterwards.

The third time, when I moved to London from the Middle East started off as an expat to expat move. I was an expat in Dubai, as there was neither a legal possibility nor any intention on my part to move there permanently. But Dubai is obviously mega weird like that because the majority of the population are "expats" but only some of them temporary like me, others had build businesses and lives there over decades and were, to my mind, immigrants who weren't legally allowed to stay forever rather than transients like me. Dubai, by the way, is filled with expats of both types from the subcontinent and plenty of people who describe themselves that way so it's not universally true that it's a country of origin thing.

But now... I've been in London for six years, I've gotten married to someone who's never lived anywhere else, I've bought a house, we don't intend to move. So somewhere in there, I went from expat to immigrant.

It's a really interesting mental transition actually because I went from viewing British politics with a certain sense of amused detachment to horror in a very short period of time. The expat always has the "exit" rather than the "voice" mindset for dealing with trouble, the immigrant has made the choice to stay.

Incidentally, I know expats in London from a very wide range of national backgrounds. They describe themselves this way and I've never heard anyone challenge that. On the other hand, there probably is an economic and social privilege angle here. My Indian friend who works in investment banking and flies home four times a year with a senior government official for a father is an expat and no-one challenges that. If she was poorer, I wonder if that would be the case.

There can never be a clear split because people and their motivations are complicated. The case of the long term British retired in Spain is one where they're almost more settlers than either immigrants or expats as they're often barely participating in local society at all.
posted by atrazine at 3:55 AM on May 8, 2019 [7 favorites]


That was a great article, thank you for sharing it.
posted by smoke at 4:47 AM on May 8, 2019


The case of the long term British retired in Spain is one where they're almost more settlers than either immigrants or expats

That's an interesting distinction. There are gated communities 10 miles out of town here where you can live steeped in American culture and never leave. The only Mexicans you'll see are the ones cleaning your house and doing your gardening -- which if you're from California is what you're used to anyway.

Call me a snob but I've never wanted to group them in with the expatriates who consider themselves Americans but also consider themselves part of the community. "Settlers" is a good term.
posted by Tell Me No Lies at 9:32 AM on May 8, 2019 [1 favorite]


That was a great article, and also mirrored many of my experiences 'traveling while brown'. One amazing thing that happened was once I got the US visa, it dramatically changed my options and treatment. Once at the French embassy, the guy at the counter actually told me that since I have the US visa, I'd been 'already checked' and therefore did not need the normal level of scrutiny. The number of countries that allow me to transit just because I have a US visa increased.
posted by dhruva at 8:49 AM on May 10, 2019


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