Published : 12-02-2017
Hundreds of Palestinian families from Syria in Sweden have been shorn of the right to family reunification.
In the best of cases, family reunification procedures last for a period of up to two years, aggravating even further the refugees’ traumatic state of loneliness in the new asylum.
Speaking with AGPS, Palestinian refugee from Syria in the southern Swedish city of Malmo, Yasser, attributed the dilemma to the belated appointments for family reunification applications arranged at the Swedish embassies in Turkey and Lebanon.
“My appointment to meet my family in the Swedish embassy in Lebanon has been scheduled for February 2018,” added Yasser. “The appointment does not systematically herald that the refugee will be granted residency rights. Many of us wait for a period of up to one year to receive the authorities’ consent over family reunification requests.”
Another refugee—Mahmoud—raised alarm bells over the entry bans slapped by the Turkish authorities against the Palestinians from Syria.
“We, the Palestinians of Syria have done it all to reach Turkey as we sought a safer place to take cover in,” Mahmoud told AGPS. “We have embarked on journeys fraught with deadly danger and endured shooting attacks by border cops to disembark in the Turkish territories, having no other place to run to.”
“The situation has been just as worse on the Lebanese borders, where admission procedures are often subjected to the officers’ whims. One can miss an appointment at the embassy just because a Lebanese officer is in a black-mood,” the refugee further stated.
The Swedish authorities have tightened the noose around Palestinian refugees’ necks, suspending permanent visas and ruling that they be entitled only to temporary stays of a maximum of three years.
Hundreds of Palestinian families from Syria in Sweden have been shorn of the right to family reunification.
In the best of cases, family reunification procedures last for a period of up to two years, aggravating even further the refugees’ traumatic state of loneliness in the new asylum.
Speaking with AGPS, Palestinian refugee from Syria in the southern Swedish city of Malmo, Yasser, attributed the dilemma to the belated appointments for family reunification applications arranged at the Swedish embassies in Turkey and Lebanon.
“My appointment to meet my family in the Swedish embassy in Lebanon has been scheduled for February 2018,” added Yasser. “The appointment does not systematically herald that the refugee will be granted residency rights. Many of us wait for a period of up to one year to receive the authorities’ consent over family reunification requests.”
Another refugee—Mahmoud—raised alarm bells over the entry bans slapped by the Turkish authorities against the Palestinians from Syria.
“We, the Palestinians of Syria have done it all to reach Turkey as we sought a safer place to take cover in,” Mahmoud told AGPS. “We have embarked on journeys fraught with deadly danger and endured shooting attacks by border cops to disembark in the Turkish territories, having no other place to run to.”
“The situation has been just as worse on the Lebanese borders, where admission procedures are often subjected to the officers’ whims. One can miss an appointment at the embassy just because a Lebanese officer is in a black-mood,” the refugee further stated.
The Swedish authorities have tightened the noose around Palestinian refugees’ necks, suspending permanent visas and ruling that they be entitled only to temporary stays of a maximum of three years.
