For some, it is as routine as paying at the payment counter. For others, it is as breathtaking as a radicular channel. What experience you have largely depends on one thing: where you were born.
We are talking about international trips.
Since President Trump took office, Western travelers who have been trying to enter the United States have tasted that it can be a worldwide traveler. German tourist Lucas Sieff was handcuffed and chained to the border of Tijuana, held in detention for 16 days, then expelled at his expense, apparently because he went wrong when he was questioned in English, not his first language. A second German tourist and a Canadian on a work visa were arrested on the same border and detained for more than six weeks and 12 days, respectively, without explanation. Fabian SchmidtA third holder of the German and green card was arrested at Boston Logan International Airport and was allegedly subjected to severe interrogation tactics and pushed a cold, naked shower. He was sent to a detention center in Rhode Island, where He's stayingwithout clear costs. Another incident implies a French scientist He would have refused entry because messages criticizing Trump were found on his phone.
The United States has a Visa renunciation program: Citizens of 43 nations – including long -standing allies of Great Britain, Germany, Canada and France – are allowed to enter the United States and stay up to 90 days without visa. But after recent border incidents, Great Britain and Germany updated Their American travel opinions with warnings that the welcome carpet is withdrawn. For travelers accustomed to walking beyond immigration counters without hassle, it is a new paradigm.
But for travelers with “weak passports”, which has long been a reality.
If you come, say, Bangladesh or Tanzania and want to visit another country, including the United States, you will be figuratively, if not literally, undressed like Schmidt. You will probably be toasted on your work, your finances, your family, your past trips and even your publications on social networks. You will have to plan from afar, as it can take months or even years to obtain visa interview.
According to The latest dataWaiting times for an interview for a visitor visa in the United States, for example, Bogotá, Colombia; Dhaka, Bangladesh; Lagos, Nigeria; And Mexico City is 507, 228, 377 and 350 days, respectively. If you get an appointment, you will meet at the mercy of a consular officer who decides to provide your visa request or not. If your visa is refused, you will receive a driver notice indicating that the decision is final and cannot be on appeal. What you will not receive, of course, is a refund for the request forces that you have already paid.
Things should get worse for some potential travelers in the United States, the Trump administration would have planned a new edition of the infamous Muslim tiresThis resulted in chaos at airports, demonstrations and prosecution during Trump's first term. THE New travel ban could target 43 countries, more than half of them in Africa. Many Americans will agree with this, because the right of sovereign nations to define their immigration policies as they see fit is rarely questioned. Indeed, international trips are considered a privilege rather than a right. But is it?
Any other policy that unfairly disadvantages people according to the characteristics on which they have no significant control, such as their ethnicity, their race, their sex, their sex, their religious education or their mother tongue, would be deemed unacceptable. Why, with regard to borders, do we accept policies that openly discriminate people on the basis of their birth? The world is more interconnected than ever, and the ability to move freely is essential to enjoy professional, educational and personal opportunities created by globalization – it should not be determined by the birthplace of a person.
The open borders are not politically achievable now, but what is possible is the resistance to the temptations of xenophobia and nationalism in the United States and in certain parts of Europe. More liberal border policies are not only moral, they also benefit reception nations by promoting economic growth, tourism, innovation and understanding of cultures.
Since 2018, Rwanda allows citizens of all countries to obtain a visa on arrival without prior application, and Samoa Does not require visa at all for stays of less than 60 days. Even China, historically known for its strict border policies, makes progress towards more inclusive immigration rules and opening its wider doors to foreign visitors. He has Mutual visa exemption agreements With 23 countries, and since 2023, he has implemented a series of unilateral policies without visa. Initially, only six countries were covered, but this list has since grown to include 38 countries whose citizens can enter China without visa for business and tourism up to 30 days.
Rwanda, Samoa and China prove that a more open world is not only possible but beneficial. They give a positive example that the so-called free world would do well to follow, instead of building ever higher walls. The ability to travel freely should not be a privilege reserved for the lucky few but a right – recognition of our shared humanity and the interconnected world in which we live.
Rainer Ebert is a researcher in moral philosophy at the University of South Africa. Guaiqiong Li is a deputy researcher in African studies at the University of Yunnan in KunmingChina.
