![\"\"](\"https:\/\/yuraperov.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/1-3.png\")
<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\nEach visa I had has its one history and a lot of emotions and events associated with it. For example, there is a Japanese visa which I never had a chance to use because I got sick and could not go to Tokyo for the IROS, a conference in robotics and artificial intelligence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/yuraperov.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/2-2.png\")
<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\nThere is a Canadian visa to go to the NIPS conference on artificial intelligence and machine learning to snowy and beautiful Montreal in December. I had to receive that visa in a very short period of time because of our workshop paper being accepted quite close to the conference start day. What had made to receive that visa even less possible is the fact that the Canadian Embassy was moving offices during that month. As far as I remember, I literally had received that visa on the day of my flight to Montreal. I really appreciate the fact that Canadian (and any other Embassy) has been friendly and so helpful with the visas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/yuraperov.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/3-2.png\")
<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\nThere is an Indian visa to visit India to a summer school to tutor schoolchildren in computer science and visit Microsoft Research.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/yuraperov.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/4-2.png\")
<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\nThere is also an UK visa which allowed me to start studying and doing research in Oxford. There is even a story itself of me finally receiving that visa on the last day of my one-year studies in the USA at MIT. On that last day, I had to travel to the UK Embassy in New York to retrieve my passport. I had to retrieve my passport with a visa or without it<\/em>\u00a0because I had to leave the US anyway (my US visa was ending) and go to India. One day before that, I still believed my UK visa was not issued and I would have to go to India without a UK visa and then re-apply for it later. Only on that last day, when I was already on the Amtrak train from Boston to New York early in the morning with an aim to just get my passport back and departure from the States that day, I got an email from the Embassy literally in the train stating that the decision on my visa has been made (as you know, the Embassies usually use such vague phrasing rather than directly saying whether is an approval or refusal) and\u2026 my passport is being sent by post\u2026 to Boston which I already just left :).<\/p>\n\n\n\n When I finally arrived in New\nYork, I put my large suitcase to New York train left luggage facilities, and I\ncame to the UK Embassy building. On my arrival, I was accidentally told by a\nsecurity guard to use the backdoor because I probably looked like a delivery\nboy in my long and slightly shabby shorts and with a Whole Foods paper bag in\nhand that sunny September morning. I realised the mistake a few minutes later\nand went back to the main entrance, only to be told that there is no chance to\nget my passport in person and it would be sent by post, which for me would be\nquite dramatic as my US visa was close to its end.<\/p>\n\n\n\n After almost 3 hours of trying to\nget my passport in the UK Embassy building and getting some help from the\nRussian Embassy, to which I travelled in the meantime, after some calls were\nmade by the guards to the UK Embassy to enquire about the possibilities and\nchecks (e.g. the fact that I paid for \u201cfast track\u201d visa application looked like\nan advantage, at least I was asked about that), I was allowed to get upstairs\nto retrieve my passport (again, by that point I just needed a passport to leave\nthe US, and a visa would be \u201cjust a nice\u201d bonus). When I got to the Embassy on\none of the top floors, a friendly consular officer interviewed me briefly to\ncheck that it is me. Then he went to find my passport\u2026 and he did not find it\nin a basket of ready passports. That was a big shock for me, but I smiled (as\nfar as I remember), thanked them and left the Embassy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I was desperate enough to go\naround the block and find 3 FedEx delivery trucks nearby. I asked all FedEx\ndelivery people at trucks if they can try to find my delivery envelope (I had a\nprinted receipt for the delivery in hand). To my huge surprise (not on that\nbusy day but afterwards when I had a chance to digest what happened that day),\nat every truck they were very kind to help me try to find my envelope with my\npassport but\u2026 I did not have any luck. There was no envelope in any of the\ntrucks around.<\/p>\n\n\n\n By that point, of course, I was\ncompletely lost. Magic did happen though. I was near the FedEx truck that was\nclose to that Embassy backdoor door, which I had been by mistake suggested to\nuse as an-accidentally-mistaken-delivery-boy. The door opened and somebody\ncalled me and asked to get to the Embassy back again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I went through basic security second\ntime on that day with my Whole Foods bag and a backpack, and finally, after so\nmany hours, the same friendly consular officer gave me my passport with\u2026 the UK\nvisa in it. The reason why my passport was not found the first time was pretty\nsimple: I had happened to order a regular (not express) FedEx delivery for my\nreturn envelope, and there was presumably a different basket for non-express\nFedEx returns. I was so happy to finally get my passport. After that, I had a\nlate lunch, checked-in for my flight to India through Abu Dhabi and went to the\nairport. But that is another story.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I got a lot of visas in my life,\nand most of them were for studies and conference. I have always had good\ntreatment at the Embassies and Visa application centres. Consular officers,\nguards, staff have been always helpful. I also understand why visas are\nimportant for immigration purposes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Nevertheless, every time I\napplied for a visa, I always had that feeling that \u201cI am different\u201d. That there\nare people who don\u2019t need visas and people who need them; who need to apply for\nthem, pay for them, wait for them, have a chance to be refused them. It\nprobably was always slightly sad that just because you happened to have this\npassport but not that passport, you need to spend more energy, time, resources\nto get to where you need to be and also have a higher chance of failing to get\nthere (if your visa is refused or delayed).<\/p>\n\n\n\n For example, every time I apply\nfor the US visa, I am getting through what is called \u201cadministrative\nprocessing\u201d. That means that for me, the visa could not be approved at the\nappointment in the US Embassy and my case is sent to somewhere in the US. My\nhunch is that is because I am Russian and I work on artificial intelligence and\nmachine learning. I could only guess, but probably my case is sent each time to\nthe Department of State, or even to some special federal agency and somebody\nlooks into my file and decides that I am okay to have a visa. I know that I did\nnot do anything wrong, but just because of some political circumstances and\nmistrust on the international level, I become unintentionally involved in that\nby having my visas delayed. For example, this last time my US visitor visa\napplication is still taking more than 3 months, and that already led to one\nimportant business visit to the US missed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I always try to be positive and\nmindful about it. At the end of the day, all these visa applications and\nconsiderations make me stronger. As a result of all of this, I know so much, as\na layperson, about the immigration law, visa procedures. These visa endeavours\nalso train my patience. And while I strongly believe human beings should have a\nright to travel freely and conduct different sorts of legal business all over\nthe world, definitely that is not the most important right that is not fully\nsatisfied in our world these days. As in, there are more important problems\nlike injustice or inequalities for different social groups; hunger and violence\nand wars; lack of access to education and medicine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n At the end of the day, it is\nunderstandable that the easiest option to control immigration in a country is\nto be very strict on who you allow entering. It is much easier to have a false\npositive rate (in other words, to have delays and refusals on visas for people\nwho should have been accepted) rather than having a false negative rate, i.e.\nto miss and let in somebody who can hurt the society of that country. On a\nglobal scale, it is understandable. However, when it affects you, you might\nfeel sad.<\/p>\n\n\n\n People who have access to money\nand power (I mean legally earned or inherited money or legal lobbyism and legal\nactions) probably always can simplify such things for themselves, unless it\nbecomes too political and they can\u2019t be allowed to the country for that reason.\nAlso, probably one of the appealing factors for people getting the citizenships\nof some countries is that their passports allow their citizens to travel\nvisa-free or get visas much more easily or for longer periods (of course, other\nfactors include the genuine will to become a full citizen of a country with all\nrights and responsibilities which such citizenship entails).<\/p>\n\n\n\n On an individual level, it is\ngenerally possible for some of us to get such important freedoms and rights as\nto live in safety, to have a good education, medical care and recreation, to\ntravel to the most of destinations of our choice for business and leisure. That\ncan be achieved through hard and smart work, financial planning and \u201clife\nplanning\u201d, and luck. It is another question though how to make it possible on a\nglobal scale for everyone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In the meantime, I just find it funny that my visa ventures are sometimes quite similar to what Mark Twain wrote in his story \u201cThe Belated Russian Passport\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Photo credits:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n