September 11, 2001 made us realize the continuation of an existing treachery among men, unspoken, but relentless threats to our daily lives and that every single human being on this planet, could be a suspect of deception at any given time, especially when crossing borders.
As a result, Countries all around the world heightened their border securities by enhancing the numbers of security personnel and applied new methods to secure infrastructures; such implementations are without contest, bear logic and give travelers and worldwide citizens a sense of safety.
Before 9/11, people traveled from one country to another, legally and illegally, and Border Patrols were most vigilant for fraudulent documents; passports and visas were the main two documents which underwent intense scrutiny, separating genuine from counterfeit.
Back then, legal and illegal migration held one main purpose, especially to the west; people were trying to cross borders for a better opportunity of life, mainly employment.
After 9/11, illegal migration began to wear a face, suspected of terrorism and only terrorism; thus, security methods went into a frenzy. Security immediately went to being a psychologically studied subject, avoidance results were being certified by so-called professors of security studies and trainings intensified in creating qualified trainers for security officers.
Aided by new technologies, national passports routinely changed without citizens being notified beforehand, some became machine readable, some adapted to a chipped, navigational system and some with computerized authentications embedded within their pages; the sophistication of travel documents has surpassed its imaginable plateau and one would think that borders are now fairly safe and that fake travel documents are 99% detectable instantaneously.
I am a non-European, who has been legally residing in Europe, consistently, for the past nine years. I currently reside in Switzerland, holding an “Ausweis B EU/EFTA (Aufenthaltsbewilligung)”.
An Ausweis B EU/EFTA (Aufenthaltsbewilligung), in Europe, is the equivalent of the infamous Green Card in the United States of America and the immigration rules surrounding the Ausweis B EU/EFTA (Aufenthaltsbewilligung) are similar to the rules of the Green Card in the USA.
An Ausweis B EU/EFTA (Aufenthaltsbewilligung) allows the holder to legally reside and work in Switzerland and or the state where it was issued and by extension, this documents allows the holder to freely and legally move within all Countries under EU (European Union) and EFTA (European Free Trade Association).
Unlike the green card, this document is a simple two-page booklet, with a photograph on one side and official immigration information on the other side; this document is of paper-like material bearing the holder’s signature, an official stamp from the immigration authority and is encased in a plastic folder. Like the green card, this document is expected to be embedded, if not in all border security databases of the world, at least in all European Border Control systems.
However; this does not seem to be the case, which was proven by my most recent travel.
Despite the increase numbers of security personnel, including immigration officers and airport police, knowledge varied to recognize my Ausweis B EU/EFTA (Aufenthaltsbewilligung).
I recently travelled to Mexico from Zurich via Frankfurt and while entering Germany on my outbound route, the immigration officer at the passport control desk, recognized and approved my document with five seconds and I went on my way.
Exiting Mexico to return home, I encountered a delay, which told me an entire story about the Mexican Immigration System. The Mexicans have become quite complacent with the foreigners, who visit their land and their database has adapted to these foreigners, which are mostly US Nationals, Canadians, British and other national from the Americas.
Any diversion in this flow will creates an immediate confusion; thus, mine did.
Considering that my encountered passport control officer, in Mexico, appeared to be no older than twenty-two years old, I was patient even though I was wondering about her training. After not recognizing my document which accompanied my passport, she conferred her lack of knowledge with her supervisor, who was apparently the same age as her and also did not have the slightest clue to the authenticity of my travel document.
After running around for a while, a verification was somehow made, an apology for the delay was given to me and I was on my way; I was not annoyed, strangely, maybe because I was way too early for my flight or the fact that I narrowed it down to a complacent, Mexican system.
After flying for ten hours, I landed back in Frankfurt and could not wait to catch my connecting flight to Zurich, but my anticipation of a smooth transition hit a bump, when the immigration officer in Frankfurt, Germany, did not recognized my Ausweis B EU/EFTA (Aufenthaltsbewilligung).
After taking it from its case and having difficulty putting it back, he seriously asked “Is it broken?”
As much as I wanted to laugh, I was shocked by his ignorance of the document, but immediately I realized that he had something in common with the two in Mexico; he was just as young.
After a few minutes and with the help from his colleagues, the authenticity of my document was again realized and with another apology for the delay, I was home-bound.
“Outward from Zurich via Frankfurt, the officer I encountered appeared to be older than all three officers whom I encountered on my return journey and this clearly showed that the younger they were, the less they knew.”
The most recent recession has clearly buckled the knees of the world’s economy, resulting in the shortage of cash flow, forcing us to be fiscally creative by doing more with less and although that might be appreciated when applied to some sectors, the sector of border security should not be cheapened; such corner-cutting poses a transparent and deep threat to our livelihood.
Border security officers should be and must be fully trained and possess the ability to recognize a genuine travel document when it is presented, despite its country of origin.
“An acknowledged exercise of expertise, in any profession, offers a silent sense of security equally to a lack of knowledge which concedes insecurity to its clients.” – Ian T. Sebàs
© Ian T. Sebàs 2017
© Ian T. Sebàs
Bleeding Pen 