For several years, Danish Zahra Rezai (31) has tried to get her husband home to Denmark.
Now the husband has finally returned home to Denmark, but it only happened after journalists in the Danish newspaper Extra Bladet reviewed the case and contacted the authorities.
It should turn out that a mistake has been made, when Zahra’s Afghan husband, Hossain Ahmadi (32), was to apply for a visa to Denmark in order to meet the requirements for family reunification in 2017.
Due to a misunderstanding and error by the authorities, the couple has been separated for over four years.
This has had major consequences for the small family, who live in the city of Aarhus.
Camilla is missing 90,000 – loses her husband
– Quite extreme
– We have lost four years together due to the mistake that was made with the visa. We otherwise meet all the requirements for family reunification, says Zahra to Dagbladet.
Zahra herself came to Denmark from Afghanistan as a child. Since then, she has both gone to school, educated herself, and become a Danish citizen.
Today she is in practice in the town of Skødstrup to become a doctor.
LAW: Zahra Rezai (31) works on a daily basis in practice as a doctor. Photo: Private
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While the 31-year-old was in the process of training as a doctor, her husband Hossain has had to fight a long battle to get to Denmark.
Meanwhile, Zahra also gave birth to the couple’s son, Abbas. Hossain was not allowed to enter Denmark when his son was born in 2019.
– It is actually quite extreme and awkward, because I as a citizen have contributed to society in all years, and then this happens, she says.
It is the Danish newspaper Extra Bladet who wrote the case first.
– Difficult to meet
Zahra and Hossain met on a journey when they were both young people.
The couple continued to keep in touch, despite the distance, and were married in Iran in 2014.
Hossain studied to become a pharmacist in Afghanistan, while Zahra studied medicine at Aarhus University.
Because Zahra is a Danish citizen, the dream of a common life at home in Denmark arose for both of them.
FAMILYS: Together, the couple has a son. Hossain Ahmadi (32) first met his son in early 2021, due to the corona pandemic. He then lived in a refugee camp in Greece. Photo: Private
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– Until 2021, I was still in the process of medical education, and there have been several compulsory courses. Therefore, it has generally been difficult for us to meet, she says and adds:
– It has been extremely difficult to plan trips, and especially in recent years with corona. We have not been able to do anything else, and it has been a very locked situation.
Met the requirements
In 2017, the couple applied for family reunification for the first time. Then they met all the requirements that the authorities had for family reunification, except one.
Hossain had not been to Denmark before, so he had to apply for a visa in order for them to get family reunification approved.
Normally, an application for a visa to Denmark is approved, if the reason is that you apply for family reunification, and when you otherwise meet the requirements.
Nevertheless, Hossain was rejected because the embassy in Iran overlooked the fact that he was applying for a visa to obtain family reunification. This happened even though Zahra wrote this as a justification in the visa application.
BORN ALONE: Zahra met the couple’s son Abbas alone, because Hossain had not received an approved visa application to Denmark. Photo: Private
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Therefore, the couple thought that the refusal had nothing to do with it, so they chose not to complain.
Read the comment from the authorities further down in the case.
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The long-distance relationship continued, but in early 2019, Zahra became pregnant.
Therefore, Hossain once again tried to apply for a visa, in order to be able to attend the birth. His visa was again denied, and Zahra had to give birth to her son alone.
– After my son was born on November 13, he has only met his father three times before now, Zahra says to Dagbladet.
Residing in the Moria camp
After the couple became aware that Zahra was pregnant, it was urgent to get Hossain to Denmark, so he could attend the birth.
Therefore, Hossain applied once again for a visa. Then he was rejected again, but now the reason was that it had been too long since the couple had applied for family reunification.
Hossain therefore became desperate, thinking that can had nothing more to lose. Therefore, he decided to leave Afghanistan, and even take the trip up to Denmark.
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Hossain was then stranded in Greece, where he was placed in the Moria refugee camp without his passport, which he had lost on the trip.
– It was some tough times for him, and he tells me that he was happy that my son and I were not there, Zahra tells Dagbladet.
Since the Moria camp started burning in September 2020, Hossain had to live on the streets of Athens for several weeks.
– My son and I went down and met my husband in Greece in February 2021. It was the first time my husband met his son, she says.
In 2020, the couple applied again for family reunification, but were rejected in January 2021 because Hossain had not been to Denmark.
VISIT: Zahra took her son Abbas to Greece, and Hossain was allowed to come out of the Moria camp to greet his son. Photo: Private
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– A new life
After the newspaper Ekstra Bladet contacted the authorities in June, Hossain received a visa stay in Denmark.
On July 16, Hossain arrived at the airport in Copenhagen, where Zahra and her son Abbas waited a year and a half with flowers.
– We got tears in our eyes. It is the start of a new life for the two of us together, but it is also the start of a longer work with family reunification, she says to Dagbladet, and adds:
– Now we have some peace inside us, and it is incredibly nice that he has finally come home.
Zahra is concerned that her son and father should have a strong connection to each other, and she is ecstatic that they can finally be together.
– My son is so happy that dad has finally come home. I can clearly see and notice that in him, she says to Dagbladet.
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– Not been attentive
Four years after the couple applied for family reunification for the first time, Zahra’s husband has now returned to Denmark.
Following the inquiry from the newspaper Ekstra Bladet, the Danish Immigration Service says that they have not been aware of the mistake that had been made in the processing of the visa. They apologize, the Danish Immigration Service writes to Ekstra Bladet.
To Dagbladet, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Danish Immigration Service write a joint comment on the case.
– The Danish embassy in Iran refused the applicant a visa in September and October 2017. The applicant did not make the embassy aware of the refusal of family reunification, nor was the refusal attached to the application. The applicant’s spouse answered “no” to the question of whether there were special circumstances that should be taken into account when processing the application, the authorities write to Dagbladet.
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Furthermore, they write to Dagbladet that it did not appear in the visa application that the couple had recently been refused family reunification.
To Ekstra Bladet, however, the authorities write that Zahra stated in 2017 that they had recently been refused family reunification. They do not write that to Dagbladet now.
– Unfortunately, the embassy has apparently not been aware of this in connection with the case processing. The embassy therefore assessed in 2017 that the applicant did not meet the basic conditions for obtaining a visa.
Following the two refusals of visas in 2017, an appeal guide was given, but the decisions were not appealed subsequently, according to the authorities. This is also confirmed by Zahra to Dagbladet.
NEW LIFE: After several years apart, the couple is finally one step closer to the dream of living together in Denmark. Photo: Private
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– Nobody found the error
Zahra tells Dagbladet that since the couple was to apply for family reunification, they have received assistance with legal advice from two companies.
– They both promised that they would get my husband to Denmark. None of them found the mistake that had been made with the visa. It was only when some good journalists in Ekstra Bladet sat down and began to investigate the case, that the error was found, she says to Dagbladet, and adds:
– It is simply embarrassing that two lawyers are unable to find that error, as it is their job.
Dagbladet has been in contact with the company Nem Familiesammenføring, which assists with legal assistance to persons seeking family reunification, and the law firm René Schack.
The former provided legal advice in the case from 2016 to 2018. René Schack has represented Zahra since 2020.
– Traumatic
– Problematic
– After Zahra finished with us in 2018, she wrote to us that she thought we had done what we could. We also informed the authorities about the error back in 2017. Nevertheless, nothing happened before the journalists contacted the authorities, says Sharandeep Singh from Nem Familiesammenføring to Dagbladet.
Lawyer René Schack writes in an e-mail to Dagbladet that when the case landed in his office a year ago, it was about family reunification, and not a visa.
He further writes that when he became aware that the lawyer’s case processing was now about a visa, he thought it was problematic that Hossain could not in principle approach a Danish representative, because he was staying in a refugee camp.
– I am very happy on behalf of the client, that Hossain is now in Denmark. Also because I have spent large amounts of time finding a solution that the authorities could accept. My experience is that it can sometimes help the case, if you turn to journalists. Other times it is not as appropriate, and it is impossible to predict which direction the case may take. Also because the case can at any time become political, Schack writes.
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