BRUSSELS ― Palestinians trying to get a Belgian humanitarian visa to escape the bloodshed in Gaza face impossible demands and a blocked exit, lawyers say.
“Today, the consulate general in Jerusalem informed me that my client, who is currently trapped in Gaza, must travel to Jerusalem to apply for a visa,” Thomas Verellen, an assistant professor in EU law who also provides legal assistance, wrote on LinkedIn.
“That’s simply impossible.”
Verellen added that Belgium’s “inflexible stance” on remote visa applications is having “devastating” consequences in Gaza.
Large swathes of Gaza have been reduced to rubble in retaliatory strikes following Hamas’ attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, in which 1,200 people were killed and another 251 taken hostage.
Thousands of Palestinians in Gaza have since been killed in Israeli airstrikes and shootings, including at food distribution points. As of July 30, the death toll stood at more than 60,000 people, including nearly 10,000 women and almost 18,000 children, according to numbers from the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, sourced from the Hamas-run Gaza health ministry. Authorities and international organizations have raised warnings about a devastating famine now sweeping Gaza, which is closed off from neighboring countries.
But people in Gaza wanting a Belgian humanitarian visa are being told they can’t apply remotely and the nearest diplomatic offices are in Jerusalem or Cairo, even though it’s impossible to leave Gaza. Plus, even if they are granted a visa, they have to pick it up outside Gaza.
In addition, a Belgian humanitarian visa doesn’t entail a right to evacuation, Benoit Dhondt, a lawyer for Antigone Advocaten, an office specializing in migration law, told POLITICO.
That’s “very paradoxical,” he said. “If, as a state, you say, you’re getting a visa but we won’t help you to actually obtain it … You’re really condemning people to remain in Gaza.”
‘Kafkaesque’ visa demands
Close family members of someone with the right to reside in Belgium, such as spouses or young children, can apply for a family reunification visa. These visas are covered by EU law, which dictates that people must be able to apply via email.
Those who don’t qualify for family reunification can apply for a humanitarian visa. Each EU country has its own rules for such visas, so they’re not automatically required to allow an online application, as is the case with Belgium.
But that doesn’t make it any less “Kafkaesque” or “impossible” to require in-person applications, Dhondt said.
Lawyers have been forced to ask the Belgian courts to allow an emailed application in each individual case. And while the courts have agreed in every case, he said, it’s both expensive and time-consuming.
He also slammed Belgian authorities’ demand that people submit medical documents as a prerequisite for getting a visa or evacuation, even though it’s difficult and dangerous to see a doctor in Gaza.
For people who do find their way through the administrative maze, a humanitarian visa doesn’t guarantee their exit.
Evacuating people from Gaza is a complicated process. Belgium’s Foreign Affairs ministry told VRT last week that it’s working to remove about 500 people who were already on the evacuation list — “despite the many obstacles and risks” — and that it’s not currently possible to expand it. Neither the foreign affairs nor migration ministries replied to a request for comment for this article.
Still, Dhondt said, “This is such an extreme situation, it’s the only thing a country can do to save individual people from a genocidal situation … That’s their only way out.”
Belgian universities have also raised the alarm about inflexible rules barring Palestinian scientists from leaving Gaza.
Ahmed Alsalibi, a Palestinian researcher, obtained a grant to work at the Free University of Brussels (ULB) as well as a visa and a work permit, but he remains stuck in Gaza. In a statement last week, the university’s vice-rector Anne Weyembergh called on the government to expand evacuations after being told that Alsalibi wasn’t eligible.
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