I just read a disconcerting article published by Hetq about people selling their homes in order to pay extraordinarily high prices for under-the-table visas to France. Apparently there is a guy who can obtain visas for people willing to leave Armenia of their own accord in the hopes of finding a better life in Europe. Naturally, without knowing the language and lacking skills they weren’t able to make a go of it, and put the blame on the entrepreneur and his associates instead. They claim that they were tricked or duped, but I don’t buy it. Here are some excerpts from the story:
Karineh Gevorgyan, like many others before her, was seduced by dreams of an “easy life” in Europe. Back in Armenia, they didn’t tell her about the realities that they’d face once they had arrived.
Not knowing the language and having no substantive basis for traveling to France, I wondered how the two of them ever managed to obtain the necessary entry documents for these are quite difficult to come by. Not wishing to name names, Karineh, in all honesty, merely said that several people had intervened in the process that finally was successfully concluded. These were the people with the all important “stamps”. Once negotiations were conducted, the all important papers followed in quick succession. In the end, they had no trouble at all getting their visas from the Italian embassy.
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Also without a roof over their heads are Sargis Ghazaryan and his family. Mr. Ghazaryan came to France with his wife and four kids this year. Their story is the same. Sargis sold the house and paid 5,200 Euros for each visa. They too got their visas from the Italian Embassy – hassle free. The “document dealer” is a person from Yerevan who for years has been forging fake documents and shuttling people to France by way of the Italian Embassy. […]
When this article appears they will have already spent all the money they brought with them and are preparing to go back to Armenia. But they too don’t have a house to come home to. Mr. Ghazaryan made a point of noting that when he gets back he’ll be settling some scores with the “document dealer” and that he’ll be demanding his money back. “I’ve been conned, and I’ve lost my house in the process,” he says.
These people chose to leave Armenia. No one forced them to go at gunpoint or by blackmail. They had homes and most likely possess some sort of talent with which they could eke out a living in Armenia, although not prestigious perhaps.
Despite whatever good intentions they have and naïve ones at that, they made the clear conscious decision to sell their homes and leave whatever possessions they had behind, to move to a country where they didn’t know the language and didn’t have any clue about what they were up against. The worst thing you can do is to move to a country where you have no contacts and no support base. These “victims” were simply foolish to believe that they would have everything handed to them on a silver platter by the French government once they had arrived there.
The unidentified man who was able to secure visas for these and countless other families is simply a businessman, nothing more. He gave advice to people about how to play the system, and they didn’t follow it because they didn’t want to falsely identify themselves as Turks or Azeris. But what difference would that have made after having taken such risks, what were they trying to prove? It didn’t make sense, as were their illogical decisions to sell their homes, their only capital.
I think that if you really want to work you can find a job in Armenia. It’s only refugees who are really down on their luck from what I have personally seen. Unless you are too proud to work as a laborer or a cleaner, there’s always something to do, no matter how much people complain about a lack of opportunities or whatever other nonsense. Basically if you are educated and have papers to prove that you are a citizen, you can manage, especially if you have a roof over your head that you own which most Armenians do, thanks to the Soviet experience. The work may not be glamorous or well paying (few jobs in Armenia are) but it would be a means of making a living.
These people thought they were taking the easy way out, and they were downright foolish for believing so. I don’t consider them as being victims of a scam, and I can’t feel sorry for them.
“a means of making a living”? Are you kidding me? I am a Canadian citizen living in Armenia, and trust me, it’s not easy working and living here. You say “if you really want to work you can find a job in Armenia,” but you neglect to mention the insecurity of the job, whether you will get paid on time or at all. Most places expect you to work for free from one week to several months, and then decide whether they want to “hire” you. The meagre income you make barely covers your expenses and you can forget about affording to eat out at a restaurant or any such luxuries we take for granted in the West. I appreciate your point of view and though I might agree that most aren’t starving, it’s only because of outside money and/or friends and family supporting you here, that most can get by. But try saving up for an appliance or having to make large, but necessary, purchases…. other than barely covering your basic expenses (and sometimes not even that), a job doesn’t guarantee you “a means of making a living” — at least not in my experience in Armenia.
Point taken, but employment exists. There are plenty of ways to make money if you are not a pensioner as I explained. And your claim that “Most places expect you to work for free” is completely false (unless you agree to work as a volunteer), I don’t know where you are getting that information. True, some people get paid later than they should and that is unacceptable, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t making enough to get by. And yes, some are more privileged than others, and polarization is surely increasing. But If you possess the know-how and put it to use, or are willing to swallow your pride and do something that is perhaps “beneath” your capabilities, you can manage. I am convinced of that.
I agree the fact that most Yerevanx-es have too much pride to work as u say “beneath” there capabilities, just because you have a college degree in physics does not mean you are not capable of bring money home by doing minimum wage jobs. I for one when in college even after graduating from college worked in restaurants and hospitals washing dishes or cleaning floors just to pay the bills. if you want to work there is plenty of work in Yerevan, u might not get paid much but it bits standing on streets for hours and breaking semechka “kotch” or spin cigarette boxes on cafe tables….