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the saga continues, but a resolution, finally, looks possible
I started this as a letter to a friend, saying "So, you enjoy stories, and I feel the need to type one, to organize my thoughts/feelings…"
Once upon a time, a year ago August, to be specific, I went to the Kalottspel folk music festival in Målsev, Norway, with a bunch of other folk dancers and musicians from Luleå. I met many delightful people there, but one of them truly stood out from the crowd. Elnaz, a sweet Iranian girl with beautiful long black curly hair and a smile that truly lights up her eyes.
She was in Norway as an Erasmus Masters student, doing a degree in Dance Anthropology, with the thesis topic “Ungdoms dans i Norge”. As a result, she was working at the event, documenting the whole event on film, and interviewing all of the young people present about their dance experience. She and I hit it off and spent many hours talking and dancing together, and have, of course kept in touch.
As an Erasmus student she moved every few months to a new country to continue her studies at another university, so after she finished up in Norway she went to France, and then to London. We have kept in touch, of course, through text messages and video calls. In November, when she was still in France, she had a few extra stressful weeks while Iran cut off internet contact with the outside world while the government was trying to shut down some major political unrest, and Elnaz was very worried on behalf of her friends and family at home. Needless to say, during this period her progress on her studies suffered immensely.
By the time she was transferred to London this spring she was getting her normal energy back and had resumed progress on her thesis and may even have managed to finish up enough to graduate on time this summer. Enter a global pandemic, and the total closure of all UK universities by the government!
Due to the combinations of problems, her supervisors granted her a one-year extension to complete her degree, and I suggested that she come spend that year living with me here in Sweden, where she would be able to focus on her studies and recovering from a difficult (emotionally speaking) winter and spring. She hadn’t been able to find anyplace to do her required internship for her degree, since every group that does dance has had to cancel their activities this year, so I asked Luleå Hembydgsgille, with whom I do Swedish Folk dance, if she could do it as a volunteer with us. We could do a dance exchange, wherein she teaches us Persian dances, and other forms of dance that she has learned during her travels and from her fellow Erasmus students, and we could teach her Swedish Folk Dance. In addition, she could help out with our big summer Spelmansstämman.
As a result, during week 30 we sent in an application to Migrationsverket, with a letter from me on their official form for inviting a person to come stay for longer than 90 days, and a letter from Luleå Hembygdsgille inviting her to do her internship with us (and describing what it would entail), and a letter from her teacher explaining why that internship would be perfect for Elnaz’s degree, plus everything else we could think of to encourage them to say yes.
Then we waited. We knew that normal wait time just now is two months, so we waited more.
Then she got a letter from them asking a bunch of questions of her, so she replied (on 8 September). On the same day I filled out their web-form asking them if there is any further information they would like from me that would help speed the process of getting a “yes” so that she can come stay with me as soon as possible, and that I would love to have her here “redan imorgon”.
However, after I filled in the form I got an automatic reply saying that one could check the status of the case on their web page, so I entered in the number and got a note saying that a decision has already been made, and that if the case is for someone who is currently outside of Sweden then the decision has been sent to the embassy where the application has been made. She had looked at that page earlier in the day, and at that time there was no decision showing.
So, she called her contact at the embassy, who looked and said that there appears to be some sort of mistake and he would look into it, and we waited. Eventually I got a reply to my message, saying that a decision had been made on 8 September, and the reasons for that decision were sent to the applicant. Since she hadn’t received any messages with a decision or reasons, she contacted the embassy again, who said that they were still looking into it, and that something is weird in the system.
Today I tried calling Migrationsverket myself, and eventually reached a human, who said that the case had been closed because Elnaz had sent in an email withdrawing her application. I assured them that she hasn’t, and that we both still really want her to come stay with me, at which point I was given the name and direct phone number for the person who is handling the case. An hour or so later I was finally able to reach the case handler on the phone, who assures me that no decision has been reached, and, in fact, the case is sitting on her desk just now. She tells me that because of the pandemic she needs to speak with the Luleå Hembydgsgille before a decision is reached, and that she should be able to decide this week. So, I thanked her for her time, let Elnaz know, and mentioned to my friends in Luleå Hembydgsgille that they should expect a call from Migrationsverket soon.
Needless to say, this has been a bit of an emotional rollercoaster, but I am hopeful that things will work out, we will get a yes, and Elnaz will soon be here with me.
Once upon a time, a year ago August, to be specific, I went to the Kalottspel folk music festival in Målsev, Norway, with a bunch of other folk dancers and musicians from Luleå. I met many delightful people there, but one of them truly stood out from the crowd. Elnaz, a sweet Iranian girl with beautiful long black curly hair and a smile that truly lights up her eyes.
She was in Norway as an Erasmus Masters student, doing a degree in Dance Anthropology, with the thesis topic “Ungdoms dans i Norge”. As a result, she was working at the event, documenting the whole event on film, and interviewing all of the young people present about their dance experience. She and I hit it off and spent many hours talking and dancing together, and have, of course kept in touch.
As an Erasmus student she moved every few months to a new country to continue her studies at another university, so after she finished up in Norway she went to France, and then to London. We have kept in touch, of course, through text messages and video calls. In November, when she was still in France, she had a few extra stressful weeks while Iran cut off internet contact with the outside world while the government was trying to shut down some major political unrest, and Elnaz was very worried on behalf of her friends and family at home. Needless to say, during this period her progress on her studies suffered immensely.
By the time she was transferred to London this spring she was getting her normal energy back and had resumed progress on her thesis and may even have managed to finish up enough to graduate on time this summer. Enter a global pandemic, and the total closure of all UK universities by the government!
Due to the combinations of problems, her supervisors granted her a one-year extension to complete her degree, and I suggested that she come spend that year living with me here in Sweden, where she would be able to focus on her studies and recovering from a difficult (emotionally speaking) winter and spring. She hadn’t been able to find anyplace to do her required internship for her degree, since every group that does dance has had to cancel their activities this year, so I asked Luleå Hembydgsgille, with whom I do Swedish Folk dance, if she could do it as a volunteer with us. We could do a dance exchange, wherein she teaches us Persian dances, and other forms of dance that she has learned during her travels and from her fellow Erasmus students, and we could teach her Swedish Folk Dance. In addition, she could help out with our big summer Spelmansstämman.
As a result, during week 30 we sent in an application to Migrationsverket, with a letter from me on their official form for inviting a person to come stay for longer than 90 days, and a letter from Luleå Hembygdsgille inviting her to do her internship with us (and describing what it would entail), and a letter from her teacher explaining why that internship would be perfect for Elnaz’s degree, plus everything else we could think of to encourage them to say yes.
Then we waited. We knew that normal wait time just now is two months, so we waited more.
Then she got a letter from them asking a bunch of questions of her, so she replied (on 8 September). On the same day I filled out their web-form asking them if there is any further information they would like from me that would help speed the process of getting a “yes” so that she can come stay with me as soon as possible, and that I would love to have her here “redan imorgon”.
However, after I filled in the form I got an automatic reply saying that one could check the status of the case on their web page, so I entered in the number and got a note saying that a decision has already been made, and that if the case is for someone who is currently outside of Sweden then the decision has been sent to the embassy where the application has been made. She had looked at that page earlier in the day, and at that time there was no decision showing.
So, she called her contact at the embassy, who looked and said that there appears to be some sort of mistake and he would look into it, and we waited. Eventually I got a reply to my message, saying that a decision had been made on 8 September, and the reasons for that decision were sent to the applicant. Since she hadn’t received any messages with a decision or reasons, she contacted the embassy again, who said that they were still looking into it, and that something is weird in the system.
Today I tried calling Migrationsverket myself, and eventually reached a human, who said that the case had been closed because Elnaz had sent in an email withdrawing her application. I assured them that she hasn’t, and that we both still really want her to come stay with me, at which point I was given the name and direct phone number for the person who is handling the case. An hour or so later I was finally able to reach the case handler on the phone, who assures me that no decision has been reached, and, in fact, the case is sitting on her desk just now. She tells me that because of the pandemic she needs to speak with the Luleå Hembydgsgille before a decision is reached, and that she should be able to decide this week. So, I thanked her for her time, let Elnaz know, and mentioned to my friends in Luleå Hembydgsgille that they should expect a call from Migrationsverket soon.
Needless to say, this has been a bit of an emotional rollercoaster, but I am hopeful that things will work out, we will get a yes, and Elnaz will soon be here with me.
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