Selda Shamloo is taking the Home Office to court. Her mother, who’s Iranian, has been repeatedly denied a simple tourist visa to visit her. This is life on an ostracized passport.

For many of us, our passport is a symbol of our wanderlust, a badge of our freedom. It’s been gathering dust for the past year and we can’t wait to get it out. But if you’re Iranian or from any other country at the bottom of the passport power rankings, pandemic or not, it won’t get you anywhere. The Passport Index ranks Iran 193rd, ahead of just Yemen, Pakistan, Somalia, Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan. Only four countries let Iranians in without visas at the moment, and those who require them, often simply don’t grant them. For ordinary families caught in the politics, it can mean years of anguish and administrative complications simply to spend a few days together. Shirin Shamloo hasn’t been allowed to set foot in the UK, where her daughter is a citizen, since 2007. And she can’t see why. 

00:00 Intro

01:36 A Tehran childhood

05:22 Leaving Iran and becoming British

09:37 A father’s visit to London

13:09 How to become a Borderline member

14:10 The first visa rejection

18:45 Reapply at your own risk

21:06 Taking the Home Office to court

29:50 The emotional impact of family separation

34:13 "Going back to Iran would be a second immigration" 

36:26 "A lot more people can understand my story now."

👀 Read the full transcript at borderlinepod.com
🎧 Related episode: Colin Yeo on the UK’s hostile environment policy
🎶 Music by Ofshane