I remember that while applying to study at VŠE one of the things that they stressed was the importance of getting a student visa. I can say that my experience involved dealing with the burocracies of two countries, in a “process” that wasn’t always clear or coherent. I think the majority of us did the complete process and are here legally, but let me tell you all the story of a young person who came into this beautiful country in a completely unorthodox and hilarious way.
We were warned!
I remember that while applying to study at VŠE one of the things that they stressed was the importance of getting a student visa. I can say that my experience involved dealing with the burocracies of two countries, in a “process” that wasn’t always clear or coherent. I think the majority of us did the complete process and are here legally, but let me tell you all the story of a young person who came into this beautiful country in a completely unorthodox and hilarious way.
This is the tale of a non-European, who decides not only to study in Prague but to travel in the so called “Eastern Europe”. The part of Europe that before joining the most exclusive club in the world – the European Union, of course – still has heavy (or some) visa restrictions for travellers from some countries, and where dealing with the police is not recommendable. For our hero, there was a side solution to this: travel with two passports.
In a globalizing world double nationalities are as common as peas in a pot. This doesn’t represent big problems, due to the fact that many countries have recognized this situation for a considerable amount of time. But, while abroad, what nationality – using what passport – should one decide to travel with? The intriguing hero of this trial was conflicted by this situation. This young person studies in one country, and he used that nationality (from now on nationality A) to get to the student visa. But nationality A faces visa restrictions in some parts of Eastern Europe. While his other nationality (from now on nationality B) faces no such restrictions, but he doesn’t use this nationality to study in the first country.
For those of you who have studied game theory, the question of what passport to use can be seen as a 2×2 game. We can give numerical values to the nationalities. If we assume that the preference of this student is to travel above studying and that nationality B gives him this opportunity, we can say B is greater than A (B=2, A=1).
The basic result of this game—the rational equilibrium [*]—would be B,B (Travel in EE and enter the CR with tourist visa). The problem arises when our hero has to register at the police station. Once the traveller gets there the burocrat inquires: “Where are you staying?” Can our hero answer “Jarov”? Of course not, if he is in the country, staying for three months at the student dorms, then he is not a tourist. B,B turns up to a suboptimal solution! Our hero had to solve this situation by fleeing the country still using nationality B to a nearby EU member State and coming back to the Czech Republic using passport A, thus changing the equilibrium point of our game. The modified equilibrium [**] implies travelling with two passports. The irrationality of choice is thus demonstrated, and the illegality is “solved” by a journey and a double registration with the police.
