No Reason

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I am invited to participate at the GlobalVoices Summit ‘08 that will take place later this weeks in Budapest, Hungary. I already have the airplane tickets, hotel reservations and everything else set up. Today I called the Hungarian Embassy in Riyadh to inquire about my pending visa request. The Embassy told me that my visa request has been denied. When I asked about the reason(s), they simply said: “no reason.” Bummer. I was really looking forward to this event.

Thank you Usama bin Laden. Thank you terrorists. You not only managed to slander our reputation and make travel an extreme misery for the rest of us, but thanks to you I’m also not going to be able to attend Santana free concert next Saturday in Budapest Heroes’s Square.

36 thoughts on “No Reason”

  2. Osama says: you’re welcome !

    بصراحة ..
    أولاًً .. يحق لك تنقهر .. شيء يقهر ..
    ثانياً .. المفروض السفارة تعطيك سبب .. حتّى لو بالكذب .. يخفف عليك شويه ..

    خيرها بغيرها ..
    قلوبال ڤويسز السنة الجاية بيكون في الرياض بإذن الله :)

  4. Hey Ahmed,

    I am really sorry about this!

    What is good deserves patience and when you get it, it will be even better. Better take it as part of your fustration dealing training that you need to live, especially in you case.

    All the best. One day, we will cheer in Barcelona (no Marbella).

  6. It happened to my brother in December last year!. They gave no reason for rejecting the issuance of the visa.

    I believe you should contact our ministry of forign affairs. It does not make sense to reject such request without a reason!.

  7. I presume that you had a clear invitation letter, in Hungarian, from the organisers? You may also be able to get the organisers to contact the Hungarian Consulate in Riyadh directly. You’re not just ‘some bloke’ off to Budapest, you’re an official attenee and speaker at an event…

  8. Chris, an official invitation letter was provided with my visa request along all other required documents. Even if the organizers called, there is no way they would issue the visa in two days.

  10. But you can’t just assume that it was rejected because you’re Saudi or an Arab…I don’t know, I think you should try to know why exactly did they turn it down and how often does this happen

  12. sorrrrry Ahmed, I know what u feel right now .

    this is one of things , u can not deal with it .

    :(

  14. I’m so sorry for you, Ahmed, and I’m totally angry about the embassy. I was really looking forward to meet you in Budapest; but I’ll hope you’ll be able to attend more congresses and concerts in future. Still not seeing you is a terrible loss.

  15. I am really sorry to hear about this Ahmed, I’ll be in Budapest tomorrow, and I’ll do my best to contact some people there and try to get this f..cking visa for you

    you’re number four on our list of invitees who were refused a visa: one from Iran, one from Sudan, one from Philippines and you

    Le’ts keep in touch

  17. Man, I must’ve given you the evil eye! :P I was so excited over that concert…
    It is important that such things get written about. They should not pass in silence…

  18. http://www.arabnews.com/?page=1&section=0&article=59409&d=23&m=2&y=2005
    ”
    RIYADH, 23 February 2005 — The diplomatic tiff between Saudi Arabia and Hungary still rumbled yesterday with both nations making opposing statements on the reasons for the cancellation of the visit of Hungarian Parliament Speaker Katalin Szili, who was to have visited Riyadh from Feb. 19-22.

    According to a report by the German news agency Deutsche Presse-Agentur, Saudi Arabia has said that it will not receive Szili until Budapest officially apologizes for the nasty remarks made by Hungarian Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsany against the Saudi soccer players.
    ”
    The news says it all, and it is obvoius to get your visa cancelled.

  19. That’s really a shame. Who knows if it was a disgruntled embassy employee or someone who had instructions to deny you the visa for other reasons

  20. sorry to hear about that!
    here’s something you need to know though: dissapointment is part of our lives as Saudi citizens. It’s not something new, but it doesn’t seem that anyone can get used to it LOL
    and I agree about Usama ruining things for us. however, Usama is not alone in this. the closed minded idiots in our society who constitute the majority unfortunately had thier share of ruining our image as well.
    I really do hope that your problem gets solved. Don’t lose faith. It’s good to have a Saudi giving a positive representation of the open minded lot here.
    Best of wishes. I’ll pray for you ^__^

  21. oh my god? can they just throw you off like that? is that even ALLOWED? No reason? !!!

    oh god that sucks! I mean not giving you a visa sucks but on top of that for no reason!!

    I just don’t understand our country anymore :(

  23. Somethings still remains from the old system of Hungary I presume…This on the other hand may give you more presence as a rebel and enhance your blogging reputation…How about video conferencing through SKYPE or some other internet conference systems? that would suit the occasion more, don’t you think?

  24. The Hungarian embassy in Riyadh makes every thing difficult
    Even more difficult than the American embassy !!

    maybe because they don’t have that experience in dealing with people

    they might deny somebody for missing one paper

    any way …..

    when you go there just be in connect with me because I am living in Budapest

  25. “The Hungarian embassy in Riyadh makes every thing difficult
    Even more difficult than the American embassy !!

    maybe because they don’t have that experience in dealing with people

    they might deny somebody for missing one paper ”

    I agree..I know alot of people have been denied with no reason. My Cousin was lucky to be accepted after 2 months dealing with them.

  26. I can understand your disappointment. But on the other side, it can happen everywhere to everybody.

    The Saudi consulate in Istanbul does it all the time. They British in Dusseldorf does it, the Greek in Cologne, the American’s in Berlin did it.

    And they have to deny somebody for missing even only one single paper. And let me tell you, the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul denies your visa, when the requiered picture is looking a little bit different then you.

    And they don’t care, if you have a sponsor, if you have an interview or to sign a contract.

  27. It’s their loss, Ahmed – the conference won’t be as good without you.

    That said, I encourage you to seek an interview with their Consul to discuss the matter with him/her.

  29. Ahmed, since I’ve seen a very critical mentality in your writings, I’d assume you can see the bigger picture in the sense of:

    1. Yes, Bin Laden had his impact on all of us.

    2. No, it’s not “only” him who you should be blaming because if someone is stupid enough to work with the U.S. government and inflects pain on people regardless of their backgrounds (like what he did and what the American Government still does around the world), then those same terrorists should also be blamed as well!

    3. Didn’t it occur to you that what western countries are doing by basing one person/group of people’s violence on a whole population approximating 200,000,000 individuals is simply absurd and unreasonable in any mean?!

  30. I was in Budapest last month..I went by car from Austria and apparently when u travel within europe they dont check ur passport! So if ur really dying to go it wount hurt to go to a neighboring country and try ur luck by car. There were absolutly NO check points!!

  33. well have you considered the possibility of applying to another European embassy,since the schengen state convention you can go to hungary with a greek visa (greeke visas are easy))

  34. Yes, if u are desperate, take a detour. Get a Schengen visa and go to hungary. Simple. Didn’t it occur to you already?

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