Yesterday, while randomly browsing the Internet I came across this site which apparently let you find out if you need a visa or not to enter Italy. The country where the applicant has citizenship as well as the place of residence were set to Japan by default. The browsers these days are pretty intelligent, you know.
It looked like this.
It seems that the Japanese does not need a visa to just visit, or do business in Italy. Cool. All's fine. But just out of curiosity, I entered "Sri Lanka" instead of Japan for the "Citizen of" column.
:O
So now, even to set foot on Italy, you need a visa if you're a Sri Lankan. Meaning, you are treated differently just for being a Sri Lankan.
Ain't that discrimination?
I even looked up Wiki for the definition of discrimination. It says,
So, is this not a form of discrimination? Or is it just my car, my petrol thing?
Just a thought...
It looked like this.
It seems that the Japanese does not need a visa to just visit, or do business in Italy. Cool. All's fine. But just out of curiosity, I entered "Sri Lanka" instead of Japan for the "Citizen of" column.
:O
So now, even to set foot on Italy, you need a visa if you're a Sri Lankan. Meaning, you are treated differently just for being a Sri Lankan.
Ain't that discrimination?
I even looked up Wiki for the definition of discrimination. It says,
Discrimination toward or against a person of a certain group is the treatment or consideration based on class or category rather than individual merit. It can be behavior promoting a certain group (e.g. affirmative action), or it can be negative behavior directed against a certain group (e.g. redlining).Fits the bill pretty well, isn't it?
So, is this not a form of discrimination? Or is it just my car, my petrol thing?
Just a thought...
Posts
Well the thing is, our previous immigrant friends (illegal ones) have kind of ruined it for us in terms of entering the country. Since the officials probably think we'll never leave it. Much the same way in every single other place in the world except Maldives, Singapore and Dubai. Sad sad state of affairs. Our passport is useless!
ReplyDeleteI think you'll find that most/all subcontinental Asians and Africans require visas to travel pretty much anywhere. Rine is right, it's because of the illegal immigrant issue - they think we're gonna get 'lost in the system'. My father was once refused a visa for Canada (despite having a secure job in the UK) because of his passport.
ReplyDeleteI believe we've no one to blame but ourselves.
what's the site?
ReplyDelete@Rine & PR
ReplyDeleteYeah more or less that is the case. And even here when I see some of the things they do - the people who stay illegally - it really puts me into shame.
@TSC
Let me find out...
Here it is:
ReplyDeletehttp://italy.visahq.com/requirements/Japan/
Agree with you on “technically it is discrimination” and the comments.
ReplyDeletePost 1983, we were down-graded by the Commonwealth Countries due to the plane-loads of Tamil immigrants arriving in Canada, UK and Australia etc. Things were just fine before that.
See, another bad, side-effect of the civil war..!
@SI
ReplyDeleteI beg to differ on this. Yes the Tamil immigrants too contributed to this somewhat, but as I see it it's not just them. The Sinhalese and Muslim abroda too have contributed their fair share to this. For example, it is somewhat difficult for us to obtain a credit card from banks here in Japan. Back then, some time ago I've been told that it was pretty easy to get one with a credit limit with even 300,000 or even more. But then, our good old lankans have spent those money pretty generously and have returned to SL without paying them. So now we're all fucked beause of our history. It's not just Tamils.