Friend got arrested and will probably lose his visa. How can I help?
December 17, 2018 2:36 AM Subscribe
A friend of mine got swept up in what looks like an international political disagreement. He is currently under arrest, completely incommunicado, awaiting further outcomes. Thankfully he has as of just now been able to receive consular services. Bail, due process... ideas like that sadly won't apply in this case and this is not about how we can get him out.
This is a question about what we can do to help him back on his feet once he is released.
We are running a (discreet) collection of funds among friends. (We are concerned about also getting in trouble if we do this publicly online because we are all active in the same area.) Online petitions are not on the table for us at the moment and are very unlikely to achieve anything in this case. So what else can we do?
From our understanding there is a good chance he will lose his visa and be expelled from the country of residence simply because that's what often happens in such cases here. This means he will lose his small business. His income will be gone and given that being wildly profitable was never his priority he will be in a cash crunch, a bad emotional situation and probably expected to uproot himself immediately. It doesn't help that he has a history of depression anyway.
*I'm admittedly fishing for ideas here. I am keeping this a bit vague because there is already enough trouble and I don't want my words to further cause problems. If you guessed what case this is about I kindly ask that you not write names/etc that will help google connect the dots.*
We are running a (discreet) collection of funds among friends. (We are concerned about also getting in trouble if we do this publicly online because we are all active in the same area.) Online petitions are not on the table for us at the moment and are very unlikely to achieve anything in this case. So what else can we do?
From our understanding there is a good chance he will lose his visa and be expelled from the country of residence simply because that's what often happens in such cases here. This means he will lose his small business. His income will be gone and given that being wildly profitable was never his priority he will be in a cash crunch, a bad emotional situation and probably expected to uproot himself immediately. It doesn't help that he has a history of depression anyway.
*I'm admittedly fishing for ideas here. I am keeping this a bit vague because there is already enough trouble and I don't want my words to further cause problems. If you guessed what case this is about I kindly ask that you not write names/etc that will help google connect the dots.*
I would suggest reposting this anomyously and removing your location from your profile.
It will likely benefit him most to arrange community at his destination. If you get an idea of where and when, having a plan of somewhere for him to go, a frieldly face and other resources will be immensely helpful.
posted by AlexiaSky at 6:11 AM on December 17, 2018 [4 favorites]
It will likely benefit him most to arrange community at his destination. If you get an idea of where and when, having a plan of somewhere for him to go, a frieldly face and other resources will be immensely helpful.
posted by AlexiaSky at 6:11 AM on December 17, 2018 [4 favorites]
Best answer: Krautland, I’m really sorry to hear that. I’ve had several friends who have experienced something similar in what I believe to be the same place. One major logistical hurdle that many have experienced is getting important and or valuable items home, and selling / giving away / otherwise disposing of the rest, as in many cases they are not released before deportation. It could be worth thinking about that now - if you have the chance to see your friend before they are deported, this would be a worthwhile dicussion, and it would be helpful to get keys etc. Otherwise, once they’re home, they’ll need to tell you who you can talk to for access to their home and business. What needs to be shipped (by sea is slow but normally quite cheap), what can be taken back in the luggage of other friends who live in the same country, what needs to be sold - does their business have stock, does it have equipment, what happens to all of those things? Can they sell the business as a going concern? If so, can you or another friend handle the sale? How will they get money in their accounts home? This is another one where trusted friends could possibly help - as getting funds out of the country is difficult, is there any way that you can send him funds from international accounts in exchange for his money where you are? (That way you both get a better exchange rate, too). You could deal with this at the same time as providing your friend with the funds raised, dealing with all the financial stuff at once.
How will you communicate with your friend? Perhaps it’s paranoid, but if your friend has been arrested for political reasons, I wouldn’t use the typical method where you are, as it’s quite highly monitored. I would suggest whatsapp via a good VPN - do you already have his phone number, email address etc? When I left the country, I often found that I didn’t have the phone numbers of close friends. And finally, I agree with AlexiaSky - do you know any of his friends and family back home? Can you contact them and begin contingency planning, so that he has a safe landing at home, somewhere to stay, people to help him reintegrate? This is probably also helpful for friends and family there - if they are very worried about him, it will be good for them to hear that he has friends where you are that are worried about him, supporting him, etc. Does he have a romantic partner where you are? Do they need support? Your friend may be quite worried about them, it will be good to hear that his friends are taking care of his loved ones.
Finally, I’d consider this a lesson to you and your friends where you are. This can happen to anyone at any time, for a wide variety of stupid and arbitrary reasons. Do you have contigency planning in place? Do you have a go-bag ready in case stuff starts to look weird and you want to get the next flight out? Do you have people with spare keys, etc? What would you do if this happened to you tomorrow?
posted by chappell, ambrose at 8:18 AM on December 17, 2018 [9 favorites]
How will you communicate with your friend? Perhaps it’s paranoid, but if your friend has been arrested for political reasons, I wouldn’t use the typical method where you are, as it’s quite highly monitored. I would suggest whatsapp via a good VPN - do you already have his phone number, email address etc? When I left the country, I often found that I didn’t have the phone numbers of close friends. And finally, I agree with AlexiaSky - do you know any of his friends and family back home? Can you contact them and begin contingency planning, so that he has a safe landing at home, somewhere to stay, people to help him reintegrate? This is probably also helpful for friends and family there - if they are very worried about him, it will be good for them to hear that he has friends where you are that are worried about him, supporting him, etc. Does he have a romantic partner where you are? Do they need support? Your friend may be quite worried about them, it will be good to hear that his friends are taking care of his loved ones.
Finally, I’d consider this a lesson to you and your friends where you are. This can happen to anyone at any time, for a wide variety of stupid and arbitrary reasons. Do you have contigency planning in place? Do you have a go-bag ready in case stuff starts to look weird and you want to get the next flight out? Do you have people with spare keys, etc? What would you do if this happened to you tomorrow?
posted by chappell, ambrose at 8:18 AM on December 17, 2018 [9 favorites]
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posted by Mistress at 3:36 AM on December 17, 2018