Transnational Marriages: War, Peace and Love

The UAE, particularly Dubai, has long been known as a melting pot of the world's cultures. Hundreds of nationalities live harmoniously among the towering skyscrapers and palm trees growing in the desert. Among the country's population, transnational marriages have become a staple of romance, with families from different corners of the world coming together to form colourful blends of their traditions.

However, within the kaleidoscopic unions, spouses often face discrepancies in their ability to move freely and settle down worldwide. Different nationalities receive different treatment by the legal and migration systems and the travel industry. Depending on political ties and national security policies, nationality-based distinctions in the context of leisurely travel and immigration vary — and each presents a range of challenges for global citizens.

Polish citizen and resident of the UAE, Izabella Smolinska, met her husband in Egypt while studying Arabic. Smolinska's husband is of Egyptian origin and possesses an Arab Republic of Egypt (ARE) passport. Though the couple initially made a conscious decision to keep their original citizenship upon marrying, Smolinska at one point applied for and successfully acquired an Egyptian passport, having lived in Egypt for some time: "Having two different citizenships has had some negative aspects, like having to apply for a Polish visa for my husband if we want to visit Poland together. I often felt insecure and restricted in some laws in Egypt, like property ownership, and an Egyptian passport was supposed to be useful."

She similarly plans to obtain Polish citizenship for her husband. "Yes, it's easier to have the same citizenship for many procedures, documents, travelling, etc. It is much less of a hassle; document issuing, no need for sworn translations, and fewer costs. It is also easier to follow one legal system regarding different legal issues", she explains.

In the case of war and conflict, spouses of different origin may experience added difficulty while attempting to obtain the status of a political refugee or may be forced to make heart-breaking choices and say goodbye at the border. On February 24, 2022, Russia invaded Ukraine. The long-lasting fear shared by citizens of Ukraine and several nations in the Western World had been realised following eight long years of conflict. The invasion provoked an immediate reaction, the quickest since World War II, by countries within the European Union. Ukraine's neighbouring countries received refugees fleeing the war-torn country. According to the United Nations, as of April 22, Poland alone welcomed more Ukrainian refugees than all the contributing countries combined — around 2,884,764 Ukrainian refugees out of a global total of 5,163,686 displaced Ukrainians, while the International Organisation for Immigration (IOM) claims more than 6.5 million still remain in the country.

Today, at least 82.4 million people worldwide are believed by the United Nations Refugee Agency to have left their homes. Among the staggering number of displaced individuals, nearly 25.6 million identify as refugees. Though, not everyone is treated the same.

The Polish NGO, the Notes from Poland Foundation, brings attention to the double standards within refugee policies. In Poland, a long-time resident of Ukraine who does not have a Ukrainian passport is not entitled to use public transportation for free, unlike their neighbours with Ukrainian citizenship. White mothers and children are also more likely to receive offers for free transport across the border into Poland, while people of colour are stuck for prolonged periods of time. Such was the case in the town of Młyny when a large group of refugees from Syria, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, and India, were abandoned for days at one of the town's reception centres near the Ukrainian border.

"As a mixed couple, we have both seen many international issues from a broader perspective. As a Polish citizen married to an Egyptian citizen, I feel what such cases may mean. Yet, dual citizenship has its issues in all countries, and we have faced biased treatment perhaps much more in Egypt towards me and my rights than in Poland", comments Smolinska, adding that "now, as Poland is in the EU and Schengen zone, things are more difficult for people from outside this circle. There are very strict border rules as we face thousands of economic immigrants trying to reach Poland and the EU. Most of them are not political refugees. In the sudden shock of war and the Russian invasion, Poland did what the best neighbour would do. We have opened our borders to the Ukrainian civilians escaping the disastrous danger."

Ellina Zhyzhyna, who is originally Russian, acquired a Ukrainian passport through the right to citizenship by birth. Currently residing in Dubai, UAE, Zhyzhyna lives with her Egyptian husband, who carries the ARE passport. Though she did not experience any doubts or fears regarding the different citizenships, she was not particularly impressed with this fact either. However, despite the bureaucratic challenges, such as the additional time and expenses required to acquire certain documents, they have yet to consider applying for the same spousal citizenship.

As a Ukrainian citizen, having witnessed the double standards within migration policies for refugees, Zhyzhyna attributes the discrimination to the underdevelopment of the registration and data entry procedures, even for Ukrainians themselves. Building on the case of foreign birth certificates, she explains: "It is simply impossible to specify information about such a document when applying for material assistance for a newborn since the software, and the persons who created the fields for the electronic application, did not take into account the fact that birth certificates can be issued not only on the territory of Ukraine".

The state automatically grants the newborn children of Ukrainian citizens assistance. A prerequisite for this is the child's registration and the subsequent submission of birth certificate data through the official website of the Social Security Service at the parents' place of residence. However, children born outside Ukraine are issued a foreign-style birth certificate, and such a certificate has completely different serial numbers, unlike a document issued within Ukrainian borders. "This seemingly small nuance (which is just a shortcoming of programmers) completely deprived all the children of citizens of Ukraine who were born abroad of the opportunity to receive financial assistance from the state, which is required by law", she adds.

Being a mother herself, to a child born abroad and into a transnational family, Zhyzhyna empathises with anyone currently facing a similar circumstance: "It is for this absurd reason that I also could not use my right to this type of benefit from the state when giving birth to a child outside the territory of Ukraine. After the end of the war, the Social Security Service should reorganise its activities in detail to eliminate all such shortcomings, because of which ordinary citizens of Ukraine cannot use their legal right to receive any kind of material assistance promised to them by law."

Another resident of the UAE, Russian citizen Elena Nikolai El Khouri, reminisces about the early days of marriage to her Lebanese husband: "We didn't have any doubts. We knew we could face resistance from both of our families. However, when they met us, they were thrilled!"

As recent times have pointed towards the importance of family security through citizenship, the El Khouri family plans to ensure they share the same documents in the near future, having already begun planning the process with their lawyer. "We actually have some problems. Only when it comes to visas for the same foreign countries, we may have different stay permits, and the visa process takes a different amount of time for each. Travelling to visit our parents always requires a visa for the second part of the family," she shares, however clarifying that the emotional impact of such challenges is very minimal.

Regarding the decision to explore the option of same-citizenship for the family, El Khouri believes "it is important but not imperative for family members to share one citizenship. It does simplify travelling, legal ownership of properties, and legal paper works." El Khouri and her husband have shared countless conversations on this matter, aiming to determine the necessary steps to optimise their experience travelling as a family. "First, we made a decision that we are going to travel together and if a country refuses to give me a visa, or to my husband or son because of a conflict or political reasons, my family will change plans for more friendly countries", she says.

However, they arranged to be more proactive in recent years and allow themselves a wider choice. Hence, El Khouri is now applying to receive a Lebanese passport, like her husband and son. Despite their efforts, the family firmly stands with their belief: "We still strongly believe a visa refusal for individuals specifically as a family is the definition of discrimination and a violation of human rights. Families should be considered as a unit."

In the same way transnational marriages may be riddled with challenges, they can present a turbulent journey in the case of divorce, and the ex-spouses must consider many variables. Their nationalities, the country in which they were married, the country in which they wish to divorce, and whether they share children or assets all have a deciding factor in the final outcome. "People who tend to claim that they divorced only because they had different passports and faced difficulties because of documents are people who are deceitful and do not reveal the true picture of things — such as misunderstandings in the family, lack of trust, inability to compromise and so on", comments Ellina Zhyzhyna on the matter. "The passport and citizenship are just an object that people sometimes point out as the reason for the breakup of their family. But in reality, the reason is not the passport [as an object], but the psychological discrepancy of the spouses."

In every journey, there are mountains to climb and oceans to cross, but there are often blossoming fields of flowers and happy memories made along the way. Despite the arduous nature of uniting amidst ever-changing political ties, policies, and global conflicts, the world's transnational families present an inspiring effort toward harmony between the nations and cultures of the world.