It doesn’t open any doors, yet it costs a fortune. The country has been at war for the past eight years, and more than a third of the total population has fled. But more than anywhere in the world, the Syrian passport represents a precious asset. Without it, it is difficult to imagine a future abroad or to have access to certain jobs. While the Syrian Arab Republic’s travel document is one of the worst in the world, ranking 196th out of 199, for several years it has been at the heart of a trafficking network set up by Bashar al-Assad’s regime. In a report published early February, the Syrian Network for Human Rights (SNHR), a NGO close to the opposition, accuses the Syrian government of using passports to "finance its war" and “humiliate the opposition”. It mainly highlights recent violations against Syrian citizens seeking to obtain or renew their travel documents. Ever since the insurgency started in 2011 and up until 2015, all passport applicants had to obtain prior approval from the security services, an unthinkable option for all those involved in any way with anti-Assad movements and protests. Consequently, a black market controlled by pro-Assad militias, with the indirect blessing of the regime, emerged. At that point, a passport could cost up to $ 5,000. The profits went to mafia networks led by warlords and caused tensions with official security apparatus.

In April 2015, the government issued a decree allowing all citizens, without discrimination, whether in Syria or abroad, to apply for and obtain this precious passport. This law was followed by a second amendment two years later determining consular procedures. For Damascus, it was a way to take back this public service and reap its benefits. Severely lacking from the Syrian treasury, the American dollar is the only currency used in the process. In addition to the financial advantages, controlling passports became a very real way to pressure Syrians living abroad as well to create a database of expatriates.

But getting a passport outside the areas controlled by the regime remains a grueling process. There are still trafficking networks operating with passports, and Syrian refugees find it extremely difficult to obtain official documents through their consulates. The SNHR report underlined how, depending on the political agenda of a particular country, the passport request will be managed. For example, the Syrian consulate in Geneva makes it easy, while Syrian refugees in Turkey (a less well-off country that is largely anti-Assad) are humiliated on a daily basis and face extortion.

“Little black booklet”

In Istanbul, an unofficial network that supposedly helps with procedures at the Syrian consulate in exchange for money has been set up, with the knowledge of local diplomats, the SNHR claims. "To get an appointment directly via the consulate's website is a joke", says Fadi *, 36, contacted by L'Orient-Le Jour by phone. This former teacher describes the humiliating and ruinous process that allowed him to obtain his "little black notebook" in 2018. Forced to use the services of a mediation office which, for 350 dollars, was supposed to get him an appointment, he ended up paying 725 dollars, nearly 10 times his salary while living in Syria. "I arrived an hour before my appointment thinking naively that I would be the only one, but there were already a hundred people at the entrance”, he recalls. He waited five hours in the street, one more in the lobby, for a chance to get "the worst and most expensive passport in the world”, he says jokingly. But when an employee told him that he could only get it three months later, on a specific date, he was in shock. "It was like a stab in the heart to know I had to go through all that again, pay bribes and wait for many hours”, he says. After three unsuccessful attempts, he finally got it on the fourth try, and for fifty additional dollars. "It's inevitable. When dealing with the government, you get extorted or humiliated”. Fadi was lucky. Because he lived in Istanbul, he did not have to pay for transportation and accommodation, unlike his compatriots from Gaziantep or the Hatay province.

Two thousand, two hundred dollars. That’s how much Wael* and an officer in Damascus agreed on last year over the phone. A refugee in Turkey, near the Syrian border since 2015, the young man was hoping to acquire the official document to legalize his professional situation. "Without a passport, there is no way I can sign a legal employment contract”, the 27-year-old architect from Aleppo University told OLJ on Whatsapp. In order to pay the fee, he was forced to work at a factory. "The army officer kept telling me that he had mouths to feed, and that it was the immigration and passport office workers who were getting most that money anyway”, he says. After sending the necessary paperwork for the application, the corrupt officer disappeared without even collecting a deposit. "I did not want to go through the consulate in Istanbul for three reasons: I did not know any trustworthy mediation office, I had no guarantee that I would be given the passport after paying, and my schedule did not allow me to go there”, Wael explains.

Fees and bribes

Assaad went the opposite way. A journalist living in Idlib, now a stronghold of jihadist group Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), he briefly traveled to Istanbul in February 2018 to apply for a passport renewal. In addition to consular fees and bribes, Assaad had to pay an agency 400 dollars to have his passport brought to him from Turkey. After a year of waiting, the document ended up costing him a total of 1,300 dollars. "It was impossible for me to go to the areas controlled by the regime because I would have been arrested immediately”, he says.

In Syria itself, the process can be even harder. In regime-controlled areas, filling in paperwork after disappearing from the governmental radar can be extremely dangerous. The SNHR has recorded at least 1,249 cases of arrest, among them eight children, between March 2011 and January 2019. All were people applying for papers in immigration and passport offices, in several governorates. A member of the opposition must renew his or her papers every two years, as opposed to the normal six. All men between the ages of 17 and 50 must prove that they have served in the army, or that they are exempt from military service. On the other hand, loyalists have it a lot easier. "I was able to renew my passport in five hours in Latakia for about forty dollars, including tips”, says Sami*, a resident of the regime-controlled area.

"For a piece of paper"

For all those who live in areas held by the opposition and cannot afford a passport, an alternative solution exists. For 150 dollars, Amir* ordered a fake passport, that he hopes to receive in a matter of days, from a counterfeiter in Jarjanaz, near Maaret al-Nouman. "Diplomas, ID, passports ... he can do anything, and he is expensive. He's a friend, so he gave me a discount”, says Amir. The forger’s office is also a mediation office for all those who cannot go to regime-controlled areas. "These services, however, are way overpriced. A lot of government employees must be bribed. The regime knows what’s going on but it also suits him”, says the young man. Amir hopes to go to Turkey very soon, using his real-fake passport, to propose to a girl. "She has plenty of suitors and I do not want to lose her," he says. He knows the risk of getting arrested is high. But illegal passage is even more dangerous. A photographer friend of his was shot dead by the Turkish police last April near the Bab al-Hawa border crossing, in a final and desperate attempt to rebuild his life in Turkey. So Amir is planning to pull a few strings to cross the border safely. "All this suffering, for what? For a piece of paper”, he concludes.

* Names have been changed for security reasons.

(This article was originally published in French in L'Orient-Le Jour on the 7th of February )