Dear Hessen Landtag Petition
Office,
Last July I was forced to file a petition on behalf of my wife with you at the
Hessen Landtag as my wife had been unfairly denied a Spousal Visa by the
Integrations office in Wiesbaden
using a one-size-fits-all visa calculus for me as the husband. (I had
already paid in February for my wife's German classes at the VHS and had hoped
she would be well-integrated into my bilingual church in the Lorelei Ring by
now.) I asked for full remonstration by key officials in Hessen, i.e.
"crying foul" at the current system.
click here
Alas, despite your offices assurance that the case of my wife, Maria Victoria
M. Baradero of the Philippines (formerly of Kuwait from 2002 till 2009), would
be investigated & would be done so without unfair (one-size-fits-all
or), i.e. blind-leading-blind analyses, under the Auspices of the Interior
Ministry, the German Embassy in Kuwait, and the Wiesbaden Integrationamt,
NOTHING HAS CHANGED.
I have received no clear confirmation that the evaluation has been taking place
fairly over the past months.
In short, until now, my wife's visa application has not been properly reviewed
in a justifiable or understandable manner--even though I have continued to
provide much more paper than asked for since July at the Wiesbaden Integration
Office. (I will be happy to forward all key documents to the proper office.
Today I have written the following lines in German on a blog and expect some
response. (I have tried again to write in my own poor German and reveal
how the current one-size-fits all visa policy is inadequate. The current
evaluation system will not help Hessen, Germany nor Wiesbaden determine well who is able to integrate
and who will not likely integrate. The current system has no way to even
unite families let alone improve the quality of life for Germany, for
me, or my family.) Here is what I wrote today:
click here
Als ich das Buch, ZWEIHEIMISCH: Bikulturell Leben in Deutschland (Band 579
BPB,2006), gelesen habe, merkte ich auf Seiten 53-54 das folgende Zitat.
http://www.socialnet.de/rezensionen/4483.php
"Wie in der Bundesrepublik Deutschland, wurden auch in der DDR Arbeitskraefte angeworben: Waehrend mehr als 2,7 Millionen Menschen, die in den Jahren zwischen 1949 und bis zum Mauerrbau 1961 von der DDR in die Bundesrepublik Deutschland uebergesiedelt waren, den stetig steigenden Bedarf an Arbeitskraeften in Westen noch deckten, wurden danach Anwerbevertraege mit suedeuropaischen Staaten abgeschlossen. Arbeitnehmer wurden so offiziell im Ausland rekrutiert.
Der naechste Teil des Zitates hat mir dennoch erstmals klargemacht, dass mein jetziges Visum in Hessen (nehmlich in dem Bundesrepublikdeutschlands) in 2009, bsw. mein Visum und meine Arbeitserlaubnis hier in Hessen zu arbeiten, ein Visum und die Arbeitserlaubnis, die man in der DDR um Jahr 1985 als Auslaender normaleweise bekommen hatte.
Damals, in den 80er Jahren, "[d]ie Arbeitsmigration in die DDR hingegen wurde totgeschwiegen oder als Ausbildungswanderung bezeichnet. 1989 lebten noch 190000 Auslaender in der DDR, die meisten davon stammten aus befreundeten sozialistischen Laendern, wie etwa 59000 Arbeitskraefte aus Vietnam und 15000 aus Mosambik. Diese Arbeitskraefte uebten, aehnlich wie die so genannten ˜Gastarbeiter' in der Bundesrepublik , in der Regel Arbeiten aus, die von den Einheimischen wenig geschaetzt wurden. Probleme entstanden vor allem dann, wenn sie Buergerinnen und Buerger der DDR heiraten wollten: Die Arbeiter kamen auf der Basis zwischenstaatlicher Vereinbarungen in die DDR. Sie wurden im Rotationsprinzip in den Betrieben eingesetzt und erhielten nur kurzfristige Vertraege. In der Regel waren sie fuer diese Zeit an einen einzigen Betrieb gebunden. In den staatlichen Vereinbarungen war geregelt, welches Gehalt die Beschaeftigten erhielten und welcher Anteil davon an die Herkunftsstaaten abgefuehrt werden musste. Nach Ablauf der Vertraege hatten sie in ihr Heimatland zurueckzukehren. Familienzusammenfuehrung war in der Migrationsregelung der DDR nicht vorgesehen. Die dort lebenden Auslaender hatten ein niedriges gesellschaftliches Ansehen und weder politische noch gewerkschaftliche Einflussmoeglichkeiten. Oeffentliche Diskussionenen ueber die Lebens- und Arbeitsbedingungen dieser Beschaeftigten gab es in der DDR nicht. Offizielle Dokumente, Vertraege und Vereinbarungen wurden bis zur Wende unter Verschluss gehalten.
Hier sind eine von den Aehnlichkeiten fuer mich und meine philipinische Braut, die bis jetzt keinen Einreise genehmigung erhalten hat, obwohl ich seit 4, Januar 2009 in Hessen eingereist bin:
Meine Firme wurde im Januar, Februar, und Maerz 2009 von dem Integrationsamt oder Arbeitsvisumbeamtern mehrmals Unter drueckt gesetzt, um beiden mein Arbeitsvertrag (Angeboten) sowie den Antrag meines Visums zuaendern.
Am Ende Maerz 2009 hatte ich von dem Wiesbaden Integrationsamt ein extreme-eingeschraenkte Visum erhhalten, aehnlich wie was man als Auslaender in der DDRzeit der 80er Jahren erhalten.
Teils wegen dieses sehr eingeschraenkte Visum hatte das Wiesbadener Integrationsamt das Ehevisa fuer meine Frau am Ende Junis 2009 abgelehnt.
Obwohl ich mich sehr angestrengt habe, bis jetzt (Oktober 2009) dieses eingeschraenkten Visum nur Teils veraendern koennen.
Meine Frau ist immer noch nicht hier. Ich habe kaum Glaube mehr, dass im Februar oder Maerz 2010 das Wiesbadener Integrationsamt mein jetzige Visum verlaengern wird.
Im Kurzen ist es etwa deutlich, dass das jetzigen BRD Visum-System fuer Auslaender ist nun im 2009 der DDR system zu aehnlich, in dem viele Visums zu sehr Eingeschraenkt sind.
Finally, it is important to make the whole case more personable. I will
introduce you and the Integration Office, who have never asked to know anything
about my wife's skills or personality since April 2009, to my lovely wife, Maria
Victoria M. Baradero.
click here
ALLOW ME TO INTRODUCE YOU A BIT MORE TO VICTORIA
http://the-teacher.blogspot.com/2009/09/reamonn-maria-victoria-and-imore-than.html
My lovely wife, Maria Victoria M. Baradero, is currently in Port Barton on the beautiful island of Palawan. We had bought a piece of land there in Port Barton last August 2009.
Vik (Victoria) sent me an SMS yesterday stating that we have already received the building permit for the lot and 1000 cement blocks have arrived. In short, despite the rain and flooding in the Philippines this month, progress has begun on our new home in Palawan. (Thanks, Maria, for overseeing all of that "while I am so far away.)
http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palawan
Besides overseeing the construction of our new home in the Philippines, Victoria has many other talents and skills. For one, she can concentrate very well. For example, in July during our honeymoon, she picked up the game of billiards very fast and within a few hours of playing was beating me at the game regularly, i.e. immediately after my showing her how to score and shoot.
http://www.performance-media.com/concen.php
Similarly, on that same trip, Victoria learned how to kayak in minutes at El Nido, even though she had never even rowed a boat before. (I can't wait till she can come to Germany and row "or kayak "on the RhineRiver with some of my friends.)
http://www.k-state.edu/counseling/topics/career/concentr.html
Concentration skills take training, and Victoria's ability to concentrate at will outdoes me (and my attention deficit). This skill has also enabled Vik to learn more languages than me over her lifetime. For example, she speaks four or five languages indigenous to the Philippines plus English and Arabic. This is why I have been very confident that Vik could move to Germany and learn the language and culture here fairly quickly. (My "or our "church here is bilingual.)
http://www.performanceprime.com/performance-focusing_on_concentration.php
(Maria) Victoria left her home and family in Palawan to move to NegrosIsland when she was 16. Later, she was able to begin studying at university in Bacolod there. Vik could not have afforded to study by herself in those days, so was sponsored by her Aunt Antonia, who is a catholic nun on that same island. In turn, for obtaining more financial support (and for receiving the sponsorship for college from her aunt), Maria agreed to live at a special home for aging Catholic workers, where her 80-year old uncle, a priest, also named Antonio, was living out his last years with Alzheimer's and other aging ailments.
http://www.bacolodcity.gov.ph/bacolod_city.htm
In short, while Maria Victoria was studying full-time to finish her BA degree in Commerce on Negros Island, my wife was working much of her days as a major caregiver for an aged priest suffering with Alzheimer's "quite the responsibility for one in their early 20s, eh?
It is likely that this difficult experience during her college years empowered my wife to boldly go abroad twice in the 1990s to work for three years, first in the UAE and later in Lebanon, as a nanny and as maid for an Arab family.
http://the-teacher.blogspot.com/2009/09/2009-reasearch-demonstrates-that.html
Thinking about this skill to care for others "whether adults or children "was one why I was pretty sure that Germany would like to consider having my wife consider come to Germany.
http://www.saipantribune.com/newsstory.aspx?newsID=90320&cat=21
Germany is and will be short-handed in terms of care-givers to the elderly for decade upon decade to come. Maria Victoria is also a good disciplinarian with kids and she could potentially volunteer to work with kids as well in Germany, such as in Sunday school or in other oversight situations. (I know this because Victoria worked teaching kids in our church in Kuwait on-and-off for the past 4 years, i.e. before she was forced by the delays of the German Innenministerium and the German Embassy to return to the Philippines in July of this year, i.e. in order to await for the Integration Office in Wiesbaden to reconsider our visa appeal for Victoria". Something that has still not occurred to-date.)
http://www.biomedcentral.com/1472-6955/7/15
Similarly, I think the USA needs care givers, too. I recently applied for a visa there for my wife there, too. (Since I am American, hopefully this visa will take less than a year.)
http://www.caregiving.org/data/youngcaregivers.pdf
To make a long story short, I am proud of my wife, Maria Victoria (Vik) and find her to be hard-working, able to concentrate well, and able to handle peoples of all ages "all of who have quite different needs.
Moreover, she is fun, lovable and has a lot of energy. (I am glad we have so much in common J .
I hope to introduce you personally to her soon.
http://eslkevin.wordpress.com/2009/09/14/will-the-landestag-in-hessen-let-justice-ring/
For more on Maria Victoria and my saga, see the notes section of this writing.
Finally, I will point out that not only were an aunt (nun) and uncle (priest) of Victoria's named Antonia or Antonio but her father (my Tatay in Filipino) is Antonio as her only surviving brother (nicknamed Ton-Ton).
My second name is Antonio or Anthony, too. Thanks mom and dad for giving me this second name. I think it helped seal Vik and my future together. ; )
Yours,
Kevin Anthony Stoda
Oranienstr. 62
65185 Wiesbaden
