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One family’s terrifying journey to Austria

After years of waiting and hoping the civil war in Syria would come to an end, Saad and his wife Oula finally decided to leave their home in Damascus and travel to Austria, where Oula’s brother has lived and worked for the past 11 years.

Published: 10 September 2015 12:14 CEST

One family's terrifying journey to Austria

Saad and Oula in their new home. Photo: R Waites

They spoke to The Local about their arduous and often terrifying journey, with their eight-year-old son, Saad’s 78-year-old grandmother, his aunt and her four children.

Now safe in the small town of Göllersdorf in Lower Austria, Saad smiles as he gestures towards a pink garden fence and invites me in. “This is our home, sweet home,” he says. After 18 days in the overcrowded and “hellish” refugee reception centre in Traiskirchen, the family are grateful to have been given a place to live by the Diakonie charity, whilst they wait for their asylum claim to be processed.

Saad, a tall and striking 34-year-old, is an actor and stand-up comedian. His wife Oula was an assistant director in Syria, but made a film which was critical of the hijab worn by some Muslim women and was threatened by government officials. Many of their family members had already spoken out against the Syrian regime and had to seek asylum abroad after it became impossible for them to work in Syria.

Their lively son Ram, who also speaks English, just celebrated his ninth birthday and has started school in Austria. “We didn’t want to leave Syria, we wanted to be able to live somewhere where we could both pursue our chosen careers – but that was becoming impossible,” Oula told me.

Their decision to leave their home was sparked by one dreadful night during which more than 120 mortar bombs exploded in their neighbourhood. They lived at the top of an apartment building and it felt increasingly dangerous. “We had no water, no electricity, the city was fading away, dying before our eyes,” Saad said.

After getting in touch with friends who had already fled Syria they got a contact number for a man in Istanbul who could help smuggle them to a port in Turkey, where they planned to take a boat to Greece. They sold everything they had, including their car and clothes, to fund the trip – which ended up costing a total of around €60,000, Saad estimates.

'They see bags of dollars'

“We didn’t want to travel in one of those dinghy boats to Greece – we knew that would be too dangerous. So we spoke to a man who showed us a video of a tourist yacht that he promised we would be smuggled in,” he said. However, they quickly learnt that “all the people smugglers are liars. When they look at us, they don’t see people, they see bags of dollars.”

They travelled through Turkey in the back of small van which had capacity for 13 people but was carrying 25. “There were no windows and hardly any air and we drove on small, winding mountain tracks that were really footpaths – avoiding any checkpoints. The driver was driving so dangerously it was as if he was on drugs,” Saad recalls.

When they arrived at the port in Turkey, the ‘yacht’ turned out to be a large fishing boat, and they were crammed in the hold along with around 100 others. “We couldn’t stand up, we couldn’t move,” Oula recalls. “There was no air and soon everyone was vomiting.”

A Syrian fisherman captained the boat, and Saad believes he is part of a Syrian mafia making money from people who are fleeing the country. The crossing took seven hours, and towards the end it became rough and water started to come below deck.

“Everyone was praying to their various gods. The captain got so scared he ended up calling his brother who called the Greek coastguard – who came and rescued us. They took us to Rhodes. The coastguard told us later that the captain of the boat had actually planned to just dump us on an uninhabited Greek island,” Saad said.

'We decided to walk to Austria'

In Rhodes it took the family four days to organise fake ID’s – easily available from criminal gangs – and get papers which would allow them to stay in Greece for six months. But when they got to Athens and tried to buy a flight to Vienna a policeman recognised that their ID’s were fake. “He basically laughed at us and told us to go back to Syria,” Saad said. “So we decided we would walk to Austria instead.”

Along the way fellow travellers would pass out contacts for people smugglers who were driving people some of the way – for a price – and Saad would buy a SIM card in each country they passed through and contact a smuggler to come and pick them up.

“We were lucky, we had some money, other people didn’t. We met one man who had walked for three days non-stop. His feet were so beaten up that he begged a Red Cross team in Syria to take him to prison so that he could get medical treatment and food”.

Their son, Ram, kept their spirits up. “We had to pretend everything was OK, for his sake, but also he was always the one leading us as we walked, telling us that he wanted to have an adventure,” Oula said.

When they finally reached the Hungarian border, after more than a month after leaving Damascus, it cost a further €150 for each of them to cross the border. “A Serbian man drove us part of the way – then we crossed the border on foot – and he picked us up in Austria, to avoid being caught by the Hungarian police,” Saad recalls.

Saad’s mother (who now lives in Sweden) had called the family to warn them against travelling in the back of transporter vans, which she had heard was dangerous as you risk suffocating. So they always chose the more expensive option – a taxi or small van.

When they arrived on the outskirts of Vienna the driver suddenly stopped and told them to get out. “That was so mean of him. We had no idea where we were and we were exhausted. He even dropped us 20 metres from a police station!” Saad remembers.

After getting their bearings they called Oula’s brother to tell him they had finally arrived and found a taxi to take them to his flat, where they were finally able to shower and rest.

Conditions at Traiskirchen were shocking. Photo: ORF

Once they had registered with the authorities and told them they were seeking asylum they were sent to Traiskirchen reception centre. “We spent our first night there sleeping outside on the ground, it was cold and windy. It didn’t feel like we were safe – there were massive fights going on between different groups of people. We couldn’t use the toilets or showers because they were so filthy – it was almost worse than being in Syria!” Saad said.

After 18 days in Traiskirchen, during which time they purchased a tent to sleep in, they were able to speak to the Diakonie charity who found them a home.

“People here have been so generous and welcoming,” Oula said tearfully. “They have lent us bikes and invited us around to lunch. I’m so grateful and I just hope that we’ll be able to stay and work here and give back to society at some point”.

Europe's new EES passport checks: Your questions answered

Two big changes are coming for travel in and out of the EU and Schengen zone – EES and ETIAS.

You can find an overview HERE on what they mean, but broadly EES is an enhanced passport check at the border including biometric information while ETIAS is a visa waiver required for tourists making short visits.

Despite being scheduled to begin later this year, many aspects of how EES will actually work on the ground are still unclear – while much of the available information is for people who are travelling as tourists (rather than foreigners living in an EU or Schengen zone country).

So we asked readers of The Local to send us your questions.

Here we take a look at some of the most commonly asked questions – including the situation for dual-nationals, for non-EU citizens resident in Europe, for second-home owners and the situation at the UK-France border.

Some answers are still unclear – either because they have not yet been finalised or because the available information is not very specific. Where we have had to answer “we don’t know”, we will continue to badger the European Commission plus national and port authorities on your behalf. We will update this article when we know more.

When is this coming into effect?

Good question. Believe it or not, discussions on the Entry & Exit System began in 2011. At that time the UK was part of the EU and was reportedly enthusiastic about EES. Things changed and now the border between France and the UK – an external EU border since Brexit – is a major worry. More on that below.

Anyway, it’s been a long term project and the start dates have been postponed multiple times, first because of Covid and then because infrastructure was not ready. The most recent postponement came at the request of France, which wanted to get the Paris Olympics over with before any border changes were made.

The EU now says that the start date for EES is the “second half of 2024” – UK media have reported October 6th as a possible start date while European airports have reportedly told to be ready by November. Meanwhile the French interior ministry says that the start is envisaged “between the final part of 2024 and the beginning of 2025”.

We’ll see.

Who does it affect?

EES is aimed at non-EU travellers who are a crossing an EU/Schengen external border.

EU citizens will not have to complete EES registration.

Neither will non-EU citizens who have residency in an EU or Schengen zone country – they will need to produce proof of residency such as a residency permit or long-stay visa.

Neither will non-EU residents who have a valid short-stay visa for a country in the EU. This could include second-home owners who have obtained a short-stay (under six months) visa in order to allow them unlimited visits to their holiday home.

However citizens from countries which do not benefit from the 90-day rule and who therefore need a visa even for short visits (eg Indians) will have to complete EES registration.

It does not apply when travelling between Schengen zone countries (more on that below).

Where does it apply?

EES is about external EU/Schengen borders, so does not apply if you are travelling within the Schengen zone – eg taking the train from France to Germany or flying from Spain to Sweden.

Ireland and Cyprus, despite being in the EU, are not in the Schengen zone so will not be using EES, they will continue to stamp passports manually.

Norway, Switzerland and Iceland – countries that are in the Schengen zone but not in the EU – will be using EES.

The full list of countries using EES is: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, and Switzerland.

Therefore a journey between any of the countries listed above will not be covered by EES.

However a journey in or out of any of those countries from a country not listed above will be covered by EES.

What is EES pre-registration?

You’ll soon be hearing a lot about EES “pre-registration”. EES itself is basically an enhanced passport check – travellers will need to register their biometric details (fingerprints and facial scans) to enhance the security of passport checks.

Automated passport checks will also start to calculate how long you have been in the EU, and therefore automatically detect over-stayers (eg people who have over-stayed their visa or who have over-stayed their 90-day allowance). EES does not change any of the rules regarding length of stay, it just toughens up enforcement of them.

The first time that you cross an external Schengen border you will need to register additional details including fingerprints and a facial scan, and have them electronically linked to your passport. This takes place in a special zone at the airport/port/station that is your departure point.

Once you have completed the pre-registration, you then proceed to passport scanning.

The pre-registration only needs to be done once and then lasts for three years. Those three years renew every time you cross an external border, so regular travellers shouldn’t need to renew it until they get a new passport – at which point the pre-registration must be done again.

Does pre-registration have to be done at the airport/port/station? Can’t I do it on a website or app?

Advance registration is what many travel operators, especially in the UK, are calling for. They say that getting everyone to complete pre-registration in person on site will cause chaos.

However, the EU at the moment seems to be sticking to the original idea of in-person registration. There are a number of practical problems with trying to pre-register fingerprints, but a solution could yet be found.

What can I do now?

Many of our readers want to get organised now and register their details in advance to avoid border delays. Unfortunately this is not possible and at the moment all you can do is wait until the system comes into effect. Frustrating, we know.

What about dual nationals?

People who have dual nationality of an EU and non-EU nation (eg British and Irish passports or American and Italian passports) will not be required to complete EES checks if they are travelling on their EU passport.

If, however, they are travelling on their non-EU passport they would need to complete EES registration.

EES does not change any of the rules relating to dual nationality or to travelling as a dual national – full details HERE.

What’s the situation for non-EU citizens resident in the EU/Schengen area?

The European Commission is clear about one point: EES does not apply to people who have residency in an EU country. This is because a major part of EES is catching over-stayers – which of course does not apply to people who are resident here.

What the Commission is a lot less clear about is how this will work in practice.

Most airports/port/stations have two queues: EU passports and non-EU passports. It’s not clear which queue non-EU citizens resident in the EU should use, how they can avoid automated passport checks entirely and use a manned booth (so that they can show both a passport and proof of residency) or even whether manned booths will be available at all departure points.

What if I live in the EU but I don’t have a visa/residency permit?

For most non-EU citizens, having either a visa or a residency permit is obligatory in order to be legally resident.

However, there is one exception: UK citizens who were legally resident in the EU prior to the end of the Brexit transition period and who live in one of the “declaratory” countries where getting a post-Brexit residency card was optional, rather than compulsory. Declaratory countries include Germany and Italy.

Although it is legal for people in this situation to live in those countries without a residency permit, authorities already advise people to get one in order to avoid confusion/hassle/delays at the border. Although EES does not change any rules relating to residency or travel, it seems likely that it will be more hassle to travel without a residency card than it is now.

Our advice? Things are going to be chaotic enough, getting a residency permit seems likely to save you a considerable amount of hassle.

How does this affect the 90-day rule?

Citizens of certain non-EU countries – including the UK, US, Canada, New Zealand and Australia – are entitled to spend up to 90 days in every 180 in the EU without the need for a visa.

EES does not change this rule, so all the current regulations and restrictions continue to apply.

READ ALSO: How does the 90-day rule work?

What EES does change is the enforcement of the rule – at present non-EU nationals have their passports manually stamped on entry and exit, and border guards use these stamps to calculate whether people are sticking to their 90-day allowance.

It’s a bit of a hit-and-miss system, passports don’t always get stamped when they should, sometimes border guards misread the stamps and sometimes passports get stamped in error. EES should solve all of these problems by using an electronic scan of the passport and automatically calculating the 90-day allowance.

It will make it much harder for people to over-stay (indeed, this is one of its stated aims) but for people sticking to the rules it should actually be easier and more efficient. Should. If it works as advertised, that is…

What’s the deal for second-home owners?

For non-EU citizens who own property in the EU, it all depends on whether they have a visa or limit their visits to 90 days in every 180, as described above.

People who use the 90-day allowance will be subject to EES and use the system in the same way as short-stay tourists.

People who have a visa are exempt and need to show their visa at the border. As described in the “non-EU residents in the EU” section, however, it’s far from clear how this will actually work in practice at the border.

Why is the UK-France border such a problem?

As discussed above, EES will apply to all EU/Schengen external borders, but the biggest fears so far are about the UK-France border.

So is this just the Brits whining about the easily foreseeable consequences of Brexit? Actually no, there are genuine reasons why this border is likely to be a problem, mostly relating to volume of traffic and infrastructure.

Although it is true that EES wouldn’t have affected the UK-France border if it hadn’t been for Brexit, the current reasons for the worries are more practical.

Put simply, the UK-France border is one of the busiest EU external borders that there is, with around 60 million people crossing per year. Of those travellers, around 70 percent are UK citizens, meaning they will have to complete EES formalities.

Add to that the limitations of space: several UK destination points, including the Port of Dover and Eurostar’s London St Pancras terminal, are already in cramped areas with very little expansion room, meaning that creating the new infrastructure to deal with EES checks is very difficult.

For context, the newly completed EES pre-registration area at Coquelles (Calais) covers 7,000 square metres, in order to accommodate up to 60 passenger vehicles simultaneously.

The final factor is the Le Touquet agreement – the 2003 bilateral agreement between France and the UK means that passport checks for people entering France are done on UK soil, and vice versa. This creates a unique situation where people travelling from Eurostar Gare du Nord or St Pancras, the ports of Dover or Calais or the Channel Tunnel terminals of Folkestone and Coquelles go through two sets of passport checks on departure, and none on arrival.

READ ALSO: What is the Le Touquet agreement?

The double passport checks mean that delays at one area can have severe knock-on effects.

Since Brexit, the Port of Dover has reported long delays at several peak times such as the start of the school holidays while Eurostar has been forced to cut the number of trains it runs per day.

EES implementation problems won’t be limited to the UK-France border, but the volume of people crossing the border means that even slight delays to one system can easily lead to hours-long queues.

What about Nato staff or people with diplomatic passports?

People who have a special status such as diplomatic passports will not have to complete pre-registration. However, as with other exempt groups such as non-EU residents of the EU or visa holders, it is unclear how this will actually work on the ground and which passport queue they should join.

Will I need an extra visa to enter the EU as a tourist?

EES does not change anything with regards to visas – in essence all the current visa rules stay the same, only the enforcement changes.

However there is another change coming down the track – ETIAS, which will affect non-EU citizens entering the EU as tourists or visitors.

You can find an overview of how it works HERE, but one thing we do know is that it won’t be introduced until after EES is up and running and (hopefully) most of the problems ironed out.

One unholy mess at a time.

Will it really be an unholy mess?

The European Commission says: “The main advantage of the EES is saving time. The EES replaces passport stamping and automates border control procedures, making travelling to European countries using the EES more efficient for the traveller.”

Hmm.

As outlined above, there could be infrastructure problems at several departure points, there is as yet little clarity on certain import details and of course all new systems take time to bed in.

After the first year of operation things are likely to get smoother – by this time most regular travellers will have already completed the pre-registration and will therefore by able to move straight into getting their passport scanned, leaving only new travellers to complete the pre-registration formalities.

That first year, however, looks like it could be a little chaotic at certain borders, especially the UK-France one, at peak travel times such as the start of school holidays.

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