When the Masood family returned to Pakistan for a family visit in 2020, little did they know that that would be the last time they would feel the seaside breeze of Odesa.
“We couldn’t go back to Ukraine, [when] my daughter came to Pakistan for the first time after her birth,” Kokab Ali, her mother, told Kyiv Post.
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Despite having permanent residence in Ukraine and their daughter being a Ukrainian citizen having been born in Odesa, the need to obtain visas to neighboring countries due to the lack of direct flights to Ukraine has prevented the Masood family from returning to their adopted home.
In attempting to do so, there followed a series of visa rejections, and visa scams that incurred a hefty financial loss on the family.
“We were already in crisis, but we [wanted] to do everything possible to go back, unfortunately it was [a] fraudulent consulate who was looting money in the name of Moldovan transit visa to Ukraine,” said Kokab, who said the fraudsters demanded €900 ($989) from them – including their daughter, who doesn’t need a Moldovan visa being a Ukrainian citizen.
“We have been permanent residents of Ukraine for many years. Our daughter is a Ukrainian citizen. Why is there no opportunity for us to go to any country if we are stuck here with our daughter?” she said.
We don’t have any answers to her innocent questions.
Masood family in Ukraine
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Ali Masood, the family’s patriarch, arrived in Ukraine in 2004 and obtained his permanent residence in 2008, the family told Kyiv Post.
Ali worked at a bazaar seven kilometers from Odesa and made frequent visits back to Pakistan, where he married his wife Kokab in 2012. A year later, she came to Ukraine to reunite with Ali and later gave birth to their daughter, Ifza Mariam Masood, in 2014. Kokab obtained her permanent residency in Ukraine in 2015.
“We were living in Odesa and leading a satisfactory life. My husband was working in a bazaar seven kilometers from Odesa. My daughter got her early education from a private kindergarten in Odesa (IQ school), and she did an English language course from the same institute,” Kokab told Kyiv Post, adding that she also got a job at the same school.
Kokab shared photos of Ifza from the IQ School, as well as certificates issued by the institution.
“She always asks why we are not going back to our house in Odesa. Why am I not going to my IQ school? And what is war?
“We don’t have any answers to her innocent questions,” said Kokab.
Return to Pakistan and visa scams
The family returned to Pakistan in late 2020 to visit Ifza’s grandparents – the first trip to Pakistan for Ifza since her birth.
“So, we came to Pakistan and decided to stay for some time and return to Ukraine in late 2021. But meanwhile, there was news of war, so we thought to stay a bit longer until all the possibilities of war vanished, but unfortunately it was war,” said Kokab.
Like many in Ukraine at the time, the Masood family believed the war would be over in days or months, one way or another, and they decided to stay put for the time being – but as the war raged on now marching on its third year, their savings dwindled.
“We have a workplace, residence, and our daughter’s school [in Ukraine]. [But] in all this situation, due to staying for a long time, we finished all [our] savings,” she recalled.
She said the family has tried applying for visas to different countries, including Bulgaria, Moldova, and even Canada, for Ifza’s better future, but all to no avail.
“We tried [to get] a transit visa in the Moldovan consulate in Pakistan (in the city of Lahore). They charged us 253,000 Pakistani rupees (almost €900) for a transit visa, and they demanded money for our daughter too who is Ukrainian and doesn’t need any transit visa, but we gave them this heavy amount.
“Unfortunately, it was [a] fraud consulate who was looting money in the name of Moldovan transit visa to Ukraine,” she said.
How can we send our little daughter to anybody?
More visa rejections
“Then in August 2023 we applied in Bulgaria [and] intended to stay there for some time until [the] war is [over] in Ukraine, we told them that we [needed visas] on [a] humanitarian basis, as there is a war in Ukraine, and Pakistan is a third-world country, [and] we don’t have enough opportunities for our beloved daughter here.
“We want better education for her, we want better livelihood for her, we want her better physical and mental health as she is worried about all this situation, that we are stranded in Pakistan and couldn’t go back due to war,” Kokab said.
“But unfortunately, the Bulgarian embassy rejected our visa application with the main point that we don’t have [a] work permit and got visa fees from us.”
The Masood family filed an appeal in October 2023 with help from an NGO called the Foundation for Access to Rights (FAR), but the court ultimately rejected it.
Kokab added that the family also applied for a Canadian visa in 2022, but they were informed of the rejection a year later on the basis that they weren’t present in Ukraine at the time of the full-scale invasion.
But according to her, the Canadian offered the possibility for them to send Ifza to Canada as she’s a Ukrainian citizen, a notion that baffled her.
“How can we send our little daughter to anybody?” said Kokab.
Appeal to return home
After three and half years of attempts to return to Ukraine to no avail, Kokab now calls for help from authorities and NGOs.
“Our purpose is only for our daughter’s wellbeing, better education and better future like we were giving her in Ukraine … She is a kid so parents must accompany her. She is [a] Ukrainian citizen, [so please] don’t deprive her and [her] close family members [of] their rights,” she said.
Apart from calls to ensure Ifza’s wellbeing and future, Kokab also professed her love for Odesa in correspondence with Kyiv Post and translated one of her poems about the city in Urdu to English:
“The noise of the wind is a beautiful feeling
Which can be found in the window of the house
Or on the majestic beaches of you ...
Odesa!!!
I have woven beautiful words for you
When will you write a letter for me?”
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