NYU Abu Dhabi is a unique experiment in global education. We study at a university that prides itself on being the most diverse in the world, and are located in an equally diverse country. But our experiences in the UAE are only the foundation of a truly global experience that enables us to branch out into the world. This is achieved through a combination of study away semesters, January Terms and funding for research and internships in various countries.

Or at least, that is how it all sounds on paper.

In reality, your national identity and the passport you carry play a huge role in determining the kind of experiences you can have at NYUAD. At best, having a ‘weak’ passport translates into the stress associated with longer wait times for visa processing and the undignified experience of secondary screening at airports. At worst, you may be denied the very opportunities that NYUAD’s global education program prides itself on.

A blog written by researcher-artist Bathsheba Okwenje and published by the London School of Economics identifies an “emotional tax” for travellers with ‘weak’ passports. That emotional tax is probably familiar to many of us at NYUAD. It manifests itself in the panic of making sure you have all your documents, or in the indignity of the grilling you undergo at every visa interview as you try to justify your travels. Sometimes, even all the power of the “New York University” name isn’t enough to get you through the door, and you’re left struggling to hastily reorder the direction of your academic pursuits. That is when the emotional tax exacts the greatest toll.

As the LSE blog points out, you often have to strike a balance between your ambitions and the realities of the global visa regime. Those of us who have had to choose our internships based on whether or not the employer offers a work sponsorship — rather than on whether they are a good fit — are all too familiar with that. Factoring in the difficulty of getting a visa is part of the process of selecting a study away site and J-Term classes. Every year, some of my favourite J-Terms have regional trips to India, a country where getting a visa is near impossible for Pakistanis like me. Alas, these courses are to be left for my peers with better passports.

The single biggest consequence of this system is the inequality of opportunity it leads to. When the number of jobs, internships or academic opportunities you can apply to are limited in comparison to your peers, you are at a significant disadvantage. Employers regularly refuse candidates because of the trouble of securing work sponsorships. Similarly, it is not feasible for an Egyptian to carry out capstone research in Germany, for example, in the same way that it would be for someone who is from the U.S. The combined financial and emotional costs of the visa process, along with the uncertainty of actually securing a visa, are an obstacle many struggle to overcome. Ultimately, your passport is a massive factor in determining how many doors open for you. In this competitive world, the playing field is not level.

To be clear, none of this is the fault of NYUAD. The university has to constantly struggle with these issues as much as students do and often works tirelessly to resolve them. Ultimately, these issues are a reflection of an unequal global visa regime that categorizes individuals as ‘desirable’ and ‘undesirable’ based on the passport they hold. If you are from the United States, you are desirable. If you are from Palestine, you are undesirable, even if you are a student at one of the world’s foremost academic institutions. Sometimes, visa difficulties are the consequence of two countries having poor relations with each other, such as in the case of India and Pakistan. But often, they are just symptomatic of the racism, stereotyping and sense of superiority that defines the relationship between ‘developed’ and ‘developing’ countries and between the so-called ‘West’ and ‘East.’

As the developed world tries to shut the rest out, it is important to highlight that many of the reasons why citizens of a particular country may be undesirable are influenced by historical patterns of oppression at the hands of these ‘developed’ countries. Inequalities in the visa regime are designed to reproduce the historical division between the superior ‘West’ and inferior ‘East.’ They do so by ensuring that even those of us who have been deemed worthy of a place in the hallowed academic halls and office spaces of the ‘West’ are put in our place.

In a climate where you regularly feel like you have to justify your presence, it is easy to start believing that you don’t deserve the same opportunities as your peers. It is precisely then that it is important to recall why these inequalities persist, and the historical circumstances they originate from. More crucially, it is important to remember that you are worthy of the opportunities you may be denied because of the nationality on your passport.