When the Masood family returned to Pakistan for a family visit in 2020, they had no idea that this would be the last time they would feel the sea breeze of Odessa.
“We could not return to Ukraine when my daughter first came to Pakistan after her birth,” her mother Kokab Ali told the Kyiv Post.
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Although the Masood family has a permanent residence in Ukraine and their daughter is a Ukrainian citizen since she was born in Odessa, she could not return to her adopted homeland because she needed visas to enter neighboring countries due to the lack of direct flights to Ukraine.
This attempt resulted in a series of visa rejections and visa frauds, which caused the family great financial loss.
“We were already in a crisis, but we wanted to do everything possible to return. Unfortunately, it was a fraudulent consulate that was stealing money under the guise of Moldovan transit visas for Ukraine,” Kokab said. The scammers demanded 900 euros ($989) from them – including from their daughter, who as a Ukrainian citizen does not need a Moldovan visa.
“We have been living permanently in Ukraine for many years. Our daughter is a Ukrainian citizen. Why do we not have the opportunity to go to another country if we are stuck here with our daughter?” she said.
We have no answers to your innocent questions.
Masood family in Ukraine
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Ali Masood, the head of the family, came to Ukraine in 2004 and received a permanent residence permit in 2008, the family told the Kyiv Post.
Ali worked in a bazaar seven kilometers from Odessa and regularly visited Pakistan, where he married his wife Kokab in 2012. A year later, she came to Ukraine to reunite with Ali and gave birth to their daughter Ifza Mariam Masood in 2014. Kokab received her permanent residence permit in Ukraine in 2015.
“We lived in Odessa and had a satisfactory life. My husband worked at a bazaar seven kilometers from Odessa. My daughter received her preschool education in a private kindergarten in Odessa (IQ School) and attended an English course at the same institute,” Kokab told the 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 don’t go back to our house in Odessa. Why don’t I go to my IQ school? And what is war?
“We have no answers to their innocent questions,” Kokab said.
Return to Pakistan and visa fraud
The family returned to Pakistan in late 2020 to visit Ifza’s grandparents – Ifza’s first trip to Pakistan since her birth.
“So we came to Pakistan and decided to stay for some time and return to Ukraine at the end of 2021. But in the meantime there was news of a war, so we thought we would stay a little longer until all threat of war was over, but unfortunately it was war,” Kokab said.
Like many people in Ukraine, the Masood family believed that the war would be over in one way or another in the next few days or months and decided to stay at home for the time being. But as the war, now in its third year, raged on, their savings dwindled.
“We have a job, an apartment and our daughter’s school (in Ukraine). (But) in this whole situation, we have used up all (our) savings because of our long stay,” she recalls.
She said the family had tried to apply for visas in various countries, including Bulgaria, Moldova and even Canada, for Ifza’s better future, but all to no avail.
“We tried to get a transit visa at the Moldovan consulate in Pakistan (in the city of Lahore). They charged us 253,000 Pakistani rupees (almost 900 euros) for a transit visa and also asked for money for our daughter, who is Ukrainian and does not need a transit visa, but we gave them this large amount.
“Unfortunately, it was a consular fraudster who stole money under the guise of Moldovan transit visas for Ukraine,” she said.
How can we send our little daughter to anyone?
More visa rejections
“In August 2023, we then applied in Bulgaria and wanted to stay there for some time until the war in Ukraine was over. We told them that we needed a visa for humanitarian reasons because there was a war in Ukraine and Pakistan was a third world country and we did not have enough opportunities here for our beloved daughter.
“We want better education for them, we want better living conditions for them, we want to improve their physical and mental health because she is worried about the whole situation that we are stranded in Pakistan and cannot return because of the war,” Kokab said.
“But unfortunately, the Bulgarian embassy rejected our visa application on the grounds that we did not have a work permit and charged us visa fees.”
The Masood family filed an appeal in October 2023 with the help of an NGO called Foundation for Access to Rights (FAR), but the court ultimately dismissed the appeal.
Kokab added that the family also applied for a visa to Canada in 2022, but was notified of the rejection a year later on the grounds that they were not in Ukraine at the time of the large-scale invasion.
However, according to her, the Canadian offered them the opportunity to send Ifza to Canada because she was a Ukrainian citizen, an idea that stunned her.
“How can we send our little daughter to anyone?” said Kokab.
Appeal to return home
After three and a half years of trying in vain to return to Ukraine, Kokab is now asking the authorities and NGOs for help.
“Our goal is only the well-being of our daughter, a better education and a better future like we gave her in Ukraine… She is a child, so her parents must accompany her. She is a Ukrainian citizen, so please do not deprive her and her close family members of their rights,” she said.
In addition to calls to ensure Ifza’s well-being and future, Kokab also professed her love for Odessa in correspondence with the Kyiv Post and translated one of her poems about the city from Urdu into English:
“The sound of the wind is a beautiful feeling
Which can be found in the window of the house
Or on the majestic beaches of your…
Odessa!!!
I have woven beautiful words for you
When are you going to write me a letter?”
