I just imagine that he will return. This is shared by Juliana Pchelinska, whose family is divided due to administrative problems. Her husband Eduard Petrosyan lives 2,300 kilometers from home, and his daughter Kati, who is already 11 months old, has only seen him through the screen of her smartphone. The mother has been taking the baby to institutions since his birth in an attempt to reunite the family, Nova TV reports.
Eduard Petrosyan missed the birth of his child and to this day has not met him in person. “This little treasure that is next to you will soon be 1 year old – "I haven't looked at it closely," says the father.
He was born in Bulgaria, but since both his parents are Armenian, he has a Bulgarian birth certificate, but not Bulgarian citizenship. He has spent almost his entire life here. He briefly went to Armenia, then returned to our country with a work visa and the hope of a better life. The problems began when he missed one of the deadlines for the annual re-verification of his documents and changed jobs. "He simply made the wrong decision to stay like this," explains his wife Juliana.
A routine check in the Sofia metro takes Edward to the refugee camp in Busmantsi. After 13 days there, he and Juliana enter into a civil marriage, and a day later he voluntarily leaves Bulgaria. At that time, his wife was in her eighth month of pregnancy.
Eduard left for Yerevan on May 10 last year, and the Migration Directorate assured the family that there would be no problem for him to return before the child was born. Instead, right on Juliana's birthday, he received the first visa refusal.
The family appealed, and five months later the visa refusal was rejected in court. A new request and another wait began. Although the law provides for a 15-day calendar period for family members of Bulgarian citizens, the institutions repeatedly told Juliana that this period was unrealistic.
According to her, the Supreme Administrative Court in Sofia ruled that despite the illegal residence and the expired allowable period, the interests of the family and the child were more important. The National Security Agency (DANS) also expressed the opinion that the man does not pose a threat to state security, has no criminal record and has no debts.
However, his application again hit a snag. The competent authorities ruled a new visa refusal on the basis of Art. 10, para. 1, item 10 of the Law on Foreigners in the Republic of Bulgaria (violation of the country's passport and visa regime).
So a year later, the family must once again follow the familiar administrative path, wondering why all this is happening.
“It is hellishly difficult, it is hellishly painful. I would ask that there be a little humanity in people”, appeals Eduard Petrosyan.