Word: visas
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...joined the line I felt nervous, by the time the customs official motioned me to enter the next area I was considerably calmer. The three or four people in front of me went through customs quickly, without any search. The procedure seemed rather simple: the official took the passport, visa, looked at the customs declaration, asked for the cash or gold jewelery for verification, and the person stepped into Moscow...
...turn finally arrived. I put my bags in the platform to the left of the official. He asked me for passport, visa, customs declaration. After glancing at my passport, he withdrew a paper with numbers listed on it, studied it for a few minutes, and told me to put my suitcase on the table-top directly in front of him. I opened it, and he began removing items at a very slow pace, lingering over some of his finds such as the kosher bubble-gum cigarettes, an art book, music tapes, and matzah...
...huge, and complex. We switched teams in Leningrad; by 2 p.m. Rebecca Sheridan and I set off. Three hours later we were sitting with Misha Borlov and his family. Borlov's name has been changed. He is a scientist who was expelled from his job after applying for a visa in 1980. A few years later, officials voted to strip him of his Doctor of Science degree because of his "anti-political activity." Similarly, his wife, a chemist, is now unemployed. His daughter Marina, a bright woman who reads English literature voraciously, now baby-sits full time. Before applying...
Other Russians and Jews, fearing guilt by association, will have nothing to do with them. This family has been trying to emigrate for six years, and no longer bothers to apply for an exit visa every six months. "When the children were young, it was not so bad. We had hope that we can leave. But now, it has been such long time. What if we have to stay here for rest of our lives?" Next year. Natasha will apply to a university, and her parents fear that continued visa applications will hurt her chances of being accepted...
Olga has a piano teacher who does not know that Olga is a refusenik, and both parents fear that if the teacher finds out, she will cut off the lessons. And further visa applications could cause her status to become known to the teacher...