Borders and bureaucracy in lockdown Morocco
During the COVID-19 pandemic, I went to Morocco to conduct fieldwork. After three months, the government suddenly closed its borders. This prevented me from leaving and I inadvertently overstayed my visa.
Chaos
The week the airspace closed was the week I was supposed to travel to Spain—my plan to reset my tourist visa by briefly exiting and re-entering the country. But then, everything changed. Flights were suddenly cancelled. I was stuck, unsure of what to do, and the clock was ticking: I had just 24 hours to leave the country before overstaying my visa.
In the middle of this chaos, I found support from the Van Vollenhoven Institute secretariat at Leiden University, who worked tirelessly to rebook after flights were cancelled. I received valuable guidance from Professor Elkhatabi Moulay Ismail University and from several staff members of the Dutch Institute Morocco (NIMAR). In this video blog, I reflect on the whirlwind of procedures, paperwork, and last-minute decisions that shaped my departure.
Photo taken by a key informant of Judith van Uden standing in line at the airport.