The Deputy Head of Mission
Embassy of Spain
Accra, Ghana
26th April 2015
Dear Sir:
I applied for a short-term visa to attend a medical conference in Barcelona from 26th April to 29th
April 2015 and by your response dated 22nd April 2015 I had been denied an entry visa to your
country. As was written in your rejection letter, I have an option of lodging a contentious
administrative appeal at the High Court of Justice of Madrid (Spain) within a two-month deadline
counting from the date of serving.
Since it is nigh impossible for me to get myself to Madrid and lodge
my appeal I have decided to personally write to you for some clarification.
The reasons for denying me an entry visa were that the information regarding the justification for the purpose and conditions of the intended stay was not reliable and also that my intention to leave your country before the expiry of the visa could not be ascertained.
I know it is your prerogative to decide whom to grant a visa to but I feel personally insulted for the reasons you have given for the denial.
I am a highly trained orthopedic surgeon with specialty interest in orthopedic sports medicine and
complex joint reconstruction. I have been a doctor for the past 20yrs. My current positions are:
Consultant Orthopedic Surgeon at the KorleBu Teaching Hospital.
Lecturer at the University of Ghana Medical School
Fellow of the West African College of Surgeons
Consultant for West Africa Rescue Association WARA. (I treat patients from the expatriate and
diplomatic community including quite a number from Spain) I am sure if you were to injure yourself , am the most likely surgeon that you will be referred to.
I have attended medical conferences in Germany,
Switzerland, South Africa, Japan, Canada, USA and Norway. Incidentally all these countries found my purpose for travelling justifiable except you. The
letter of invitation I presented to you was written by a renowned surgeon in Madrid who trained in the same institution as I did in the United States. But I guess you did not find a letter written by such a
person credible enough.
I find it laughable that you think I will not return to Ghana and end up as an illegal immigrant in Spain where people of my skin tone are treated as second-class citizens. I have a wife and children whom I do not intend to abandon. Although I do not
consider myself wealthy, I am very comfortable economically and have investments in property and other assets in Ghana. How did you ever come to the conclusion that I was a flight risk?
May I kindly remind you of some basic facts about your country?
The unemployment rate in Spain presently is 25% and youth unemployment tops 50%. Why will I leave a stable job and to go and join the unemployment
ranks in your country.
From January 2009 to end of 2013, 400,000 Spaniards emigrated to look for work outside of your country. And this is expected to rise in the coming
years.
Doctors in Spain are the least/worst paid in the whole Euro zone. Why will I want to go work in a country where my counterparts are leaving in
droves for economic reasons?
In the year 2012, it is on record that 2405 medical doctors applied for certification to work abroad,
according to The Medical Spanish Association – a 75% increase compared with 2011. 83% of doctors seek jobs in Europe (mainly the UK and France) and
7% America.
In 2009, the Health Ministry warned that there was a shortage and that the country needed around 3,200 more doctors. By 2025, at the present rate the
shortfall will be around 25,000. The Spanish government has talked of increasing the number of university and medical school places, as well as making it easier for overseas personnel to work
here.
Sir, as a representative of the country of Spain you
have failed woefully in your responsibility to promote the interest of your country by denying me a visa. My skill, knowledge and experience will be
invaluable to the Spanish people even if I decided not to come back to Ghana. Furthermore my budget for this conference topped € 5000. This is the amount of money that would have been injected into the Spanish economy in a week. Can you imagine
the economic loss if all the doctors from all over the
world attending this conference were denied entry into Spain? I was due to present two papers and since I was not able to go I have informed the conveners of the conference of my inability to
attend. This is an international conference and can you imagine the embarrassment your compatriot doctors will feel when it is announced that I could
not present my scientific papers because you denied me a visa? Never mind that I cannot get a full refund for my ticket and my total booking for the hotel is
not refundable.
Given the reason for visa rejection, a detailed explanation on which aspects of my application did not provide sufficient evidence that I will return to Ghana is most welcome. I am particularly curious to
know of the lofty economic standards set for Ghanaians to visit to Spain when Spaniards
themselves barely meet these standards.
Yours truly,
Dr. Agbeko Ocloo MB.ChB FWACS
Consultant Orthopaedic Surgeon
Cc:
The Ambassador
Embassy of Spain
Accra, Ghana
Dr A. Oloo MB. CHB. BBC, FWACK, ETC, has a point. Why do we then let these guys come so easily to our countries? White Pedophiles, game hunters, perverts and gays all just walk in and out of the country like boarding a mat. Imagine the international outrage if it were a doctor from Spain who was denied entry into Ghana… Hapa hata mamluki who do nothing for us are praised and begged to stay… Tunajidharau sana
Uncle Nyam, one of the the things I do not understand about fellow Africans is just why they hate themselves the way they do. I do not want to make this tribal but I come from the Kikuyu community which in just 20 years of colonisation had already made up its mind that the White man is a devil. By 1930 we were sending Jomo to Europe to ask for independence. Just 20 years later we had started an independence war. The astounding thing was that many of the people who did this - even establishing their own churches to distance themselves from the evil Muthungu - were uneducated!
Today I wonder whether it was all worth the trouble. Many young educated Kenyans think Whites are gods, despite all the evidence to the contrary. The British ambassandor only has to say that such and such a minister is corrupt and we all throw ourselves into a frenzy. We forget that to these people cheating and manipulating is second nature. Remember Iraq and Libya anyone, and the weapons of mass destruction? Yet many of us continue to trust them without questioning.
I will not be suprised that a few Ghanains think the good doctor is a drug dealer. I mean, why else would the White Gods deny him a visa?
in my industry you will find guys from eastern europe and spain working here because their economies are in shit, how they get work permits cannot be explained without corruption
Complete truth there. We have no culture of our own guka. Show me a photo of a group of celebrated Kenyan women and by appearances only i will show you someone trying so hard to be white… From the wigs bleach, etc no pride at all at what the creator gave them. The white guys laugh when they see this… . this extends to all spheres of our lives including religion. will respect you if you don’t respect yourself
hii dunia ina omera wengi sana.now coz you are denied visa you rant and show how they need you more than you need them… thats what i call bitch syndrome.
Hiyo reply ya mkoloni Turner. How condescending can a racist be? Ati Biko is writing in British style satire? PULIZZ! These guys dont seem to realise that were they not the USs asshole, nobody would care with them…