Denied Entry in Tunisia
I’ve dealt with many visa refusals but this is probably the worst one of all.
Tunisia says that GCC residents can get visa on arrival.
What they fail to mention is that “yes, fly in to Tunisia  and we will check with Ministry of Interior for clearance, if you’re clear then go ahead, if not, fly back where you came from or spend the days at what feels like a rejection center; transit area”
I traveled from far West of Algeria to Far East only to be turned back around, got questioned, and wrote a statement of why Algeria had to annul my exit.
In the statement that the police wrote, it mentioned explicitly that they advised me to get visa on arrival from the airport and it cannot be obtained from the border.
Drove all the way back to the capital of Algeria, bought my ticket which costs a fortune. Because traveling from one country to another in Africa costs 4 times more than traveling from Africa》Europe》Back to Africa.
A friend flew to Spain for 60USD while I paid 170USD to a neighboring country that requires only 6 hours of driving.
Spent the night at the airport because I was wrecked after 31 hours on the road.
Went through 4 counters that checked my documentation;
“Do you have a visa? No.
You live in Saudi? Yes.
Show us iqama. *Gave my ID
Okay, no need visa.”
Arrived in Tunis Airport 》 Visa Section 》 Filled up Arrival Card 》 They said; “Have a seat, we will come to you when it’s ready”
I watched at least 6 airlines full of passengers come and go through the immigration, 3 hours passed and nothing yet.
At the 4th hour, he said “Get your bag, let’s go” as he head to the transit area.
Then and there, I knew I didn’t get the visa.
I broke down for the fifth time since I started the journey trying to go to Tunisia. Yes, I cry in public a lot during difficult times while traveling.
They tried to convince me with “We tried our best but it’s not in our hand, we don’t know why they denied your visa”
Man, I’ve been denied way too many times to know that they need to state why my entry was denied. For all I know, they didn’t even file me to the Ministry of Interior. Heck I’m not a criminal.
Did I forget to mention that they asked if I’m with or against Houthis? They also tried to joke around about our former president but I know so little about Yemen that I didn’t even know who they were talking about. I think they wanted to know how much involved I am with the political situation there which I clearly mentioned in the police statement that I dont have any political interest or involvement.
I wasn’t going to spend 6 days in the airport and I wasn’t going to let them fly me back to Algeria because I would need to buy another ticket back to Tunis since my return flight to Saudi is from Tunis after 6 days.
I couldve explored more of Algeria had I known this unclear procedure of the so called “visa on arrival” BS.
Instead, I changed my ticket to an earlier date and spent another night at the “rejection center”
There were other passengers denied entry as well, French, Egyptians, Moroccan, a Swiss and Kosovan family included. They were a young family with a toddler. They couldn’t be anywhere close to being a criminal but denied entry.
A French man was forced and pulled to leave because he demanded a statement why his entry is denied.
So we had a nice sleepover at the airport with our backs unevenly bent on the unpadded steel seats. But oh well, this isn’t supposed to be a luxury anyway.

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