- Separated by the health crisis and the closing of borders, many binational couples, unmarried, have not seen each other for months.
- After disseminating their call for help on social networks on Monday, Jean-Baptiste Lemoyne, Secretary of State for Tourism, announced measures to allow them to find each other.
- A step forward too timid for many of them. They tell their situation to 20 Minutes .
If we gave them a plane ticket, there was no doubt that they would board immediately. They are called Anne, François, Alain or Aurélie and live a love affair with a stranger or a foreigner. The wait is long for these couples who have not seen each other for months, and whose plans have been swept away by the pandemic and the closing of borders. Our readers testify.
For many, it's a matter of (bad) timing. It all came down to a few weeks, a few days. François and his Venezuelan companion Josmar saw each other for the last time on February 14. For them, the separation had to be quick. “He was to join me and live with me in France as part of his studies in May, the whole file was ready. But the pandemic arrived and his visa application was canceled. "The embassy has not reopened since," he laments.
Facetime, Netflix and little touches
Ditto for Anne, who was in the process of organizing her move to Morocco to join her companion and live with him in Casablanca, when the pandemic closed the borders. “We have only one flaw: not getting married quickly enough,” she regrets. Mélanie was to marry her Algerian companion. They have since had to postpone their marriage twice and have not seen each other again.
With the spread of the coronavirus epidemic, what they thought was temporary has become permanent. These couples are still living with the expectation of a chance to get together. Sometimes difficult times. “We live from hand to mouth. Our daily life is made up of twists and turns, expectations, disappointments, misunderstandings. All our life projects are on hold. Morale is not there, some days being more complicated than others ”, sighs Mélanie. Anne confirms: “We share our joys and our sorrows, our arguments sometimes, like all couples. And so is the time. Sometimes it seems to me that this is normal, then an event reminds me that it is not. Our birthdays, Eid, my graduation… All these little events in life that we have to experience from a distance. "
What does distance love look like? Digital, a lot, and a few little touches. “We use this time to communicate as much as possible, we play online, we talk about a thousand and one subjects,” says Anne. “For us, it's Facetime every day, small gifts and letters in the mail. But it's very heavy, ”says Claude, half of whom are in the United States. Cassandre has not seen her American partner since March 2. She recounts "video calls for hours, movies to watch together on Netflix or network games." “We try to spend time together but it's still very frustrating. "
"How to imagine the rest? "
But sometimes morale falters: Aurélie has been in a relationship with her Algerian companion for three and a half years. They lived together, then he left for Canada last January to study. They haven't seen each other since. “I am a caregiver at the hospital, I canceled my scheduled leave in April and May I worked in the Covid service for three and a half months. In July, when she can finally take a vacation, it's without him. “This forced separation is painful, the lack of perspective unbearable. The suffering of this situation, associated with the unprecedented context, filled with uncertainties and anguish in the hospital, is very heavy to bear. How to imagine the rest today? She asks.
Same feeling for Sarah, who risks giving birth thousands of kilometers from her companion. This French woman became pregnant in December 2019. She had planned to marry her Moroccan companion before giving birth. “But in Morocco all procedures have been frozen since February. I live my pregnancy all alone and far from him. I have to give birth in mid-September and I cannot accept that he is not there for the birth, that he will miss the first months of his son's life, ”she writes. “We are waiting for Morocco to reopen its borders and for it to be able to apply for a tourist visa to come and meet its baby as soon as possible, but it is really very hard to keep hope. "
Alex's partner lives in Colombia. " She is pregnant. Blocked alone in France, I have to follow the pregnancy and all the ultrasounds remotely. I am not even guaranteed to be able to attend the birth of my child, no flight is offered before September ”, he laments.
25,000 e-mails but no common proof
Visible on social networks thanks to the hashtag #LoveIsNotTourisme, they managed to get answers. Everyone has high expectations for the measures announced by the government on Monday. But the outlines of these measures and their timing remain unclear. To be entitled to this laissez-passer, they will have to present to the French consulates "documents attesting to joint activities, proof of residence in France for the French spouse and a round-trip ticket", explained the Secretary of State Jean-Baptiste Lemoyne. Conditions that do not always stick to their history.
What do you think? Thinking about making around 30 of these and throwing them up around my city. #LoveIsNotTourism pic.twitter.com/RfW494M2iB
- Coda 🇺🇸❤️🇿🇲 (@sodacodery) August 11, 2020Alain has been in a relationship for nine years with an American citizen. They see each other 100 to 150 days a year, but do not live in the same country. However, he claims strong ties: “His children are also mine, even if I did not adopt them. My partner's daughter had a baby girl whom I almost saw born and whose bedroom I prepared in the months leading up to her birth. I miss her dearly and every day I lose precious moments with her ”. In the absence of the requested documents, Alain says he is ready to provide all the supporting documents for his story with his partner: “I have 25,000 e-mails, as many SMS and Whatsapp messages, more than 4,000 photos or videos which can provide proof of our very strong bond. "But when he calls the French Consulate in New York," I am told that the directives have not been published. "
For the majority, if the situation seems on the point of unblocking, all that remains is the wait. And for some, the certainty that they will not be repeated there. Like Anne: "We had already decided to get married, but this experience makes us accelerate our plans, for fear of reliving it a second time".
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