They will apply again, and continue to integrate into Croatian life for the time being. “We can’t think about any plans,” Farah reflects. But this is not a permanent solution, and the family feels uncertain about their future in Croatia. Up until now, they have stayed in Croatia on a temporary visa based on their 17-year-old daughter Rana’s enrollment in school. The family and their lawyer petitioned the courts, but they were rejected again. After waiting for 9 months, they were given a negative.

It turns out that Farah’s husband’s Lebanese nationality had complicated the family’s asylum proceedings. Everything was in order except for one essential thing: the paperwork. Best of all, they had friends in the city. His family was renting a furnished apartment, his kids were established at school, and everyone had improved their Croatian. Her husband wasn’t able to join them until this April, but when he arrived he found a home. Her children soon enrolled in school, and Farah began the legal paperwork to apply for asylum. Farah and her son play with a foosball “table” her children made by hand in their apartment in Zagreb.įarah and her children came to Croatia’s capital by plane in 2015 and immediately began renting a flat. Mostly, Farah likes how peaceful Zagreb is. Rather than starting over in a new place where they would have no knowledge of the language, understanding of the culture, or connections to local population, they decided to return to Croatia. They remembered the people of Croatia and their time in Zagreb fondly. Nearly two years ago, Farah’s family made the difficult choice to leave Syria. They had lived in both Russia and Croatia years before while her husband, a business owner from Lebanon, opened restaurants. How I got here, getting negative,” Farah’s voice trails off. She must remember pulling her three children in close as they walked down the street so that, if a bomb dropped, they would at least all die together. She must write about the instability and danger they faced every day in her hometown of Damascus. Every time she applies for asylum, Farah must recount what happened to her and her family in Syria.

How to get to the asylum in destiny