Kicked out 2 seconds before reaching goal

[Kim P. Nyberg]

We see it way too often here in Denmark: Foreigners who is just two seconds away from their exam at a higher education are kicked out, wasted a long time on an education they really want, but now prevented from reaching the goal. And the rest of us had paid to this circus through our taxes for way too long.

We see the exact same pattern in this very case here. Here crime? She used the wrong application form. Result? Access denied.

Below you will be able to read the full article from the daily newspaper Morgenavisen Jyllands-Posten with my translation into English. Remember to keep a fair tone in the comments.

The article goes like this:

Hospital wants to hire Farzaneh as a nurse – but now she has to leave the country, just weeks before she reaches her goal

For almost 10 months, a Danish hospital has spent time and taxpayer money preparing experienced Iranian nurse Farzaneh Bagheri for a permanent job. But the immigration authorities have just asked her to leave the country. ‘Absurd’ and ‘grotesque’ are the words used to describe the situation.

She monitors children who are waking up after anaesthesia and surgery. She cares for and administers medication to newly operated cancer patients after their life-changing surgery. She talks to worried relatives and takes care of patients in the recovery room.

Iranian Farzaneh Bagheri is just weeks away from being approved as a nurse in Denmark and from starting a permanent job as a specialist nurse in a highly specialised department at Herlev Hospital.

But now the Immigration Appeals Board has decided that she must leave the country with her daughter and husband by the end of August.

All because of what may seem like a legal technicality. And just four weeks before she reached the finish line.

Three weeks to go

At the end of September, Farzaneh Bagheri would have completed her 10-month evaluation period at the hospital, and immediately afterwards she would have received her Danish nursing licence and a permanent position in the hospital's Department of Surgery, Anaesthesia and Intensive Care.
According to the department's chief physician, Herlev and Gentofte Hospital is ‘shocked and surprised’.

The Immigration Appeals Board's decision to send Farzaneh Bagheri and her family out of the country means that the hospital – and thus the taxpayers – have wasted time, mentoring resources and salary money on paying, training and evaluating Farzaneh Bagheri during her nearly 10-month evaluation period at the hospital.

And according to the chief physician, the hospital and the Danish healthcare system are now also missing out on a ‘highly competent, experienced and well-liked nurse who was ready to step in and help the pressured Danish healthcare system.’

In the letter that Farzaneh and her family received the other day from the Immigration Appeals Board, the board confirms the refusal of a new residence permit that the Danish Agency for International Recruitment and Integration (SIRI) had previously granted her and which she had appealed.

The reason for the refusal is that she did not obtain authorisation before her three-year authorisation visa expired.

The letter from the Immigration Appeals Board states that the board is aware that she only has a few weeks left to complete her evaluation position at Herlev and Gentofte Hospital and thus fulfil all the requirements for obtaining Danish nursing authorisation.

It also states that Farzaneh Bagheri had applied for a new three-year residence permit when her three-year authorisation visa was about to expire.

However, according to new rules, you can only get one of these. If she had instead applied for an extension of her residence permit, the case might have been different.

But Farzaneh Bagheri did not know that.

The reality is that in just three weeks, she and her family will have to leave Denmark and the EU/Schengen area and be sent back to Iran, which they left for good three years ago.

We are in shock

The family came to Denmark because the Danish healthcare system was short of nurses, and the authorities therefore invited foreign nurses to come here on a special authorisation visa.

The visa gives them three years to learn the language and obtain an evaluation appointment at a hospital, which is a requirement for foreign nurses to be approved for Danish authorisation and thus be able to work here.

Like thousands of other foreign nurses, Farzaneh Bagheri, her husband and daughter sold everything they had in Iran, left everything behind and staked everything on a future in Denmark.

They had read on a number of official Danish websites that nurses were in high demand in Denmark.

Since then, she and her family have learned Danish, supported themselves for three years and paid taxes. Her husband had a permanent job, which he has now been dismissed from due to the Immigration Appeals Board's decision, and their daughter is currently taking her school-leaving exams and has had part-time jobs for all three years.

"It feels like the whole world is falling apart around us. It feels meaningless, and we are probably in shock more than anything else. Denmark has invested time and resources in me and given me many opportunities. In return, I have learned a difficult language and fulfilled all the expectations placed on me. Now we are being sent back to Iran. We have nothing there. Why won't anyone employ me?" asks Farzaneh Bagheri.

An unfortunate situation

At Herlev and Gentofte Hospital, people are very affected by the case. The hospital must now give up reaping the benefits of the many months of training the 48-year-old nurse has received – they will not be able to benefit from her labour after she completes her training as planned.

"We are both surprised and dismayed that Farzaneh has been asked to leave the country just four weeks before she was due to start her permanent job with us. She has met all the requirements and expectations in terms of language, nursing skills, teamwork, etc., and she can treat all patients in all the programmes we have in the department," says Chief Physician Pernille Cedergreen.

She adds that the department has offered her a permanent position starting on 1 October and has already submitted its very positive evaluation of Farzaneh Bagheri to the Danish Patient Safety Authority.

At the same time, Pernille Cedergreen regrets that the department now has to start all over again with hiring and training another nurse.

‘We are a highly specialised department, and it takes a long time to train all new nurses. Farzaneh came with extensive experience and many years of specialised skills from intensive care units in Iran. It is not often that we get such experienced and competent new employees.’

At the Danish Nurses' Organisation, chairwoman Dorthe Boe calls the decision to send Farzaneh Bagheri and her family out of the country ‘grotesque.’

"It is outrageous, and the case is a reflection of the unfortunate situation that many internationally trained nurses find themselves in. We are failing in our responsibility, because as a country we invited them here ourselves – through politicians' rules on special visa arrangements for foreign doctors and nurses – because we needed them in our healthcare system," says Dorthe Boe.

Poor business logic

As Jyllands-Posten has previously described in a series of articles, Farzaneh Bagheri is just one of many nurses, particularly from Iran, who are being forced to leave Denmark after three years of fighting for evaluation positions and thus authorisation.

In the Capital Region, Regional Council Chairman Lars Gaardhøj (S) is, in his own words, ‘shocked’ by the case and the way the immigration authorities treat foreign nurses like Farzaneh Bagheri. He finds it difficult to see the logic in sending her out of the country.

"It is absurd, to say the least, that the Immigration Appeals Board can decide that this nurse must leave the country at the same time as the hospital, through the Danish Patient Safety Authority, is in the process of approving her nursing authorisation and wants to hire her permanently. I am truly amazed that no consideration is being given to the fact that we, as a region and a hospital, have spent time and effort training and evaluating her, and that we are offering her a permanent position starting on 1 October because we need her. It's poor business sense. And it's a really unfortunate situation for Farzaneh and her family," says Lars Gaardhøj.

At Farzaneh Bagheri's home, there is a great deal of discouragement and frustration.

She is particularly concerned about her daughter. In a week's time, she was supposed to start her secondary education.

She herself finds it difficult to accept that her dream of a life and career in Denmark is crumbling.

‘I have worked at one of the best places in the world – in the intensive care unit at Herlev Hospital. From the very first day, I could feel that I had landed in a fantastic working environment. I really love my job, and I know that we need nurses in this country,’ she says.

‘I don't understand this decision.’

https://jyllands-posten.dk/indland/ECE1 ... -er-i-maal

[Kim P. Nyberg]

BREAKING NEWS: Her expelling is now put on a hold after the newspaper told her story. Maybe this is the turning point, so she have have a residence permit due to her job.