“Fortress Europe” is a place surrounded by so many barriers, it is completely inaccessible to most people. Though Europe is not surrounded by an actual wall, it’s surrounded by an invisible wall of police, military, paperwork, navy boats and FRONTEX. Blessed with the most powerful passport in the world, however, many Americans have no idea Fortress Europe exists. It is invisible to us, because we can fly to Europe and spend our dollars whenever we want.
Many Americans are shocked, therefore, to find out that while they can visit Europe, they can’t move their or work there without a visa. So along comes the Washington Post in a tone deaf article to explain the European visa system to Americans. Apparently, getting into Europe as something other than a tourist costs time and money! The article bemoans the injustice of rich people who can buy “golden visas” and persons with family connections to certain countries who can literally be grandfathered in. If only the rest of the American study-abroad crowd could be so lucky. But what’s an ordinary member of the global 1% to do?
Fortunately, the world is very used to giving Americans exactly what they want, so some countries have created various expedited visa programs for “talented” foreigners, by which they mean Americans, who are, indeed, very talented at getting exactly what they want.
