Back to the crime scene

The visa that did not arrive, the lawyer who failed, the police and the investigation at the airport. Nitzan Peled tells about her and the footballer's bureaucratic hellish sound Nehemiah in Greece, after which they did the most "logical" thing for them: refusing offers from teams in Israel and moving to another country in Europe.

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22/04/2022

Friday, April 22, 2022, 10:00 p.m.

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The last time my column was published was from Sparta, a small town somewhere in Greece, 3 hours from Athens.

These days I am writing to you from lovely Lithuania.

Not far from Ukraine and Belarus, but do not worry, everything is fine.

So what's happened in the last few months?

By and large, we had to dismantle an entire life we ​​had just begun to establish in Greece, return to Israel under a cloud of uncertainty and move (again) to a new country and experience a new beginning.

But let's make an order and start from the beginning.

More on Walla!

About Anxieties and Suitcases: What Happened When the Sound of Nehemiah Arrived in Greece?

To the full article

And again, on luggage (Photo: courtesy of the person photographed)

Behind every glittering and glamorous move abroad there is a lot of bureaucracy, one that is not talked about in the media. It is a little less sexy to tell about forms, embassies, banks, but at the end of the day this is life. So we moved to Greece, and like every Israeli citizen In Europe up to 90 days in a calendar year. Beyond that, a visa is needed, a matter which is of course the sole responsibility of the player's soccer team

. I spoke with the group manager and CEO to make sure matters are taken care of, and first and foremost the visa.

Unfortunately, Sound arrived in Greece as early as September and the season only started in November.

These days, about two months until the season opened, the league underwent many changes, including the constitution, structure and number of participating teams, so that the variety of bureaucratic matters could not be completely addressed.

When the league is really getting organized and rebuilt, there is a lot of uncertainty.

But the time clock is not interested in uncertainty.

So two months passed for them without us being able to really advance any bureaucratic interest.

There is another month left and sound still without a visa.

On the one hand there is not much time left, but enough to deal with the matter effectively.

Believe it or not, as a woman and as the head agent already working forward and the conclusions I reached did not lead to a positive picture - a league that has not yet started, news in the Greek media about teams still trial against the Greek association to prove they can advance to the second league, stuck bureaucratic matters and more.

I felt things were going to go wrong.

On all those days I make conversations about conversations with the lawyer on behalf of the group, with the group manager and also with the owner in order to promote what is possible on the bureaucratic side.

Disturbing experience.

The sound of Nehemiah and Nitzan Peled (Photo: courtesy of the photographer)

The days go by.

The league structure in Greece is starting to work out and we received a message that an appointment had been made for a visa to be issued for another week.

You expected me to feel relieved, right?

so no.

Near the turn date the corona wave started in the group, a sound had to go into isolation and therefore could not access the long awaited turn at the scheduled time.

The queue was postponed, again.

I went up in gear in search of a new group, days in front of the institute, data and statistics.

There have already been some future directions, but not something concrete.

Sound knew nothing.

Meanwhile, Tzlil's stay in Greece has already crossed the 90-day threshold, which means he is currently simply staying illegally in Greece and still without a visa.

The situation seems delusional to me.

It does not make sense for an actor to stay illegally in the country and everything will be run this way on who rests.

I did one and another, I immediately spoke to the team lawyer, I stressed the situation again, he reassured me and said that since the opening of the league was delayed all the foreigners got an extension of stay in Greece and everything is fine, sound legal and he will get a visa.

But intuition worked again.

I asked him again if he was sure of what he was saying.

I also talked to the Greek agent who helped us throughout the move, he also eliminated my worries and begged me to be calm, so I calmed down, and meanwhile intensified the contacts I had until that moment with several groups abroad. I realized it was no longer a matter of "security option". My heart just was not quiet.

The turn has come, at last.

I too have been in Greece for close to 90 days during this period, without a visa.

I will have to leave right away in a few days with no choice.

From an inquiry I made with a local lawyer he told me that as soon as my husband gets a visa I can apply immediately, and after submitting the application can continue to stay in Greece with a special permit number given to me by the government.

Then what we feared most came true.

A new reality.

The residence of Tzlil Nehemiah and Nitzan Peled in Lithuania (Photo: courtesy of the person photographed)

At this point we are told that since Tzlil is already staying illegally in Greece, it is not certain that he will be able to get a visa.

The group tried to help, everyone intervened, including the president, we brought documents, the group explained that the queue was postponed because of the corona and brought documents that testified to the same wave of patients.

After several days of conversations and inquiries the lawyer also came back to us with an answer: "We have a serious problem" - that was the exact wording of his words.

I had a little voice that said "I knew."

I felt that was what would happen.

The first thing that was clear to me - I need to get out of Greece as soon as possible because in a few days I too will become illegal.

I packed (again) luggage that weighed more than me and with no choice, within a hallucinatory and stressful day, I was already on the flight to Israel.

Again this scenario of packing and dismantling a life that we have just started to establish in a new country.

I left Tzlil without knowing what his condition was and whether he would get a visa and be able to continue in the group at all.

Everything was shaky and the mental load was heavy.

In the field, make no mistake, I was stopped by police, lots of questions and interrogations about the duration of my unusual stay in Greece. Emphasized

to me that I will not be able to step on state land again without a visa, or alternatively only next year.

Absurd, Tzlil, still a football player on Greek soil, can not return to Israel on his own (without the team's approval), or alternatively until he closes the conditions of release with them or miraculously gets a visa that will resolve the situation. I can not step on Greek soil again .

We did not know when the situation would be resolved and how.

Imagine a simple hallucinatory situation that separates you from the person you care about most, and what is most frustrating is that there is simply nothing to do.

Sound meanwhile could not play and take an active part in the team because it is illegal.

A hallucinatory situation has arisen where its season so long awaited has finally begun and Sound can not even stay in the country.

Practicing for the new climate (Photo: courtesy of the photographer)

Almost two weeks passed, which felt like a year, stress, lack of hours of sleep, conversations on a daily basis with group owners, lawyers and other people, until we got the final news: "Sound can not get a visa, he must leave Greece immediately."

Reluctantly he was released.

After a few more nerve-racking days we received from the group all the release documents and of course we agreed on compensation (not adequate enough if you ask me).

You brought in a foreign player, a player who left his life in Israel to play in Greece, you got into a situation where he was staying illegally, could not play football because of bureaucracy, the professional, mental and of course the economic consequences were far-reaching.

There is really no adequate compensation for this whole telenovela.

Then a new movie started.

We did not know if a sound could come out of Greece, we were afraid it would stop in the field.

We asked the team for documents that explain what was happening, since this is a football player who is under the sole responsibility of the team that employs him.

We received a "document" that was about a line and a half long, in which the group really does not take responsibility for what it did and we realized that we were alone.

I involved everyone I could in the matter, including the Greek agent who was supposed to handle our case.

The answer I got from everyone was the same: "It's just bigger than us, we'll try to help."

A sound did indeed stop in the field, cops and the whole scene around.

The date of the stamp on the passport just screams "illegal".

He spoke to the Border Police and explained the situation to them, and unusually, with the help of the short document he received from the group, or the hand of God - he was released.

The group will probably be fined, but that's not our business anymore.

At the end of December he finally landed in the country.

The reception had an effect of a gusty return, no less.

Great relief that all this is behind us.

She was soon replaced by a renewed sense of pressure - a group had to be found.

It's no longer a matter of clarification or examination, it's time to make an offer.

We returned to Israel for nothing, for nothing.

We left the rented apartment, the vehicles we had were sold, starting from scratch.

And now, good luck (Photo: courtesy of the photographer)

Yes, there were offers from Israel, quite a few, but then we thought to ourselves "until we have already made this move, will we return to Israel?"

We decided to fight, against all odds, to fulfill that European dream.

As an agent, I felt I did not have a lot of winning cards in hand - how would you market a player in January who has barely played so far?

Teams want to get stronger, bring players in shape and with confidence, there is no time to gamble here.

We asked ourselves, are we at all ripe for another such transition.

The mental forces needed to take such a step again and leave everything again, after all we have been through, are immense but we have decided not to give up.

There were two main directions on the table, with a team from Iceland and a team from Lithuania.

At the same time, groups in the country are pressing and it is impossible to lie - there were quite tempting offers.

At this point we did not know what to do.

A whole career at stake and in the end you can go bald from all directions.

After a few days, the offer came from Lithuania from a group called Hegelman.

Needless to say, the relatives, friends, family were just shocked that after everything we went through we are going to Europe again.

One has to be crazy for such a step, right, but in our crazy world one has to be just as crazy to make dreams come true.

So we packed ourselves up again (mostly the clothes), very scarred after months of being more of a football action movie plot and set out again to fulfill a dream.

You read about another player from Israel who went out to try his luck, but between that and the actual sequence of events, a whole world passes.

This is the story of a lot of actors, behind the exploding and "shiny" headlines are people, difficulties and whole stories.

Maybe in a few years you will suddenly read about the same player who succeeded, ask yourself "how did he do it" and not know that his path was full of difficulties and obstacles.

What can be learned from this?

Listen to your heart, there is no substitute for intuition even when everything looks different.

Be aware of the situation.

When you are ready for all the scenarios in advance, nothing can surprise you, and most importantly - fight, against all odds.

Max you will succeed.

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