This article by Tina Lee was originally published on Unbias The News. An edited version is republished by Global Voices under a content-sharing agreement. Imagine two journalists who want to investigate a story about corruption in the tomato trade between Gambia and Italy. A journalist with a British passport can travel to Italy to cover the Italian side and then travel to Gambia visa-free in order to investigate further, giving them a more colorful and complete story to pitch to publications. For a Gambian journalist, getting a visa to Italy will present a difficult and costly barrier that may limit her to writing only on the Gambian side of the issue. Who is more likely to get the byline? If the story wins an award, who will get it? The question of who gets to frame the story and who is centered in an article or investigation is highly dependent on who is allowed to cover it — and in many cases, that is prescribed by unfair, arbitrary and discriminatory visa regulations.” The Universal Declaration of Human Rights from 1949 enshrined two rights that are essential protections for cross-border journalists: the right to freedom of expression (article 19) and the right to leave your country (article 13). Unfortunately, both are under threat all over the world. But while we tend to be well-versed on regimes that limit freedom of expression in numerous ways — such as in arrests of journalists, censorship and threats and coercion from powerful forces within a country — we rarely think of the second right and how countries in Europe and elsewhere restrict it through their discriminatory visa laws. I had the opportunity to experience this restriction on freedom of the press first-hand while trying to bring international journalists together in Warsaw, Poland, for a conference. The countries many of the journalists we invited came from are frequently toward the bottom of the list of press freedom indexes — countries such as Egypt, Myanmar and Iran — where there are severe, government-sponsored threats to journalistic expression. But the country restricting their right to travel and learn about cross-border journalism was Poland, smack dab in the middle of the European Union, home to seven out of the top ten best countries for press freedom, according to Reporters without Borders. Despite espousing a belief in freedom of expression and frequently criticising other countries for their lack of press freedom, countries in the EU often present astounding barriers to journalists travelling here for professional reasons. From large, non-refundable fees, to invitation letter requirements, to pre-booked flights and random, unexplained rejections, the EU makes it hard — and sometimes impossible — for journalists from other countries to travel here for conferences, work and research. In order to bring journalists to Warsaw for less than a week for our conference, we had to navigate a breathtakingly arbitrary set of standards for each country that appeared chiefly designed to make the applicant give up on their desire to leave their country, even briefly. For instance, in some countries, no local European embassy will issue a Schengen visa, so journalists must instead travel to the neighboring country to apply, sometimes multiple times. In many cases, the Polish or EU embassy required a flight to be booked in advance in order to consider the application complete. But travel insurance doesn’t cover a rejected visa. So in effect, this means that individuals must buy an expensive plane ticket without knowing whether they will be able to use it, and cannot receive a refund if they are rejected. For organizations wanting to pay to bring journalists to conferences, this represents a huge monetary risk that may be enough to preclude an invite. In addition, even if one gets a visa, they might still face barriers. For instance, one of our journalists was issued a visa for the Schengen zone, but was banned from flying back to their country through London’s Heathrow airport. Did you know that you need a separate visa simply to walk the hallowed halls of Heathrow while transferring flights? Well, we know that now. Aside from the limits to investigations, consider the limitations placed on networking and professional advancement. Journalists rely on conferences to learn new techniques, network with others in their field and spread the word about their stories and work. When only journalists from some countries are able to attend, then they inevitably get the advantages that come along with professional exchange. On top of that, the restricted journalists may not be able to take advantage of fellowships and grants that are hugely important sources of funding and professional access.