Enab Baladi – Hani Karazi

The Syrian regime found in the movement of travelers a financial resource from which it reaps billions to support its collapsing economy. Over the past years, the regime has exploited travel activities across the borders to impose a series of decisions that allow it to achieve economic gains.

The first of these decisions was raising passport prices, and the latest is imposing the exchange of $100 on Syrians returning to their homeland.

The regime has relied on multiple ways to make money from those coming and wishing to return to the country, including the “status settlement document” and the “expatriate statement.” It also allowed its consulates and embassies worldwide to issue documents permitting return in exchange for foreign currency.

Exchanging $100 to enter the country

On July 9, 2020, the Syrian regime issued a decision requiring every expatriate Syrian to exchange $100 upon arriving on Syrian soil, according to the customs and aviation exchange rates bulletin.

The decision created a significant uproar at the time, with Syrians considering it a means for the regime to achieve economic gains, especially as forcing citizens to exchange $100 according to the customs and aviation exchange rates meant they would lose about half the amount due to the substantial difference from the black market exchange rates.

When the regime announced the decision to exchange $100 in July 2020, the customs exchange rate was 1,250 Syrian pounds per dollar, while the actual rate in the black market was 2,600 pounds, meaning citizens would lose more than double the amount upon exchange.

In August 2023, the regime’s government announced an amendment to the exchange rate for the $100 imposed on Syrians arriving in the country through border crossings, making it according to the remittance rates bulletin issued by the Central Bank of Syria (CBS), instead of the customs and aviation exchange rates.

Exchanging the $100 according to the remittances bulletin was not a practical solution for citizens coming to Syria, as there was still a gap compared to the actual rate in the black market.

According to the latest remittance rate bulletin, exchanging $100 is equivalent to 1,360,000 Syrian pounds, while it is equivalent to 1,465,000 pounds in the black market, meaning citizens would lose more than 100,000 pounds each time they enter their country.

The regime did not suffice with the financial gains it reaps in exchange for Syrians exchanging $100 upon entering Syria, but at the end of last August, it began applying a new mechanism for exchanging the $100.

The Commercial Bank of Syria announced that exchanging the $100 for citizens arriving through Damascus International Airport would be done by issuing a check to the citizen instead of money, to be cashed at the branches of the Commercial Bank of Syria, as reported by the official Syrian news agency (SANA).

The bank stated that this procedure started experimentally at Damascus International Airport, and would later be generalized to all airports and border crossings, saying its goal is “to reduce congestion caused by the amount being handed over by the concerned employee at the airport, and the accompanying loss of time while counting the amount and verifying it by the person involved.”

Dissatisfaction among Syrians

Enab Baladi monitored the reactions of some Syrians to this decision through social media, with some considering it another complication for citizens rather than a facilitation, as they would have to go to the Commercial Bank to cash the check and stand in long lines for hours, aside from the transportation costs amidst high transportation prices.

The decision was also criticized for potential receipt loss, which would mean losing the ability to claim the amount, while some citizens might forfeit the amount due to residing in rural areas far from the Commercial Bank.

Economic analyst Radwan al-Dibs told Enab Baladi that the regime’s goal in imposing the exchange of $100 on Syrians returning to their homeland is to bolster its foreign currency cache, which is scarce due to declining exports. The gap between the Central Bank’s exchange rate and the black market rate is about 30%, which goes into the regime’s coffers.

Al-Dibs added that the regime also aims with the $100 decision to improve the value of the Syrian pound by forcing people to deal in the local currency while it acquires dollars from them. Observing the large numbers of Syrians who enter Syria weekly through land, sea, and air crossings, we realize the magnitude of the profits the regime gains from the $100 exchange decision.

Regarding the regime’s recent shift to issuing checks for the $100 exchange instead of cash, al-Dibs indicated that it is an attempt by the government to reap more financial gains. For example, some wealthy people or those with certain circumstances, such as quick entries and exits from Syria or residing far from the Commercial Bank, would be forced to abandon the $100 exchange.

Fake documents to make money

The regime opened another door to make money through its consulates and embassies worldwide, issuing documents allowing Syrians to return to their country in exchange for charging financial fees that help bolster its foreign currency reserves.

The “status settlement paper” is one of the documents the regime required to be obtained by every Syrian who left their country illegally, meaning not through official border crossings, or anyone who avoided military service.

Abdul Rahman Sahari, a Syrian refugee in the Turkish province of Istanbul, lost contact with his brother, who returned to Aleppo six months ago after facing difficulties in Turkey.

Sahari told Enab Baladi that his brother Ahmed heard from his friends that any Syrian who left their country illegally could obtain a “status settlement paper” from the Syrian consulate in Istanbul, which would allow him to return to his country without facing accountability from the regime’s intelligence services.

Obtaining a “status settlement paper” requires booking an appointment at the consulate, and when the appointment comes, the person must bring a copy of the Temporary Protection Card (Kimlik) in Turkey, the Syrian ID, personal photos, and fill out the “security status settlement” form given at the consulate, then pay $50.

Sahari added that after his brother obtained the “status settlement paper,” he returned to his residence in Salah al-Din neighborhood in regime-controlled Aleppo, but he lost contact with him after arriving in Masaken Hanano area in Aleppo. “Since then, we have no news about him, even though he had completed his mandatory service previously. It seems that the status settlement papers are just fake documents to make money from Syrians and trap them into returning to their country,” he said.

One of the documents the regime grants Syrians abroad to allow them to return is the “expatriate statement,” issued by the regime’s embassies and consulates abroad, allowing Syrian expats to visit Syria even if they are wanted for military service.

Obtaining this document also costs $50, but like others, it is just a “fake document to trap Syrians,” as happened to Syrian TikToker Abdul Rahman Nafisa, who decided to visit Syria after 12 years of seeking refuge in Germany.

Nafisa posted a video explaining what happened to him after obtaining the “expatriate visit paper,” where he reached the Syrian-Lebanese border and was told by a regime soldier at the border that he was required for military service. Nafisa informed the soldier that he had obtained an “expatriate paper” to protect him from military conscription during his visit to Syria. The soldier then told him he had to visit Branch 251, without specifying the nature of this branch.

The soldier asked Nafisa to go to the second window to get a paper confirming he would visit Branch 251. There, Nafisa asked the second soldier about the branch’s nature, but the soldier refused to answer and demanded a bribe of 100,000 Syrian pounds before telling him it was Al-Khatib Branch, one of the most notorious intelligence branches in Syria.

After hearing the branch’s name, Nafisa felt scared and decided not to enter Syria, returning to the first soldier to say he no longer wished to visit Syria. However, the soldier refused and said he must enter the country, prompting Nafisa to bribe him with 100,000 pounds to stamp his passport with an exit mark to return to Lebanon, from where he went back to Germany, which he holds citizenship in.

Additional fees for entry and exit

The regime sought to charge fees for granting travel permits. According to the head of the Lawyers Syndicate in the Syrian regime, Al-Firas Fares, the amounts paid by the lawyers who declared their travel and presence abroad amounted to about $250,000, as a lawyer wishing to travel must pay $500 for each subsequent year.

Fares explained to the local Al-Watan newspaper on September 4 that the collected amounts are transferred to the Commercial Bank, which then transfers them to the syndicate in Syrian pounds at the official exchange rate, and then they are distributed to the syndicate’s funds. He noted that many lawyers had submitted travel applications.

Among the financial gains the Assad regime sought to collect from Syrian travelers was imposing additional fees on goods they purchased at the airport.

Syrian actress Alia Saeed previously launched a sarcastic attack on Syrian Airlines and their methods of collecting money from passengers in a video published on her Instagram account last May.

She recounted her experience, saying she traveled via Syrian Airlines from Dubai airport, paying all required fees for the excess weight she carried, but was shocked upon reaching the plane’s gate when officials demanded an extra fee for items purchased from the duty-free shop.

Saeed added that items in the duty-free had already been paid for, questioning, “Is it reasonable to be charged for duty-free goods when boarding the plane, and again when disembarking? It’s unacceptable.”

Despite this, she relented and paid the fee at the plane’s gate. When going to make the payment, passengers were shocked that payment was accepted only in cash. “I only had a small amount of cash, so I had to borrow money from someone sitting next to me,” she said.

The most expensive passport in the world

The highest financial gains the regime reaps from Syrian travelers are through passport issuance, which has reached astronomical figures, making the Syrian passport the most expensive in the world.

The expedited passport issuance fee for Syrians abroad is $800, while the regular passport issuance fee is $350.

Last January, the Syrian regime raised the passport issuance fees for Syrians inside the country. According to the new pricing, the General Directorate of Immigration and Passports under the Ministry of Interior set the standard passport issuance fee at 312,700 Syrian pounds.

The expedited passport issuance fee was set at 432,700 pounds, and the immediate passport fee at around 2 million Syrian pounds.

The Director of the Directorate of Immigration and Passports, Khaled Hadid, told the local Al-Watan newspaper that the standard passport issuance takes 45 days, the expedited one takes 21 days, and the immediate passport takes three days.