If flying is less expensive than taking the boats, why do Syrians come to Europe through the sea?

Most people think that who arrives in Italy through the sea does it because they do not have enough money to pay for an airplane or because they want to try escaping controls at the border. Let’s prove these myths wrong right away by saying that a one-way ticket from Egypt or Libya to Northern Europe costs between 300 and 500 Euros, whereas the sea crossing to Southern Europe costs between 1.000 to 1.500 American dollars per person. At the same time, people who arrive to Europe by sea are registered right away by the authorities and brought into shelters or detention centres. The question then is, why do these people risk their lives trying and come to Europe through the sea?

In order to apply for asylum in a European country you need to be on the country’s territory: this means that it is not possible to do so through an Embassy in a third country. The possibility to apply for a temporary permit that would allow you to get to the country you have chosen and try and apply for the asylum also does not exist.

At the same time, Syrians (like most people who are not citizens of a EU country) need a visa in order to be allowed to get on a plain to a European country. A visa allows you to stay within the country for a specific amount of time for touristic, study or work reasons. However, for a person who comes from a country south of the Mediterranean Sea, the requirements to obtain these kind of visas to a EU member country are almost impossible to be met, the procedure is highly expensive, and applying for a visa in order to later ask for asylum would mean to be lying to the country that you would want to accept your asylum application. For a Syrian who flees war, there are therefore close-to-no legal ways to get to a European country that has promised you rights and support, like Sweden did in 2012, and apply for asylum.

The only way to do so is through illegal trafficking of human beings: most of the times this means boats. Traffickers excessively fill the boats with hundreds of people not caring for their safety or arrival, but caring for the profit they can gain from it. People who arrive to Europe through the sea put their lives and the lives of their families in great danger; it is important to understand that they do not do it because of convenience or in order to try and get to these countries without being seen by the authorities. They choose this way because European laws and regulations on immigration do not give them other choices.