In the city of Abidjan in Ivory Coast, large advertising banners for immigration specialists are posted all over town. Reflecting a collective desire for better opportunities abroad, the existence of these services speaks to the difficulty of navigating the visa application process on your own. Covering the day-to-day of one such agency, N’tifafa YE Glikou’s insightful and deeply moving film reveals the colossal hurdles faced by Ivorians who want to migrate to the global north.

Instead of focusing on a single case, Campus Monde follows a series of consulting sessions with different applicants. Deliberately undramatic in its approach, this structure showcases how visa challenges are not an individual obstacle but rather a systematic one. For example, for those who would like to enrol in a university abroad, an acceptance letter and a strong academic background are not enough. Furthermore, the stress of the visa interview also weighs heavily on applicants’ minds; a moment of hesitation or nervousness could cost them their dreams.

One notable case involves a young social worker who has been invited to speak at a prestigious UN conference, but whose visa was denied. The fact that her speech is about fighting poverty makes the refusal even more painfully ironic. How can the people from the global south and their struggles be heard, when such administrative procedures exclude their voices from the international stage?

As the visa process can take months, if not years, some have turned to illegal routes, with tragic consequences. With anti-immigrant rhetoric continuing to rise, Campus Monde mounts a powerful refutation of rightwing talking points. By demonstrating how bureaucratically restrictive and emotionally taxing the immigration process is even when done the “right” way, Glikou’s documentary lays bare the toll of passport inequality.

• Campus Monde is on True Story from 10 January.