By Lucy Caulkett-
The Germany foreign office has apologised after tweeting an offensive joke about its visa application process being seductive.
The joke was based on the trending hashtag #SeduceSomeoneInFourWords, where Twitter users come up with four words that could spark romance sparked negative reactions from those who consider the visa application process to enter Germany quite frustrating.
The @GermanyDiplo Twitter account tacked on the hashtag to its tweet: “Your visa got approved.”
The joke was deleted hours later and a second tweet admitted that humour was “not always our strong suit”.The apology read: “Being funny is apparently not always our strong suit. We deleted the tweet below and apologize to all who were offended by this.
“We know the visa process is complex, and visa decisions can deeply affect peoples’ lives. Our colleagues take these decisions very seriously.”
The joke was branded “condescending” and “not funny” by one Twitter user and “utterly disgusting” by another.
Others cited their own experiences of trying to get a visa, talking about delays in the process or rejections arriving days before they were due to enter the country.
Twitter user @MehdiSejdiu wrote: “People wait years for a visa, often for family reunion, medical treatment or working/studying. The process is often really hard and often humiliating for someone from a developing country. Seeing them joking about it is outright offensive.”
But Rahsan Gulsan, a Turkish journalist, wrote: “Even though it’s terribly hard and sometimes humiliating to try to get visa from German Consulate, the joke is still very funny!”
Germany welcomes more immigrants than any other country aside from the United States, with more than 12 million of the country’s population having come from overseas, according to United Nations figures.