you will never be given a visa
he silently stood, facing the consul.the consular officer repeated "you will never be given a visa by this embassy. you have no travel record."
he quickly pulled out some papers. "but i'm a general manager, i have good pay, i want to introduce my new wife to my family."
the consul quipped "they all live in the united states, don't they. because of that, and since you don't have any travel experience, you are unqualified to receive a visa."
"but we were going to have our honeymoon this summer. we were going to cyprus and to greece, but the war broke out. now we want to go visit for two weeks, over christmas."
"i'm sorry sir. you are unqualified."
the manager walked away from the stall, and out of the embassy, his wife by his side.
"will ______ come to window 5?"
an old man slouched to the stall. the consul, while typing some notes, demanded "why do you want to go to the states."
"i want to visit."
"who will you visit?"
"my children."
"do you have any immediate family in lebanon."
"no."
"i'm sorry sir, i will not be able to give you a visa."
"will _____ come to window 5?"
a young woman - around her thirties - stands up and walks towards the consul. he does the usual rounds. "why do you want to go to the states?"
she replies "i've been accepted as an assistant professor at _____ in the field of ______."
"what papers from the university do you have with you?"
she hands over a file, and after some back and forth, he concludes "come back and pick up your passport after 3 days."
"will ________ come to window 5?"
an old woman picks up her cane and almost trips on her way to the window. he begins with the usual "why do you want to go to the states?"
"i want to visit my son."
"what family do you have in lebanon?"
"i have a daughter with me."
"i'm sorry, i will not be able to give you a visa."
"why not? i haven't seen my son and his family in 7 years."
"you are unqualified." he pulls out a sheet of paper, and presses it against the pane of glass separating them. his finger traces the phrase "must have sufficient social and economic ties."
she seems tense. "i haven't seen them in 7 years. i tried applying before, but you rejected my application. i have papers here ... from my family ... an invitation."
"i'm sorry. you are unqualified for a visa to the united states of america."
"do you need more papers?"
"i'm sorry. you are unqualified for a visa to the united states of america."
---
posted by Lazarus, 1:04 PM
9 Comments:
Dear L,
care to add a comment/explanation for the juhhaal?
--MSK
By
Anonymous, at 2:04 PM
And then you go to a Walmart here in the US, and half the staff doesnt even speak english...sigh.
By
Anonymous, at 6:31 PM
My government's visa policies disgust me. I am sorry the consular officer is such a rude bastard. Really it's grotesque. I wish it were different - and that the people are not allowed to visit their relatives is really America's loss.
I have a whole tribe of cousins now making great lives for themselves in Dubai because of the asininity of the US consular officers. They were all denied student visas after 9/11. Again, I say it's America's loss.
By
Leila Abu-Saba, at 10:24 PM
MSK - in a visit to the US embassy, these were just some people I saw applying for the US visa.
Leb. Expat - to be fair, some of them had spoken in arabic. this is just a translation.
Leila - to tell you the truth, some of the visa rejections "make sense", if that makes sense. but it's just sad watching it happen.
By
Lazarus, at 11:26 AM
Dear L,
yeah ... THAT is obvious.
But I think it would be quite interesting for non-Leb(-expert) readers if you could write little explanations on each case so the non-initiated would understand why in each case the person didn't get the visa.
On that note, did you ever see that short film "Miracle" from the Festival du Film Libanais DVD?
--MSK
By
Anonymous, at 3:14 PM
MSK -
well, i'm not affiliated with the US embassy (never was and most probably will never be), and as such can not provide exact reasons for why those visas were rejected.
but my hypothesis is:
person 1 - i don't know. it seems that travel experience is a must.
person 2: he has no family in lebanon, and thus with almost 100% probability, he will settle down in the states. i believe for non-immigrant visas (which is the case here since he was applying for a tourist visa) you must sign that you have no immigration intentions.
person 3: accepted. she had valid paperwork, and from what i've heard, rarely do H1 visas get rejected (lately, that is).
person 4: same as person 2.
does this clarify things?
By
Lazarus, at 11:21 PM
oh, and no, i haven't watched miracle yet.
By
Lazarus, at 11:22 PM
Dear L,
actually, looking over the cases, I think the following:
(1) All his family lives in the U.S., he just got married, and he never traveled back&forth & thus showed that all those countless times that he could've "just stayed in the U.S." he didn't but came back to Lebanon = now he wants to move to the U.S.
(2) Agree with you.
(3) Classic "will get visa" situation - she got hired by a reputable U.S. institution & the paperwork is complete.
(4) Maybe if she'd've left her daughter in Lebanon it would've qualified to prove that she would return.
In the end ... consular workers are the worst of the diplomatic staff. I could tell you tales from the Gulf ...
Oh, one question - was the consular officer American or local? In my experience the locals tend to be much, much worse than the Western staff.
--MSK
By
Anonymous, at 12:37 PM
MSK -
yes, i agree with your explanation for (1). as for (4), she was leaving her daughter behind - she applied for a visa on her own. that case is odd, as i believe it possible for her son - assuming all his legal papers are in order - to officially send his mother some sort of immigration papers.
and the consular officer was an american. in general though, the US embassy here is still "decent" - the best was the swiss (is that surprising?) and the worst was the german embassy in lebanon (traumatizing experience).
By
Lazarus, at 10:48 PM
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