In pursuit of that US visa

Jun 01, 2011 Letters

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Dear Editor,
Some years ago I saw a crowd outside the American Embassy on Main Street. As usual they were all there for one purpose – to obtain a visa for entry into the USA. Among them was a friend of mine who lived in Ituni, a community some thirty-five miles from Linden.
He told me how long he had been waiting; how many times, the number of trips he made, and the long anxious waits. He explained to me how badly he wanted to go; that his only wish/dream was to go to the USA, and though the embassy is really giving him a hard time, he will continue to endure it all. “Ah must get through someday Fifee,” he concluded, with an emphatic and positive voice of hope..
There are reasons galore why many people want to go to the “home of the brave and land of the free”: In search of greener pastures; a multiplicity of opportunities; in pursuit of a career/self development; to secure a future; to help/provide for family/siblings; to escape the scourge of poverty, in a word, to realize their dreams.
The officials, the authorities at the US embassy in Georgetown, know all of the above very well, more than anyone else. Ever since, the reasons and objectives of the majority of ordinary individuals/families have remained the same, especially those from poor underdeveloped Third World countries.
Why then do they (US) treat these people in such a shabby manner that people have now come to accept without a murmur?
It is the stark evidence that they take pleasurable advantage of people whom they witness daily flocking their embassy, at their mercy, so desperate to experience their culture and be a part of their economy.
People gather and line up outside on the road from as early as 5 o’clock in the morning for interviews etc., be it in sun or rain, no matter your illness, people from far reaching areas –like my friend – literally start traveling from as early as 2:00AM, they stand in lines for long hours without eating (they are even afraid to do that), they must exercise extreme physical control since there is no public convenience anywhere around, and one is reluctant to leave and beg assistance elsewhere fearing their names/number may be called, thus losing their turn.
At the interview one is rejected almost on any or every ground from getting a visa. You feel forced to lie, even if you were lucky to receive a genuine offer from someone with full coverage.
You still have to prove to these good people beyond a shadow of doubt that you are not even remotely anti anything USA, or one scintilla in disagreement; not that they have asked you, but you know that it is implied, critically important and that impression must be made as clear as day – unquestionable.
Get them to understand that you are more innocuous than a dead mouse. You have to convince them that you have no desire whatsoever, that the USA does not appeal to you, then and only then you would have demonstrated your eligibility for entry into the great USA. Not even the death or funeral of a close relative matters to them, be it mother/father, sister/brother, daughter/son.
These do not earn any
consideration. It is the same cold stone mechanical and suspicious methods that are applied. Yet there seems to be times when the mood of the interviewer takes control and you pray/hope that your luck comes up.
For some people going for a visa is like a kind of stress, though I understand that they take pleasure in giving visas to the elderly, the merrier if they are disabled.
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Then after being unsuccessful in your effort you are given that insipid, prepared, undated and unsigned letter of rejection with its contemptuous ending: “If you do decide to reapply, you must submit a new application form and a photo and pay the visa application fee again. There can be no guarantee that you will receive a different decision ….”
I don’t see this as being straightforward. The tone is somewhat rude, like a put down that makes you feel like a cent ice, as if you just lost to a three-card player. And this is what happens regularly to poor people who saved, borrowed and squeezed to make that US$130 application fee.
As I see it, the US harbours the thought that it is the only country on God’s earth that really matters. Its officers have this pompous idea that the US is the only country capable of rendering assistance to all the world, and it is this presumption that leads them to display this “God like” arrogant, callous and supercilious attitude towards natives.
I conclude that the USA is surely a country that bears the hallmark of contradictions, a country that defines and exemplifies inconsistencies, where heaven and hell co-exist; possessing the best of everything along with the worst of everything; the most philanthropic and humane, yet cold insidious and belligerent.
A nation that polices the world and pokes its nose in all and sundry affairs and lords it over sovereign states, yes, these are the people who walk in any country, anytime, anyhow and are accepted.
Contrary to what President Obama says the USA continues to treat natives like scraps.
Frank Fyffe

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