U.S. Consulate – Visas Approval Inconsistency

As Easter approached, teachers at a primary school in a Caribbean island planned to take a group of children to Disney World in Orlando, Florida. In the group, there were two eight year old cousins. Both cousins are the children of twin sisters and all live at the family home. So, both cousins who have grown up playing together in the same home were looking forward to going to Disney World together and anxiously awaited the day they would go to the United States embassy to obtain their visas. Parents accompanied their children who made up a small group of twenty. The first cousin, a little girl, was the second person in the group to approach an Immigration Officer. She stood in front of the officer with her mom, a hard working woman who leaves for work for her retail job at sunrise and returns home well after sunset. The officer asked her about her employment and she explained what her job entailed. Suddenly, the officer abruptly advised her that the application for her daughter was not approved and she should try again next year. At first, the little girl did not understand the decision that was made. However, when it was later explained by her mother, she cried profusely and her uncontrollable whaling became too much for her mother to bear. However, the event was not yet over since the little girl’s cousin and his mother had to appear before the same Immigration Officer. After learning of her niece’s visa denial, the aunt decided to act indifferent during the interview with the Immigration Officer since she felt her son too would be denied a visa. So, when the Immigration Officer asked her about her occupation, she responded in a nonchalant manner, “Mi no do nothing sir but sell bag juice to children at mi yard.” Then, the immigration officer beckoned her to go to another side of the room where the visa would be processed for her son! Greatly surprised by the decision, she quickly moved to the other side of the room even though she did not have sufficient money for the processing fee. Ironically, her hardworking sister offered to make the payment. This is one example where the issuance and denial of a visa do not seem to be logical. Unfortunately, with the high cost of the visa application fees too many applicants leave the embassy with no visa and lose out on the hundreds of dollars that they scrounged to obtain for the fee.