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Len Kusnitz
Charge d’Affaires
US Embassy, Port-of-Spain wrote:Recently several stories on US visas have appeared in the press. In the spirit of providing further context to your readers, I offer the following information:
• Visas are issued to approximately 70 per cent of T&T applicants. In the majority of tourist and business person cases, these visas are good for ten years, hopefully making any consulate wait time more bearable since this should be a once-in-a-decade experience.
• To protect the integrity of the system, by law no one—including an ambassador—can interfere in the consulate’s decision. We also are limited by privacy laws in discussing a specific case with anyone but the applicant.
• The fee paid by applicants is for processing, not the visa, and that is why refunds are not pos-sible. The processing fee goes directly to Washington and is placed in a central fund that pays other US agencies for their visa-related services (eg the FBI for fingerprint checks) and for world-wide consular operations, including ours.
• With the advent of new anti-fraud measures that include fingerprinting and facial recogni-tion, it is not possible to issue a visa on the same day as the interview.
This information must be sent to Washington to be run against databases maintained there and the procedure takes approximately two business days.
• Even during busy seasons like now, we endeavour to keep the wait time for an interview reasonable by using an online appointment system (http:// trinidad.usembassy.gov). For those who can plan ahead, we suggest applying in non-peak months (October-November, March-May).
• We are very customer service oriented. Our staff is aware of the importance of treating applicants with dignity and respect and does so daily. Illustrative of this, we conducted a visa applicant cus-tomer satisfaction survey in February and the results were overwhelmingly positive. We will be conducting another survey later this year. Our very profes-sional consulate staff works extremely hard and well and I am honoured to call them my colleagues.
• It is not possible at this time to consider T&T for the visa waiver programme due to the approximately 20 per cent over-stay rate of those travelling to the US. To qualify, a country’s over-stay rate must be less than two per cent. I hope the foregoing has been of value to you and your readers.
US Embassy, Trinidad & Tobago wrote:The following documents are not required but can be brought in to support your case: Job letter with current monthly salary, and length of employment, bank statement with an average 6 month balance, tax returns, land deed, marriage certificate and spouse’s passport. For business visas, applicants can bring information about the business to be conducted in the U.S. including: Job letter from employer explaining the business to be conducted in the U.S., travel itinerary, and training/convention information.
Consular Officer B wrote:We have been advised by Washington not to look at those documents
Trinidad Express wrote:A worldwide increase in the application fees, from US$131 to US$140, for tourist and business visitor visas to visit the United States is now being proposed by that country’s Department of State.
The reason, according to the US State Department, is that the existing US$131 fee does not cover the cost of processing the visa applications.
Trinidad and Tobago nationals seeking to enter the US now pay the US$131 (TT$836) application fee like all other applicants around the world, with no guarantees of actually getting the visas.
If the State Department’s proposal is approved, this would mean the new fee would be $140 (TT$983).
The US State Department announced its application fee increase proposal for non-immigrant B1/B2 (tourist/business visitor) visas, and also those for petition-based visas, such as those for temporary workers and trainees, in a media note first published on its website on Monday.
It added that under the proposed rule, ’applicants for all visas that are not petition-based, including B1/B2 tourist and business visitor visas and all student and exchange-visitor visas, would pay a fee of $140.’
The State Department is also proposing an increase to US$150 for the application fees for visas for temporary workers and trainees, intracompany transferees, aliens with extraordinary ability, athletes, artists and entertainers, international cultural exchange visitors and religious occupations.
’The application fee for K visas for fiancé(e)s of US citizens would be (US)$350. The fee for E visas for treaty-traders and treaty-investors would be $390,’ the State Department stated.
During a post-Cabinet news conference on June 18, Foreign Affairs Minister Paula Gopee-Scoon had said that 20 per cent of Trinidad and Tobago nationals who are granted visas are staying in the US longer than they are supposed to, and this had been contributing to an increase in the number of those who are being denied their visa applications.
Newsday (re: Trinis Good For US Economy) wrote:TRINIDAD and Tobago nationals who visit, study or work in the United States are good for the American economy, according to US State Department Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary (Bureau of Consular Affairs) Michael Kirby.
He offered this view while underscoring the US’ commitment to work with the Government of TT to address difficulties encountered by some citizens of this country in recent times in obtaining US visas.
Kirby also suggested that the current state of the US economy might be affecting “the applicant poolâ€
Victory_Specification wrote:got refused today. apparently it is very difficult for students to show strong ties. despite showing banks statements that have to pay for medical school. i think it depends on who interviews you. i wonder if when you get rejected you get interviewed by the same person the next time you apply.
Victory_Specification wrote:I am just alarmed at the subjectivity of the interview. But somebody also said that the decision is probably already made even before they speak to you. But i have no idea why my application would be in refused. Ive been to the states quite a few times, and never overstayed.
I wonder how often they rotate the officers. I'm thinking of re applying very soon. From my limited experience, this visa application is nothing more than a lottery at best.
Trinidad Express (re: Imagine, terrorist with US Visa) wrote:The US Embassy in Port of Spain loves to give us a hard time to get a visa. People wishing to visit relatives to attend weddings or funerals are heartlessly denied visas; people wanting to see their loved ones who may be seriously ill are denied visas with rude aloofness; children dreaming of that dream trip to Disney World are denied visas with calculated coldness; the examples are numerous.
By a strange twist a Nigerian terrorist with Al-Qaeda links is given a US visa by the US Embassy in London and subsequently boards an aircraft with the intention to blow it up in mid air! Even when his father warns the London Embassy the visa is not withdrawn. What irony.
This is not an anti American letter and I am not an American hater. In fact, I love and admire the US and her people. However, this is an anti ’US Embassy in Trinidad’’ letter!
noshownogo wrote:I drop someone Tuesday morning for a 7:30am appointment, she is a student with no job and she got through, the only difference is she married a year. I dunno if that swayed in her favour as it could have been noted as "ties" to T&T.
She said they asked if she intended to get a job, why she wanted a Visa, and if she was aware how much it cost to make a trip to the US. The rest was formality and scanning marriage cert, husband's banking documents, job letter, old VISA and passport and any other assets/loans acquired by the couple.
Trinidad Express wrote:I went to the US Embassy last week for my interview and was shocked to see so many people getting visas. I mean, many went to the red TTPost desk, so I assume they got through. I also got through, even though after reading all the news, it was unexpected. So what is the story? How many do get through with visas?
-Geeta in Golden Grove
Dear Geeta
I am glad to hear that you were qualified for a visa to the US. The fact is that a large majority of persons in Trinidad and Tobago who apply at the US Embassy in Port of Spain for non-immigrant visas receive them. The latest official figures (covering the US fiscal year that ran from October 1, 2008 until September 30, 2009) show that 67 per cent of persons who applied for tourist/business visas (B1/B2) received them.
When all visa categories (eg students, exchange visitors, etc) are added together, this figure is almost exactly 70 per cent. In other words, seven out of every ten persons who come to our consulate leave with a visa.
Unfortunately, this does mean that 30 per cent of applicants do not receive visas. In 2009, we had a total of 36,000 applicants so it is not surprising that one might encounter persons refused who express displeasure and that some of their unhappiness feeds the incorrect urban legend that ’no one gets a visa’.
Our consular officers do not enjoy turning people down, but are legally bound to adjudicate cases according to US law. The good news is that, under that law, seven of every ten Trinidad and Tobago applicants currently are qualifying for visas. We are pleased that you were one of those persons and wish you a safe and pleasant journey
luvmyswagger wrote:u think u having a hard time at the us embassy, u ent gone to the trinidad consulate in ny..then u go see what a hard time is..u ent go believe how they does treat they own ppl.
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