Purpose of this blog
I would like to share my story about trying to get my Romanian family to visit with me in the USA and encourage other people to share their stories here. This is an unbeliveble experience of how an USA Government Agency is disconnecting our family and our countries, all based on subjective evaluation grounds. My husband and I, honorable American citizens and taxpayers, have never failed any immigration laws and have no intent for any of our family members to ever do so.
I am a Romanian American and I married a native American citizen in Romania in October 2000, while he was working there. We relocated to the USA in March 2003. In 2006, I have received the great honor of becoming American citizen. We are a happy family, have two beautiful kids and a nice house. While we have been visiting our Romanian family on yearly basis, my brother and his wife have never had a chance to visit us in the USA. The USA Consulate in Bucharest constantly rejected this elementary family visitation request.
My brother and his wife, Romanian citizens, they are a regular family with no children. They have a house and they both have good jobs. Here is the history of their tourist visa applications:
• October 2006, applied and interviewed together, both rejected
• September 2008, my brother applied alone, rejected
• June 2009, applied and interviewed separately, both rejected
All rejection reasons were given under Section 214(b), that they were presumed to be intending immigrants, the vague and general reason given to any rejected applicant. Please note that each interview application requires a visa application fee of $130 USD.
My brother and his wife are eligible for to immigrate to the US, as Family Based Immigrants (F4): “Brothers and sisters of United States citizens, and their spouses and children, provided the U.S. citizens are at least 21 years of age”. Yet, they are denied a tourist visa for the same reason, presumed to be intending immigrants, that they are eligible for, as explained above. This is nonsense.
This Immigration law is flawed and subjective. The sponsor’s background can supply valuable information in connection to the applicant, primarily when the sponsor is a family member. As an example, if an American citizen with a criminal record sponsors a visa application how can that information be disregarded as a visa criteria? Conversely, if a good American citizen with an impeccable record and reputation sponsors a visa how can that not be considered as an advantage to the applicant?
Like my brother, hundreds of Romanians (with or without close family relatives in the USA) are denied tourist visa requests without any valid reason, other than, the vague "did not demonstrate strong ties outside of the USA". The implementation of the immigration law during the visa interview is very subjective and at the discretion of the consular officer. The “strong ties outside of the USA” demonstration is very difficult to convey if (like in my brother’s case) one is lacking the skills of a lawyer, gets nervous, inhibited or intimidated. Very often, the consular officers apply treatments that make the applicants feel humiliated and discouraged. Such as, they ask very few general summary questions, giving the candidate the impression that they should not speak if not invited or asked. In addition, the consular officers do not take the time to go through all of the documents presented at the time of the interview. They have 3 minutes for the entire interview and to decide if the applicant has merits to be granted a tourist visa. This way, many honest Romanian visa applicants like my brother and his wife are expeditiously and erroneously rejected. They may re-apply but with minimal chances of success.
Romania is a member of European Union and one of our allies. The visa rejection rate at the USA Consulate in Bucharest is currently the highest in the European Union, 37.7% in 2007 and 25.2% in 2008, 26% in 2009 while Romanian troops are fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan next to our American troops. This is wrong and very subjective.
Before the last visa interview, my brother told me that was the last time he will ever go to the USA Consulate to apply for a visa. If denied, he said, I will never go again. The entire visa application process hurt him deeply and made him feel like a disgraced castaway. How does somebody feel when they are told they are liars, when from the bottom of their hearts, they know they tell the truth?
It also hurts me every day of my life every time when I am thinking about my brother and my sister in law. They know our house from photos and videos. I wish our families could share the joy of Christmas in our beautiful house, here on American soil. It seems that this is something forbidden for them to see with their own eyes, and that for a very false reason. And it hurts every day of my life…
I am a Romanian American and I married a native American citizen in Romania in October 2000, while he was working there. We relocated to the USA in March 2003. In 2006, I have received the great honor of becoming American citizen. We are a happy family, have two beautiful kids and a nice house. While we have been visiting our Romanian family on yearly basis, my brother and his wife have never had a chance to visit us in the USA. The USA Consulate in Bucharest constantly rejected this elementary family visitation request.
My brother and his wife, Romanian citizens, they are a regular family with no children. They have a house and they both have good jobs. Here is the history of their tourist visa applications:
• October 2006, applied and interviewed together, both rejected
• September 2008, my brother applied alone, rejected
• June 2009, applied and interviewed separately, both rejected
All rejection reasons were given under Section 214(b), that they were presumed to be intending immigrants, the vague and general reason given to any rejected applicant. Please note that each interview application requires a visa application fee of $130 USD.
My brother and his wife are eligible for to immigrate to the US, as Family Based Immigrants (F4): “Brothers and sisters of United States citizens, and their spouses and children, provided the U.S. citizens are at least 21 years of age”. Yet, they are denied a tourist visa for the same reason, presumed to be intending immigrants, that they are eligible for, as explained above. This is nonsense.
This Immigration law is flawed and subjective. The sponsor’s background can supply valuable information in connection to the applicant, primarily when the sponsor is a family member. As an example, if an American citizen with a criminal record sponsors a visa application how can that information be disregarded as a visa criteria? Conversely, if a good American citizen with an impeccable record and reputation sponsors a visa how can that not be considered as an advantage to the applicant?
Like my brother, hundreds of Romanians (with or without close family relatives in the USA) are denied tourist visa requests without any valid reason, other than, the vague "did not demonstrate strong ties outside of the USA". The implementation of the immigration law during the visa interview is very subjective and at the discretion of the consular officer. The “strong ties outside of the USA” demonstration is very difficult to convey if (like in my brother’s case) one is lacking the skills of a lawyer, gets nervous, inhibited or intimidated. Very often, the consular officers apply treatments that make the applicants feel humiliated and discouraged. Such as, they ask very few general summary questions, giving the candidate the impression that they should not speak if not invited or asked. In addition, the consular officers do not take the time to go through all of the documents presented at the time of the interview. They have 3 minutes for the entire interview and to decide if the applicant has merits to be granted a tourist visa. This way, many honest Romanian visa applicants like my brother and his wife are expeditiously and erroneously rejected. They may re-apply but with minimal chances of success.
Romania is a member of European Union and one of our allies. The visa rejection rate at the USA Consulate in Bucharest is currently the highest in the European Union, 37.7% in 2007 and 25.2% in 2008, 26% in 2009 while Romanian troops are fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan next to our American troops. This is wrong and very subjective.
Before the last visa interview, my brother told me that was the last time he will ever go to the USA Consulate to apply for a visa. If denied, he said, I will never go again. The entire visa application process hurt him deeply and made him feel like a disgraced castaway. How does somebody feel when they are told they are liars, when from the bottom of their hearts, they know they tell the truth?
It also hurts me every day of my life every time when I am thinking about my brother and my sister in law. They know our house from photos and videos. I wish our families could share the joy of Christmas in our beautiful house, here on American soil. It seems that this is something forbidden for them to see with their own eyes, and that for a very false reason. And it hurts every day of my life…
