A Vincentian woman is making a public plea to the prime minister of St Vincent and his colleagues in the Windward Islands to advance to the US State Department a case for nationals to get at least a partial refund when being denied a U.S. visa.
The cost for a US tourist visa is $185 USD, according to the U.S. Department of State (.gov). This fee applies to non-immigrant visas for visitor purposes, including business or tourism (B1/B2 and BCCs).
One woman who wished only to be known as Mary told St Vincent Times that after spending $5000 dollars between herself and her daughter, both were denied, only to be told, “Wait until your situation gets better and try again.”
“I am a small business owner; my daughter is in secondary school. She just wanted a holiday; she has never been to the U.S. What am I going to do, run off in New York and leave my daughter here to suffer?”
“You go through all of the appointments, tickets, accommodation, bank statements, business registration, and school letters. It’s crazy, and now you cannot even pick the time you want. Everyone must be in Barbados for 7.45 in the morning, so Barbados makes money off you. It’s crazy.”
“You know they usually look at your bank statements very closely, and I had two with over $20,000 in each, so clearly spending 3 weeks in New York is something I could have done easily.”
“This needs to be looked into by our leaders. These people cannot be just making money and turning down people for dumb reasons; on the same day, 12 of us from St Vincent were turned down.”
A second woman who in this article is known as Jay said she also was turned away by the embassy even as an American citizen.
“I was adopted by citizens of America when I was under 10. I am a U.S. citizen, an American passport holder. I have a child, which I gave birth to in St Vincent, so I went to the embassy to get a passport for the child.”
“I applied for the passport for the baby, which I have a right to, and was refused. All they told me was to try again; could you believe this?” Jay stated.
