Dear Editor,
Mr Krishna Nand Prasad with a sweeping brush accuses all Guyanese of being dishonest when it comes to acquiring US non-immigrant visas and believes that the US Embassy has a justifiable system for issuing B1/B2 visas (SN ‘US Embassy has reason not to trust Guyanese visa applicants,’ 19.8.08). Mr Prasad, it would seem, is not a Guyanese and has no reason to include himself in his own criticism. Furthermore, he must have worked as a visa officer or had been informed by one, because he seems to have some inside information on the number of fraud cases that the embassy encounters on a daily basis. If not, he must also possess some of the psychic abilities that are presently required by those visa scrutinizers. On a more serious note, has the current system, which Mr Prasad favours, resulted in the US Embassy being in a better position to accurately tell if an applicant has sufficient ties?
US presidential candidate Barack Obama is an ardent believer in the concept of empathy. Empathy should guide us in all of our decisions and actions towards others, Mr Obama has said on many occasions, including recently at a religious discussion with a leading evangelical leader. The current administration at the local embassy would do well to apply this concept when dealing with visa applicants. They should try to become that businessman/woman who has no choice but to travel to the US to conduct business, that athlete who wants to compete in a tournament but only to see his dreams dashed or that father/mother who wants to go see his/her child graduate from university. They should put themselves in our shoes and think were it them, would they think that their system is fair. What if, for instance, the Chinese government had disqualified most of the US athletes from entering its country or American businessmen were being denied Chinese visas (just by reading body language) to conduct business? There would have been an enormous outcry and US retaliation.
I want to emphasize that there are many cost-effective methods the embassy can employ to check on the legitimacy of applicants’ ties. Come to think of it, any other method is better than the current one. Yours faithfully,
Clinton Urling
