Posts tagged “Department of State”

The first indicator of the questionable nature of these Voluntary Statements are the lengths to which consular officers go to obstruct their disclosure to the visa applicant. As a general rule and enshrined by Section 222(f) of the Immigration and Nationality Act, visa records are considered confidential and not subject to disclosure. However, there is an exception for documentation submitted by the applicant; such documents are subject to disclosure. In the case of the Voluntary Statements in India, the consular officer does not give a copy to the applicant at the conclusion of the interview. This, notwithstanding the draconian visa consequences and criminal liability that the applicant has been exposed to by signing the Voluntary Statement. The consular officer’s “Bible”, the Foreign Affairs Manual (FAM), makes it abundantly clear that these statements are releasable to the applicant: 2. d. (U) Documents Releasable to Applicant: The documents listed below are deemed…

US embassies and consulates abroad adjudicate more than 13 million visa applications a year, so when changes are made to the rules governing visa decisionmaking, the potential impact can be enormous. That is the case with two recent changes in the Foreign Affairs Manual, the State Department’s guidance to consular officers making visa decisions. The revisions, unfortunately, are not for the better for visa applicants. 90 Day Rule The most important change — with the most severe potential consequences — relates to the pronouncement of a new 90 day rule. This rule supplants the previous 30/60 day guidance. The 90 day rule states that “if an alien violates or engages in conduct inconsistent with his or her nonimmigrant status within 90 days of entry," the consul may presume that the “applicant’s representation about engaging in only status-compliant activity were willful misrepresentations of his or her intention in seeking a visa…

In our previous blog, we highlighted the worldwide B visa refusal rates. But those DOS published rates do not convey the entire picture. As any politician knows, when making any tally, the actual number is not important, but how one determines that number that is. The Department of State is no different. The Department of State publishes adjusted refusal rates. The actual refusal rates are not published. In all likelihood the actual refusal rate is higher, and perhaps in some circumstances, substantially so. So how does the DOS “adjust” its statistics? It does so by only counting the last consular action on a particular applicant in a fiscal year. For example, if a businessman applied for a visa and was denied two times in 2015, and on his third attempt, he receives a visa in 2015, only the issuance will be counted; the two refusals will not be counted. If…

The Department of State recently published its 2015 refusal statistics for B visas. Several countries exceed the 60% mark: Syria, Gambia, Federated States of Micronesia, Mauritania, Liberia, Laos, Haiti, Somalia, Guinea-Bissau, Ghana, Cuba, and Afghanistan. Among the most populous countries, the refusal rates greatly vary: China — 10.03%; India — 23.78%; Indonesia — 8.71%; Bangladesh — 59.96%; Pakistan — 40.4%; Nigeria — 32.56%; Russia — 10.24%; Philippines — 27.96%; Turkey — 13.88%; and Ukraine — 34.03%. These 2015 refusal rates represent an increase over 2014 for most of these populous countries: for example, the refusal rate for India jumped nearly 4%; in Turkey — more than 6%; in Ukraine — more than 6%; the Philippines — more than 3%; in Pakistan — more than 2%; in Russia — more than 2%; and China — 1%. While on the surface these percentage increases may not seem significant, for these countries -…

US consular posts around the world are experiencing significant delays in printing nonimmigrant visas because of a software problem. The Department of State advises that visa applicants should expect delays of 10–14 days in the issuance of nonimmigrant visas. This is consistent with our experience; for example, a client was interviewed for a work visa on July 21 and issued his visa on July 31. The Department of State continues to process immigrant visas, including Diversity Lottery visas and emergency visas, quickly — within 2–3 days. Also, individuals with valid visas are not impacted because they do not need a new visa. Similarly, individuals traveling under the Visa Waiver Program are not impacted by the delays because they do not need a visa. However, nonimmigrant visa applicants will continue to be affected because, according to the Department of State, it will take weeks to rectify the problem. Bottom line: Nonimmigrant…

The phone calls keep coming in to our office. From Australia, South Africa, India, Saudi Arabia, Mexico, Russia, Lebanon, all from US visa holders who have had their visas revoked without explanation. It appears that the US government has intensified its visa revocation campaign, particularly against Muslims. The problems encountered by Muslims in dealing with US immigration authorities was the topic of a recently published ACLU report about the discriminatory USCIS Controlled Application Review and Resolution Program (“CARRP”). The report highlights how USCIS misidentifies national security concerns; encourages FBI interference and harassment; mandates pretextual denials; and deprives due process of green-card holding applicants, primarily Muslim, during the naturalization process. These thousands are left in legal limbo for years. If there is one glimmer of hope, it is that these applicants at least are able to wage their battles while in the US, where lawyers, courts, and public opinion can at…

The statistics are stunning. Over the past four years, more than four million visa applications have been temporarily denied under Section 221(g) of the Immigration and Nationality Act, that is to say, the Department of State collected tens of millions of dollars from visa applicants, only to put their applications on hold. Year 221(g) findings in Immigrant Visa Cases 221(g) findings in Nonimmigrant Visa Cases Total 2009 273,227 616,284 889,511 2010 286,889 694,620 981,509 2011 312,968 837,477 1,150,445 2012 303,166 806,773 1,109,939 More stunning is the wait time that thousands of visa applicants are subject to. The US Embassy in London publishes on its website a list of nonimmigrant visa cases subject to 221(g) administrative processing and the intake dates of the applications. As of October 25, 2013, the list encompasses 141 pages and thousands of applicants. 6 individuals have been waiting for four years for action on their applications. More…

The below article was recently published on the Immigrant Lawyer’s Weekly website — http://discuss.ilw.com/content.php?2398-Article-Bait-and-Switch-Department-of-State-Style-by-Kenneth-White Yesterday, we wrote about how USCIS holds out the lure of green cards to foreign entrepreneurs, only to pull back the bait once the businessman has committed untold hours and funds to the development of a business in the United States. The Department of State is no slacker in the bait-and-switch game. It has used the Diversity Green Card Lottery as a means to reap a windfall by holding out the lure of green cards to those selected in the Lottery, only to turn away thousands of applicants after they have paid substantial application fees. The US Embassy in Tashkent is an excellent case study. After the DV Lottery drawing, the selected “winners” submit application forms to the Department of State’s Kentucky Consular Center (“KCC”). The KCC then invites selectees for immigrant visa interviews. At the…

Attached are our memorandum and exhibits addressed to the Office of Inspector General at the Department of State regarding the Summer Work and Travel Program scandal at the US Embassy in Moscow: Memo — swtletter0001; Exhibits — swtexhibits0001

http://www.themoscowtimes.com/news/article/us-embassy-slams-door-on-student-workers/478125.html

The Department of State has just published its annual B visa denial statistics. This year,the big news is the marked decline in the rate of denial for Chinese visitor visa (B) applicants — from 12% in 2011 to 8.5% in 2012. This is good news for the Chinese — and the American economy. Other high-volume countries whose citizens were also the beneficiaries of a steep decrease were India and the Philippines, where refusal rates declined from 30.1% to 24.1% and 33.8% to 23.8%, respectively. Given the usual grouping of the BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India, and China) countries as rapidly developing economic powers, one may be surprised to learn that US consular officers in Brazil deny Brazilian applicants only 3.2% of the time — a rate nearly 8 times less than India and 3 times less than China and Russia. Just last year, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Napolitano announced that…

Rarely have I had the opportunity to see three consular posts so clearly juxtaposed as I have over the past two weeks in dealing with Tashkent, Moscow, and Jakarta. The experience only reinforces the notion that it is the decisionmakers and consular managers who drive visa policy, not the other way around. Tashkent has come a long way since we filed a Complaint with the Department of State Office of Inspector General in 2008. Tashkent is a post with numerous challenges, including fraud, Lottery intermediaries extorting money from Lottery winners, visa overstays, and operating in a relatively poor country. David Mico, the Consul from 2010 to 2012, was a very good manager who kept an open mind in reviewing visa applications and decisions. He was not afraid to correct a mistake made by a consular officer. His replacement, Otto Westhassel, has followed this tradition by re-opening visa decisions when convincing…

“Meet the new boss, same as the old boss…” The Who, “Won’t Get Fooled Again” We have dedicated the last six blog entries to the worsening visa policy of the United States Embassy in Moscow towards Russians. This policy has taken various forms: doubling of the refusal rate, while the refusal rates in other countries, such as Brazil, have gone down significantly; making scurrilous allegations against Russians; not giving Russians the ability to respond to allegations; denying visas to babushkas for spending prolonged periods of time in the US; issuing one-year visas instead of the required two-year visas; charging new application fees for repeat “interviews” in which decisions have been preordained; short-circuiting the return of students to the United States; impermissibly readjudicating approved employment petitions. The implementation of these changes can bae pinpointed to the arrival of Richard Beer as Consul General in the fall of 2009 and the departure…

http://www.ilw.com/articles/2012,0424-white.shtm

http://oig.state.gov/documents/organization/176330.pdf

Please see the attached FAQ (faqdecision).

Thank you for your questions. On Sunday or Monday we will be posting a FAQ about the decision and potential future actions. In addition, we will be sending to named plaintiffs a letter. Thank you for your patience.

Attached is a brief statement on the court’s decision.

I am sorry to say that the Court has ruled against us. I will have more commentary later, but I thought it important to post this news to all of you as soon as possible. Attached is the court order and decision. My heart goes out to all of you.

Thank you to those who attended the hearing today. The hearing allowed for an airing and narrowing of the issues. We anticipate a decision before Friday. We will keep you posted.