Case of A.B.

A won the DV–Lottery, but her luck ran out when she ran into the “wrong” consul. At her visa interview, the consul drew a triangle and demanded that she calculate the number of degrees in one of the angles. A was confused — she had graduated high school and so met the requirements for the Diversity Visa. (In fact, she was a university student.) But she didn’t know she was going to be tested from her high school math class! She was unable to answer the question. She was then refused under Section 203(c) of the Immigration and Nationality Act for not meeting the minimum education qualifications. Compounding her problem, there was less than a month remaining to the expiration of the DV program. After she contacted us, we immediately contacted Washington, alerting them to the consul exceeding his authority by imposing these academic checks. After a brief review, the visa was issued a week before the deadline.