A US Immigration Lawyer has clarified how many people mistake privilege for right when it comes to the US B1/B2 visa.
Apparently, many visa applicants see it as their right to get the visa. After all, fees are paid and accepted by the US embassy. However, according to the former US visa officer Brad Bernstein, visa applicants need to understand that the US does not owe them a visa!
In fact, the issuance of a visa is the prerogative of the consular officer who interviews you and their decision is final, and without appeal.
“You have no right to a tourist or student visa. When you get interviewed at the US Embassy, the US embassy doesn’t have to give the visa to anybody. The United States doesn’t have to give a visa to anybody. The US visa officer better like you. And there’s no appeal,” he said.
Demeaned & rejected: Our visa interview woes at the US Embassy in Kenya
Mr. Bernstein was responding a visa applicant who lamented that the decision on who gets the visa and who is denied can boil down to an officer’s mood.
“It’s absolutely ridiculous that the mood of the officer decides whether you can get a visa or not. How this is even legal is beyond me!” he had lamented.
The remarks by Mr. Bernstein come at a time when more Kenyans have come out to complain on social media about their visa rejections at the US Embassy in Nairobi and how they were treated by visa officers at this embassy.
“Someone tell me what’s happening in the US Embassy in Nairobi. I went for the visa interview last week on 25, 04,2024 and let me tell you I was denied (pink paper). Mind you, I have a rich traveling history and I was in the USA in 2018 and my 5 year visa expired in December 2022. I also traveled to Zanzibar last year. I have a job, family ties and let’s say all the requirements,” one rejected applicant complained recently.
“Everyone who was in front of me ( more than 10 people) were all denied. It was a 7 am appointment and you know how Gigiri is cold. I almost missed my exit door. I am yet to heal. The money, time and the heartbreak…They should refund our money.”
