Us Consular Office - Bkk

[TokyoT]

I was in the US consular office the other day having them add pages to my passport. While waiting for them to add the pages I overheard a gentleman asking about some details on getting a non-immigrant visa for his wife to the US. The consular officer told him that at the present time over 80% of the visa applications are getting approved.

Yes she said OVER 80%.

At first I thought this number to be WAY too high. But on my way it was hard to miss the huge line of university students both inside and outside, apparently applying for visas. Then I recalled that during my last trip to the consulars office (only about a week ago) there was also a huge line up the road, and many students already inside applying for visas. So maybe the number is not that far off. As it seems to me that a very high percentage of these university students are going to get their visa’s approved.

So the question becomes is the 80% number an aberration due to the large number of uni-students applying that this time of the year. Or does the number hold true throughout the year?

Also found it interesting how she danced around confirming to this gentleman if anything would help to improve his wife’s chances of getting approval (such as the fact that she has already had a non-immigrant visa to the US). Her pat response to almost everything was that everything was judged case-by-case, and that the decision lies with the officer conducting their interview.

I do sympathize with the embassy staff, as any job dealing with a large cross section of people can be difficult. However, they are still basically employees of the state (and by state I mean nation state), and they are there to provide service to American citizens.

Ever since 9/11 it seems too much attention is being paid to making it more and more difficult to get into the US, and not enough attention being paid to providing assistance to US citizens in making the process of getting a visa for their loved ones easier to understand. To me the acceptance criteria is far too blurry and the level of support/assistance available from the US Government is defiantly lacking.

[Carmine6]

I was in the US consular office the other day having them add pages to my passport. While waiting for them to add the pages I overheard a gentleman asking about some details on getting a non-immigrant visa for his wife to the US. The consular officer told him that at the present time over 80% of the visa applications are getting approved.

Yes she said OVER 80%.

At first I thought this number to be WAY too high. But on my way it was hard to miss the huge line of university students both inside and outside, apparently applying for visas. Then I recalled that during my last trip to the consulars office (only about a week ago) there was also a huge line up the road, and many students already inside applying for visas. So maybe the number is not that far off. As it seems to me that a very high percentage of these university students are going to get their visa’s approved.

So the question becomes is the 80% number an aberration due to the large number of uni-students applying that this time of the year. Or does the number hold true throughout the year?

Also found it interesting how she danced around confirming to this gentleman if anything would help to improve his wife’s chances of getting approval (such as the fact that she has already had a non-immigrant visa to the US). Her pat response to almost everything was that everything was judged case-by-case, and that the decision lies with the officer conducting their interview.

I do sympathize with the embassy staff, as any job dealing with a large cross section of people can be difficult. However, they are still basically employees of the state (and by state I mean nation state), and they are there to provide service to American citizens.

Ever since 9/11 it seems too much attention is being paid to making it more and more difficult to get into the US, and not enough attention being paid to providing assistance to US citizens in making the process of getting a visa for their loved ones easier to understand. To me the acceptance criteria is far too blurry and the level of support/assistance available from the US Government is defiantly lacking.

Just to clarify, was that 80% for all visas, or specific to a wife's non-imigrant visa? Sounds too high based on what you hear from this board and other places.

I think the tough thing for government employees is they don't want to be the one who lets someone through who later does something bad. The Monday morning quarterbacking by all those Senators during the 9/11 hearings was a joke. Clearly there were problems, but they were getting all over people for things that were mistakes in hindsight, but not really a problem pre-9/11. One of the very few people actually commended by the 9/11 comission was a INS agent who turned away one of the hijakers to be at the airport just because his story didn't add up. He had supposedly done so in spite of other officers telling him he had no basis to do it and was risking his job by doing so. You have to believe everyone involved in immigration took note of who got commended and who had sit in front of Senators and take their crap.

Given how many people come over the southern border every year, you would think people going through the correct process shouldn't have such an uphill battle.