I am not surprised that George Obama, the US president’s half-brother, failed to make it to the US launch of his book Homeland (written with British journalist Damien Lewis). Although the junior Obama claims he hates travelling, I believe the reason he didn’t make it to the launch is probably because he didn’t get through the complicated maze known as the US visa.
There was a time, pre-9/11, when getting a US visa meant filling out a form by hand and handing over your passport and photograph to a visa officer who would ask you a few questions and let you know immediately if you qualified for a visa. Not any more.
I tried applying for a visa at the US embassy recently, but gave up when I realised that getting the prized US visa would involve many hours filling out a form online and then seeking an appointment with the visa section weeks, if not months, ahead. Now those of you who have tried to go to the US recently will know that the only way you can get to enter the US embassy is by proving that you have made an online appointment.
If you fail to turn up on the day and hour of your appointment, you have to start the process again, and may even not get one, as applying for an appointment twice automatically disqualifies you from getting another one. After filling a very detailed form online, you have to upload a photo and then print out the application. If you botch this up (as I did) you have to go back and start the process all over again.
As you navigate the form and the appointment, you will find your application being rejected by the computer every so often, which means a form that might have taken 20 minutes to fill by hand will take you approximate one-and-a-half hours. If you live in an area that lacks electricity or has no cybercafé with a printer, then you are truly doomed because the only way the embassy will let you in is if you show them a computer printout of your appointment confirmation and your application form.
To make matters worse, you will not be allowed to enter the embassy without proving that you have paid a visa fee of $130 — which is not refundable if the embassy denies you a visa. (What an innovative and easy way to make money out of people in developing countries, most of whom are probably denied the visa.)
After standing in line for nearly two hours and being told I had not filled out the form properly and would need to come back, I wrote to the organisers of a meeting I was to attend in Washington to inform them I would not be coming and requested them to hold their next annual meeting in a developing country, preferably Kenya, where getting a visa is as easy as blinking.
Not that I necessarily agree with Kenya’s open-door policy towards foreigners. I find it disturbing that foreign paedophiles, terrorists, criminals, drug barons and the like can walk through our borders without being interrogated or arrested. What’s worse, corruption has ensured that wanted terrorists can buy their freedom by paying off the police or immigration officer.
There is also an assumption at our immigration departments that all foreigners (particularly those with white skin) are tourists, and therefore should be allowed in as long as they pay the visa fee (which is usually paid at the airport after they have entered the country!).
Yet not everyone who arrives at our international airports is here for the flora and the fauna. I know of several foreigners who have managed to live — yes, live — in this country for several years on tourist visas. One woman, who only recently decided to go back home, admitted to me that she had managed to live and work in Kenya for 12 years without applying for a work or resident permit.
Critics may claim that Europe and the United States have been targets for terrorists and illegal immigrants, and therefore have to be extra vigilant about who they let in. That’s all well and good, but surely, filling out a visa form need not be so difficult or require a degree in computer science.
Let us also not forget that Kenya has been the target of terrorists, not once, but twice. Kenya has also been named as a growing sex tourism destination. You’d think that these would be good enough reasons to vet more closely, foreigners entering the country. But apparently, our lives and dignity are not as important as those of foreigners.
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