File | NATION Vice Consul at the American Embassy Consular Section Janal Jafari explains the new procedure of filling in the DS-160 visa application form through the Internet at the embassy last year.
The Western world holds a place in their hearts, a place where they can live out their dreams and seize opportunities. And there is no class dreaming of opportunities more than the candidates who received their 2010 Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education examination results on Monday.
In the coming days, weeks, months and even years, they will join thousands of other Kenyans who arrive at the foreign embassies in Nairobi armed with bank statements, invitation letters, birth certificates, and hope.
Sometimes they go home with a visa. Sometimes they don’t. This is the prospect that faces the many Kenyan visa applicants who dream of obtaining a visa to see the skyscrapers of New York, the Technicolour action of Hollywood and the vibrant life of London.
Discouraged by scarce economic opportunities at home, some visa seekers hope to secure a job or pursue studies in the United States or Europe. Even though the half dozen embassies that attract droves of visa applicants have increased their visa fees, this has not deterred the many who apply for student, business and tourist visas.
A spot check by the Sunday Nation shows that denial of a visa is now a definite possibility, and those who end up obtaining the treasured document can consider themselves fortunate. But many who are turned down don’t understand why.
In the past few years, the United States and most of the 27 member countries of the European Union have tightened their rules on issuing visas, although they deny their intention is to discourage immigration from Africa.
Coinciding with the greater restrictions, higher fees and increased number of visa applicants are the rumours and stories about visa approvals and denials.
“The work goes on before the visa is refused. Whether we deny or issue a visa is the same. We have done all the name checks. We have done the security. We have done the fingerprinting. We have done the interviews. Why should they get this for free?” asked Elizabeth Jordan, the US Consul General in Nairobi.
She said visa issuing is not a profit-making operation, and the US Congress has mandated that the State Department’s consular services be self-supporting.
Sandra Littfass, her counterpart at the German Embassy, says the visa application fee is a handling fee, and it enables the staff there to do the work involved in issuing or denying a visa.
“We do double check whether the applicant has all the required documents before the application fee is paid. If your visa application is not complete, we would discourage you from applying until you meet all the requirements. If the visa officer sees a missing document, he or she will tell you straight away, but if you insist on proceeding with the application, we will let you go ahead with it,” she said.
At the British High Commission in Nairobi, a UK Border Agency spokesperson said: “Visa fees are set by Parliament and cover the cost of the visa, which is not refundable. Applicants are advised to visit our website before making an application so that they can ensure that they meet the requirements of the immigration rules.”
A number of embassies require that applicants carry medical insurance. They also lay the burden of proof on the applicant to demonstrate that they will return to Kenya at the stipulated end of their stay.
Prior to the September 2001 terrorist bombings in the United States, applying for a visa was not as difficult as it is today when applicants are subjected to thorough vetting, and most embassies require booking an appointment to obtain an interview.
“9/11 changed everything. It was easy all over the world to get visas. After that, it has become harder and harder every year. Everything is driven by security and the war on terror. Most of the new procedures are security procedures: fingerprinting, facial recognition technology, the watch lists. We didn’t have all of that before,” Ms Jordan said.
Although a few embassies take a maximum of four days to process a visa, in situations where the visa officers think there could be forgery involved, the process could take as long as 15 days.
Although disappointed applicants might find it hard to believe, the consensus among consuls general seems to be that it is not easy for them and their staffs to deny someone a visa.
“It is more work for us. It is difficult to tell people that they can’t have what they want, especially after they have been in line and have paid money for it,” Ms Jordan said.
Asked why some applicants are denied a visa even when they have presented all the required documents, Ms Jordan said: “What you have to say and how you explain the purpose of your trip, how you are paying for your trip – all that is more important than the document. The process is not actually based on documents. It is about how you are and what the purpose of your visit is.
“The documents are not really important to us except maybe they support what you are telling us. What we are looking at is ‘does this trip make sense from what we know about Kenya, or do we think this person is trying to illegally immigrate to the United States’. That is the basic decision that we are looking at. Do we think this person will come back to Kenya based on what we see? We can only go with the best information that we have.”
The UK immigration rules, according to the UK Border Agency, are designed to ensure that they have a fair and robust system that both welcomes genuine applicants and discourages abusers of the immigration system.
“We operate a risk-based approach to decision-making, closely scrutinising applications from countries where there are high levels of visa abuse of fraudulent documents within applications. Entry clearance staff will also take into account a wide variety of factors including country information and the social and economic conditions when assessing the evidence presented in support of an application,” the UK Border Agency spokesperson said.
Ms Littfass of the Germany Embassy says the applicant has to produce the right documents and prove that he or she is settled in Kenya as well as demonstrate the intention of returning to Kenya.
She said the consular section conducts 25 to 30 visa interviews a day. Most of the applicants are required to book an appointment. Ms Jordan said the US consular section interviews 150 applicants a day.
Last year, the German Embassy received 6,000 visa applications while the US Embassy received 20,000.
The British High Commission did not provide data on the overall number of visa applications for last year, but their communications office did provide information on visas issued to Kenyan nationals for study in the UK for the last five years.
As of April last year, 267 student visas had been issued to Kenyan nationals. In 2009, 770 were issued; in 2008, 969 were issued; in 2007, 815 were issued; in 2006, 927 were issued and in 2005, 786 were issued.
Ms Littfass said only five per cent of the applicants for German visas are turned down; Ms Jordan said the US consular section issues more visas than it denies.
The embassies were reluctant to state precise figures, citing the policies of their respective governments not to comment on such matters.
It was not possible for the Sunday Nation to determine how many Kenyan nationals have been deported from the United States, the United Kingdom and European Union countries for overstaying their visas or violating immigration rules.
In 2008, the European Union adopted a standardised policy on deporting illegal immigrants as part of a wider crackdown on illegal immigration. The new practice allowed member states to detain illegal immigrants for as long as 18 months in special camps and also to issue a five-year re-entry ban on expelled immigrants.
The move was widely criticised by human rights groups including Amnesty International, but today on the streets of Rome, Paris, Berlin and Zurich police can stop anyone to request documentation showing they have the visa that allows them to be in that country.
In 2005 Britain imposed a ban on issuing visas to Nigerians between the ages of 18 and 30 who sought to enter the United Kingdom for the first time. The British High Commission in Nigeria then said it could not deal with the surging numbers of visa applications and cited a high frequency of forged documents.
There are some who wonder whether there is a campaign to bar immigrants, especially those from places like Africa, from migrating to Europe and America.
According to an immigration advice website http://www.workpermit.com, European immigration experts said in 2006 that the EU members should adopt immigration laws similar to those of Australia, New Zealand and Canada. Skilled people seeking work are sponsored by an employer and can obtain a work visa.
It was not possible to determine whether Western embassies have visa quotas to deter immigration.
“In America they are not really worried about immigration from Africa. That is very low. Immigration to the US is mostly from Latin America. More than 50 per cent of illegal immigrants are from one country – Mexico. We are really not concerned about illegal immigration from Africa. That is much more a problem for Europe. We haven’t changed our policy towards tourism visas. It has to do with security procedures, not trying to keep people away,” said the US Consul General.
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