Conditions for US non-immigrant visas are global, not local- Embassy

Last Updated on Tuesday, 31 March 2015, 19:56 by GxMedia

The United States (US) embassy in Guyana says the rules and conditions for issuing non-immigrant visas have nothing to do with the situation in any country around the world but by American laws hinged on ties to an applicant’s home country.

“The Embassy does not issue non-immigrant visas based on a quota system, nor does any Embassy or Consulate change the eligibility criteria for non-immigrant visas based on conditions in the host country,” said the embassy in response to a question against the background of Former President Bharrat Jagdeo’s assertions last Sunday at his party’s election campaign rally.

The embassy declined to comment on Jagdeo’s statement that if the opposition coalition is elected to office on May 11, 2015 living conditions in Guyana would deteriorate, more people will leave the country and the US would tighten up on the issuance of non-immigrant visas. Jagdeo has forecast that the conditions after an opposition victory “will trigger a mass exodus so that the U.S. Embassy (in Guyana) will have to clamp down, once again, in issuing visas.”

The American embassy says it bases the issuance of non-immigrant visas solely on whether or not an individual applicant qualifies under the United States Immigration and Nationality Act. 

The mission explained that in general, to be approved for a non-immigrant visa, an applicant must satisfy the interviewing officer that he or she will depart the US at the end of the authorized temporary stay.  This means that before a visa can be issued, an applicant must demonstrate strong social, economic, and/or familial ties outside the United States.

General Secretary of the ruling People’s Progressive Party (PPP), Clement Rohee on Tuesday refused to say whether he believed that Jagdeo was engaging in fear-mongering and referred such questions to the former President.

Now the Chairman of the little-known National Economic Council, Jagdeo said that were A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) + Alliance for Change (AFC) coalition to win the polls, the exchange rate, which currently stands at around US$213-G$1, would skyrocket to US$500-G$1 in three years.