Denied a Visa - help needed

irishash

Hi,

My girlfriend is a Polish citizen, who has recently (Last July) moved to Ireland (from the UK) to be with me and we have recently got engaged.

Before the move and engagement happened, we were invited to my relatives wedding in New York State. I wanted to make sure that we could both attend and so contacted the US embassy in the UK and made a general enquiry to see if she could obtain a holiday visa, as Poland are not on the waver list. I was told that she should apply after she moved to Dublin, and to get a new passport and she had an older version that was not allowed.

We organised the new passport and this was obtained in the first week of September and an appointment was made for today. We organised all the requirement documents, got the fee, the photos and filled out the online form.

The problems started this morning when I was not allowed to go with her into the meeting. I did not worry too much, as she has excellent english. The fee was paid, the fingerprints taken, and then she was called for her interview. After 2 minutes of been spoken to, during which she was asked no questions, her application was denied. The reason? She was not in the country long enough. And that was it.

There is no recourse for appeal that I can find, and there is no way to complain. Let me be clear - we have a lease in both our names for our apartment, she has over €4,000 in her bank account, I provided information about myself (including bank account statements and information about my job), she provided evidence of her previous life in the UK. And none of these documents were viewed by the US Embassy official. The only black mark she has against her is that she does not yet have a job in this country.

So there you go, holiday ruined, and this was meant to be the highlight of her year after quite a hard year so far.

Anybody got any advice - I am so angry I feel like calling for another appointment just to get the chance to complain....but that would cost me another €136 just to get in the door.

silja

She can apply again but frankly, there is little chance of getting approved right now, because they feel she does not have enough ties to Ireland, or her home country, to return- by law, the US consular officials have to presume everyone to have immigrant intent, and you as the applicant have to disprove that.

Is there a job at the horizon?
When is the wedding, could they provide a wedding invite that may help?

irishash

silja wrote: »

Is there a job at the horizon?
When is the wedding, could they provide a wedding invite that may help?

The invite was in the pile of documents that were brought with her to the meeting. These are the same documents that were not looked at. The wedding is on in October. She is activley looking for a job, but with the market the way it is, job hunting is difficult.

The worst thing is that it was like "Decision made, now go away. Oh you want to say something....nope, go away"

InTheTrees

Lunatic. I never realized such idiocy could still happen. The United States wont let her in for a holiday because she recently moved to Ireland???

Sorry.