US Visa and me

Visa always has been an issue for me. I got the Chinese visa 50 minutes before my flight time. I applied for the Indian visa at very last moment expecting no reply from embassy but fortunately I got both visas. I applied for U.S visa right on time or before time but I didn’t get it

Being the Regional Student Representative (RSR) of IEEE, one of my prime responsibilities is to attend the student activities committee meeting held at U.S, I was supposed to be one of the participants but I couldn’t get through the visa.

I was interviewed on 15th February 2008 for the first time at U.S Embassy Islamabad. I spent PKR 30,000/= on this trip and took one and half day off from office. Before Interview could take place, I had to be in five queues before (Ticket Queue, Bus Queue, Security Check Queue, Embassy Entrance Queue and Finally Waiting Queue for Interview). It took around 3 hours for me to reach to the counselor officer. Mind it, I was not confused at any point and was confident enough to get the visa. While I was in waiting queue, I saw one person being rejected, I said “Damn, how bad this person would be feeling, he is rejected on the spot” unknowingly this will happen to me as well. And here comes my number, I went to the window, she asked several questions starting from my birth to till date and I replied to them to the best of my knowledge and everything was nothing but truth. After Interview she gave me a paper and passport back saying “Sorry, you are rejected, but it’s not permanent refusal, you can re-apply”. My question was “what’s the reason?” she said “Everything is written on this document”.  After a long debate she said “It’s your organization”. I was seriously startled. I went outside I saw the document very carefully, nothing in specific was written on that page but that document seemed to be general purpose. I was pissed and called IEEE authorities and told them the whole story. They recommended me to re-apply. I re-applied for the visa on 25th Feb 2008, in the mean while IEEE authorities faxed some documents to embassy about the authenticity of the organization.

Second time I am again in Islamabad taking one and half day off from office. Again 5 long queues, this time I went a early because I wanted to interviewed in good mood. Here comes my number and following conversation took place in between me and counseling officer (C.O).

Me: “Good Morning Sir”
C.O: “Good Morning”
C.O: “After looking at my documents, Sir this is second time in the month you are re-applying, so what is the change in you”
Me: “There is no change in me, however this time I have more documents with me to prove the authenticity of my organization and they have also sent you dozen of faxes”
C.O: “Sorry Sir, Your visa is rejected again; he gave me the passport and same paper back”
Me: “Could you please tell me the reason”
C.O: “Everything is written on this paper”
Me: “Friend, I have read this paper 10 times and I don’t find anything specific, everything is general. What’s the main reason? What should I tell to my organization?”
C.O: “Sir, Please refer to the paper”
Me: “See, I have seen this paper earlier and I know nothing is written specifically on it. Why don’t you tell me the reason? You don’t like my face? You have some other reservations with me?”
C.O: “No Sir, It’s not like that, It’s the over all situation of you”
Me: “Overall situation. Financial / physical or ….?”
C.O: “Sir, Interview is over, Thank You and he switched off the microphone”.
Me: “Taking my stuff and giving him terrible look”

Causes / Observation in two visits / Comments by Friends

-    U.S Visa rejection ratio in Pakistan is 8:2, meaning 8 are being rejected out of 10.
-    A pure U.S national was taking the interview in Urdu, that last for 20 seconds and old lady who wanted to see her son was rejected
-    500 to 1000 people are interviewed every day at Islamabad, Pakistan
-    I was rejected for the visa because I didn’t take the bath that day
-    U.S guys has limit of issuing visa, probably they approached crossed it that day.
-    Mood of your interviewer must be off.
-    Second time you were rejected because you hadn’t enough time to get the security clearance.
-    Your doesn’t look like a person who should go to U.S
-    Simply bad luck 
-    In case of U.S visa, more important is luck NOT Interview.

Disclaimer:

Whatever is written below is my personal opinion, others may have different. All are the facts to the best of my knowledge and observations.

A Visit to India

I was in India for 10 days to attend IEEE R10 Student Congress 2008 at Chennai and IEEE R10 meet at Ahmadabad, Gujarat. Blog is written in points like a summary because 10 days in India were wonderful. Neither I can forget that experience nor can I write that down here because it will take additional 10 days since every moment of that time was fantastic.

26th Jan – 31st Feb (Karachi -> Mumbai -> Chennai)

- Mishandling by PIA authorities at Karachi Airport. They removed my ticket “Mumbai->Chennai” instead of “Karachi->Mumbai” besides my saying “Madam, I think you are tearing wrong ticket, can you please re-check”. She had some proof of being the right, so I ignored.

- Rickshaws of Bombay are wider than ours.

- Indian Airline’s staff was very supportive. They called P.I.A to resolve the issue and didn’t let me say few words to them since I was very happy with the performance of P.I.A

- I liked the south Indian food on first day but later on I started feeling like I am in China since In china “language and food were the only issues for me” same goes for Chennai.

- Enjoyed a lot at Ice-breaking activity in lawn where every one introduced in a group activity and I could remember more than 30 students in first meet, few people started calling me KOOL guy. Probably they were mistaken

- First day was wonderful, activities were good and 95% of the participants knew me with name.

- Many were willing to have a snap with representatives of a peaceful country (Pakistan), People were curious to know more about Pakistan and specially my life in Pakistan being from the minority.

- My announcement of being IEEE Regional Student Representative (RSR) by R10 Student Activities Chair (SAC) surprised almost 70% of the participants.

- Interaction with students from different countries was cheering me up, Chinese were yet again the attraction point for me

- Congress third day was horrible for Pakistanis. We Pakistani get the Indian visa city wise and we have to report at POLICE station within 24 hours of arrival. Fortunately, 3 Karachites were exempted but 4 from Lahore had to report and they faced lot of issues on it.

- Interview with IEEE.TV went very good and interviewer feedback was good about Pakistan after getting some information about it. While I was at interview organizing committee was searching me as I was to be at stage for some good that I did with my team in July 2007 (Pakistan Student Congress 2007)

- Chit Chat with Bhavika, Ravendar, Namita, Shoaib lasted for 6 hours Out of 6, 3 hours were utilized in Khichae of Ravendar on a step he took that morning

- Hari was also a good friend. He accompanied us for whole day to visit Chennai. Beach was same as ours but we had to walk around 10 minutes before reaching there, buffet was cheaper than ours and shopping there was costing more than it should

1st Feb – 4th Feb (Chennai->Ahmadabad->Mumbai->Karachi)

- Visiting Ahmadabad was fun, Historical places were good, Gandhi Nagar was a nice place and well maintained but Kirshna Mandir was exceptionally good

- Shopping with few friends from Madras and Australia was a nice experience. Shopping Mall was very good like we have in Karachi. But I was amazed to see that kind of shopping mall in a city like Ahmadabad.

- First time in my life, I was attending a professional meeting which was for 2 days. Environment was very good. Accommodation was more than satisfactory. I was enjoying the weather and was feeling like flying

- In Bombay, I stayed at friend’s relatives. Their hospitality was outstanding. They were caring same as my family does . I didn’t feel for a minute that I am not in Ghotki. Hats off to them. Every member of the family was tremendously good and caring.

- Even after 10 days one P.I.A guy remember me for being the victim of their outstanding service so he didn’t bother to say anything to me for 25 KGS over weighted baggage than allowed (because I was carrying 30KGs of a friend )

In short, memorable trip, No office calls, No office tension, only fun. Special Thanks to Dr. Ashwin Sahoo (Organizing Committee) who cared a lot for all of Pakistani delegates and gave them special privileges after POLICE teased 4 Pakistani delegates for whole day. A few pictures of my visit are available at http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/opbatra2kn/AVisitToIndia