Getting a U.S. visa: myth vs reality (03/09/03)

Getting a U.S. visa: myth vs reality

by Roman Woronowycz
Kyiv Press Bureau

KYIV - Myron Hnatkiv spent nearly four years trying to develop a private farm business. He took parts from broken-down tractors and combines he found in the former collective farm depot and patched together working units. He and several relatives then combined their lands into a single plot in the hope that together they could prod the earth to give them sufficient crops for a livable income. He also offered his services and his machinery for lease to neighbors who could not afford their own equipment. In the end, however, neither the land nor his leasing service provided enough to sustain a normal life.

With his two kids soon to enter high school, Mr. Hnatkiv decided it was time to chuck his dream. It was time to face reality and join scores of other family men in his village of Verbiv, Ternopil Oblast, and tens of thousands more like them in western Ukraine, and to look abroad for temporary work to provide for their families.

He had heard that a firm in Kyiv, with an address on Volodymyrska Street in one of the city's most exclusive districts, was asking $450 for help in obtaining a job, a visa, shelter and transport to the United States. He was told the agency would pay his flight and housing costs from the money he eventually earned as a laborer in the "land of opportunity."

After hearing that several of his neighbors had visited the firm in Kyiv and came back impressed with the possibilities, Mr. Hnatkiv and a buddy made the trek to the Ukrainian capital to find out for themselves.

"When they told me that I needed to pay upfront I became suspicious, explained the 39-year-old farmer. "Then they pointed out that I would, of course, have to go to the Consulate myself to obtain the visa, that they could only help me with what to say, I knew that something wasn't right."

Mr. Hnatkiv was luckier than most, he did not immediately plop down what would have been a half-year's income to the shady operators and saved himself the emotional letdown of finding out that the U.S. consular office almost certainly would have rejected his application. A consular officer would quickly have seen through the canned story that the agency would have prepared for Mr. Hnatkiv.

In an interview with The Ukrainian Weekly, U.S. Consul General Lisa Vickers emphasized that the United States does not work through any third parties in issuing visas to Ukrainians, whether they are consulting firms, employment firms or travel agencies. She explained that all Ukrainian citizens desiring to travel to the United States need to be prepared for face-to-face interviews, and that honesty is the only way that the prospective visitor has a chance to obtain a visa.

"We want the message to get across that we absolutely do not have any agency with which we have a relationship," explained Ms. Vickers. "Every applicant is looked at on their own merits and no one can guarantee them a visa."

Ms. Vickers said she was familiar with the firm to whom the Ternopil farmers had turned, as well as with several others like it. She said that such operations are illegal both in Ukraine and the United States. Most importantly for applicants, consular officers often recognize the paperwork and that hurts the applicant's chances.

Bogus documents

"With some of these agencies, because we see them so frequently, the documents they provide to the applicants we recognize," explained Ms. Vickers, "and we know they are not true."

She also said that the coaching the companies provide their "clients" often works to the applicant's disadvantage.

"For example, if I were to ask you where you work, would you tell me without looking at a piece of paper? They should, too," added Ms. Vickers.

She went on to explain that some applicants abandon their agency's canned stories and answer the consular officers questions truthfully. Some find, to their surprise, that they qualify for a visa on their own merits. But not before they have blown hundreds of dollars of their precious money for the agency's "services."

Ms. Vickers said that, contrary to popular opinion, the U.S. consular service wants to issue visas and is happy when it can do so because this is the most effective and straightforward type of cultural exchange. However, applicants must come for their interviews ready to answer questions honestly and to be upfront with their intentions. Potential visitors should remember that they have to convince the consular officer who reviews their request that they will return in a timely manner and give hard evidence that they have reason to return. Finally, they must support that they are going to the United States for the purposes stated on their application.

She also noted that a visa does not provide a guarantee that at the U.S. entry point customs officials might not turn away a visa holder who they deem is entering the U.S. for purposes other than what their visa allows. This means that if a person, who has fooled the system and obtained a tourist visa while in fact intending to work, for instance, cannot adequately explain where he will be staying and who his hosts are to be, he could be turned away even once in the United States. Ms. Vickers underscored that in the post-9/11 era, customs and immigration officials are particularly wary of travelers' intentions.

16,000 visas in 2002

While there are those in Ukraine who are certain that the U.S. consular service rejects all Ukrainian applicants except for the very rich, on the contrary, last year 16,000 visas were issued to persons among 31,000 applicants, which means that slightly more than half of those who applied were successful in obtaining permission to travel to the United States.

"We issue to a wide variety of people, and yes, including to farmers," Ms. Vickers explained.

Nonetheless, she also pointed out that, unfortunately not everybody can meet the requirements. But that does not mean that Ukrainians are not continuing to try. While the number of applications dropped last year by 25 percent to 31,000 from a high of 42,000 in fiscal year 2000, this year the number of applications is up by 20 percent over last year and on pace to meet the fiscal year 2000 numbers.

As for Mr. Hnatkiv, the villager from Ternopil, he is happy that he did not waste his hard earned money on the misrepresentations of the fraudulent employment agency. And while he may never have need for the services provided by the U.S. Consulate - he has no chance of obtaining a visa because it would be obvious that he intends to travel to the U.S. in order to work illegally and does not have the necessary "proof of return" - he remains undaunted in his effort to find work to support his family, whether in Ukraine or abroad, legally or not.

For applicants desiring to travel to the United States with honest intentions the U.S. Consular Office is preparing to continue to improve and broaden its services to better accommodate them.

Later this year it will begin transferring to Kyiv some of the workload still carried out in Warsaw, where nearly 7,000 visas were extended to Ukrainians last year. In the first step, it will begin processing fiancé applications at the Kyiv office, which will allow Ukrainians to avoid traveling to Warsaw for their exit interviews and processing. Lottery visa winners and those who file for immigration visas for themselves or for adopted children and married spouses also will soon be able to avoid the Warsaw trip and simply go to the Pimonenko Street consular offices in Kyiv to complete their particular requirements.

Multiple-entry visas available

The consular section already has begun to issue five-year multiple-entry visas to Ukrainians who qualify via a reciprocal agreement with Ukraine's Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Ms. Vickers stated that, not only frequent visitors to the United States, but all those who could show "a good pattern of travel," could qualify for the extended visa.

"We will issue a visa even to a first-time traveler [to the U.S.] if their pattern of travel is good," said Ms. Vickers, which she explained meant that during previous travel abroad the person had returned on time, stuck to the requirements of his visa and did not violate the laws of the countries he had visited.

Information for U.S. citizens

And, finally, Ms. Vickers said that the Consulate also continues to improve services directed at U.S. citizens living abroad. Recently it had held town meetings in several Ukrainian cities, most recently in Lviv and earlier in Kharkiv, Donetsk, Dnipropetrovsk and Odesa. The meetings are intended for public instruction, to better inform U.S. citizens of the support the consular section can provide.

She also noted that she was trying to develop a wider network of wardens of consular services - volunteers who disseminate information to U.S. citizens who live near them. This could include providing travel advisories and worldwide warnings or simply informing the Americans about specific consular services. For instance, in Lviv one of the points of the gathering was to explain that the consular section now has a tax advisor to help with tax filing questions and paperwork as the April 15 income tax filing deadline nears.

Ms. Vickers said that a warden's main responsibility is to develop a list of telephone numbers, e-mail and mail addresses, or simply methods of contact to disseminate information. She requested that interested U.S. citizens living in Ukraine e-mail or telephone the Consulate if they want to volunteer.

For detailed information on consular services and requirements, applications, interview appointment schedules and telephone numbers, readers may go to the website of the U.S. Embassy and Consular Section in Ukraine: www.usembassy.kiev.ua.

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