How US Gov't is Exploiting Poor People

George Adjabeng North Carolina,
adjabeng-at-hotmail.com
The United States government through the State Department is exploiting poor people from developing countries by preying on their hopes and aspirations to immigrate to the United States. The US Consulates charges exorbitant fees from these poor people, who have won the Diversity Visa (DV) Lottery and through deliberate means refuse to grant immigrant visas to them.

The Congressionally mandated Diversity Immigrant Visa Program makes available 50,000 diversity visas (DV) annually, drawn from random selection among all entries to persons who meet strict eligibility requirements from countries with low rates of immigration to the United States.

This is the catch, the lottery draws about 100,000 diversity visa winners under the assumption that not all winners will apply or qualify to immigrate to the Unites States. But what happens when more than 50,000 out of the 100,000 winners apply and qualify to immigrate to the United States?

The law is clear that only 50,000 immigrant visa shall be issued. Therefore, when the 50,000 number is achieved it's obvious that the consulate will use very scrupulous means to refuse the remaining winners their immigrant visas. This is what is happening to some winners in Ghana.

Majority of people in the developing countries will apply to immigrate to the United States when they win the DV Lottery. And the notion that many may not apply to immigrate after winning is one of the reasons why the US government draws 100,000 winners is simply misleading.

By drawing 100,000 winners and issuing 50,000 immigrant visas, applicants over the 50,000 number will simply pay money to the United States government and never get their immigrant visas.

The US Consulates in the developing countries will not inform these applicants about the truth but rather find very irrelevant issues about the applicants and refuse them the immigrant visas or simply delay the process until the deadline to issue all diversity immigrant visas has lapsed.

In this case, the United States Consular Section in Accra, Ghana, is doing this to individuals who won the 2011 DV Lottery. The individual, after going through the entire visa application process and was given a slip to pick her visa and her accompanying family members (spouse and son) visas within three weeks, found out to her surprise that the passports were returned to her without the visas.

When the applicant returned to pick the visas, a question was asked to her accompanying family member (spouse) whether he has previously been married and has another child, other than the child on the diversity immigrant application, to which he answered 'no' to both questions.

The Officer informed them that they are launching an investigation to see if he has another child and that these investigations take considerable amount of time, and according to the DV Lottery law all Diversity Immigrant Visas must be issued by September 30th.

So, if the investigation is not concluded by this date the applicant and her dependants will not be issued the visas and that will NOT be the fault of the US Consular Section. This is clearly an attempt to refuse them the visas by delaying their application process to the September 30th deadline.

This applicant and her dependants have appeared before Consulate on four separate occasions - the events are depicted below:

1. April 14th – first appointment, submitted all requested documents including sponsor documents and the applicant is interviewed by a Consular Official.

The Official gave a slip on which the only thing checked was 'Awaiting results of administrative processing.' None of the list of requested documents was checked, which implied the applicant has submitted all required documents.

2. June 21st – applicant return to hear the results of a two month administrative results processing, which background checks, verification of applicant's qualifications and documents submitted. Minor issue was found and applicant's dependant spouse was asked to get a new passport).

3. July 14th – applicant and her dependants returned with the dependant spouse's new passport. Officer accepted passports and birth certificates and gave the applicant a slip to pick their immigrant visas within three weeks.

4. August 6th – applicant return to pick immigrant visas and their passports were return to them without the visas.

5. Prior to April 14th, applicant and her accompanying family members have to undergo medication examinations, obtain police clearance certificates (background checks). Pay DV processing fee and immigrant visa fee.

Applicant also need an Original Affidavit of Support from a sponsor in the United States - if an applicant does not have a qualified person in the United States to be a sponsor that will be the end of the application process.

6. Since August 6th, the applicant and her accompanying family have been waiting in vain, and unfortunately have no avenue to present further evidence to the Consular Section to prove their case. The September 30th deadline is fast approaching.

The applicant is not sure whether to pay or not to pay her tuition because if she pays and they are granted the visas and they have to immigrate to the United States then she will lose that money.

On the other hand, if she does not pay and wait till the end of September 30th and they are denied the visas then she has lost a semester of college and will not be able to graduate next year. She will lose the whole academic year.

What transpired on August 6th – The Officer asked applicant's husband if he was previously married and has another child. And the applicant's husband answered no to both questions.

According to the Officer, when the applicant's husband was interviewed for a visitor's visa in 2006, he was asked if he has a child and that he answered yes.

The applicant's husband informed the Officer that it must have been a misunderstanding in communication at the time because he has only one child who was born in 2008 and who is the child on the immigrant application.

The applicant is the same wife who was indicated on his 2006 visitor's visa application and in addition he never indicated on the application that he has a child in 2006. Clearly, there was a misunderstanding in communication if in fact the Officer who conducted the interview in 2006 jotted down that the interviewee mentioned he has a child.

Unfortunately, this issue he said he has a child in 2006 has not even the slightest of chance to influence the outcome of this application. There is nowhere is the strict eligibility requirements set forth in the diversity immigrant program was it mentioned that if you have a child and decided not to include him/her in your application that that somehow amounts to visa refusal.

The Officer insisting that the accompany family member has another child and he, the accompanying family member saying does not has another child is missing the whole point.

This is the accompanying family member and not the principal applicant, who is the person that must meet all the strict eligibility requirements - educational level being among them.

The educational level of the accompanying family members is not part of the requirements let alone other trivial issues. This other child issue has nothing to do with this diversity immigrant visa application.

All the documents that were requested for the diversity immigrant visa were about the principal applicant and the only documents required for her dependants are birth certificates, marriage certificate, and passports.

Secondly, this issue was never brought up when the applicant and her dependants appeared on April 14th, June 21st, and July 14th.

The Consular Section collected the applicant's and her dependants' documents on April 14th and after over two months (June 21st) when the applicant and her dependants appeared again before an Officer the issue of another child was not brought up.

Instead they were asked to get a new passport because his first and middle names in the passport were transposed. They were given three weeks to get the new passport and return to the Consulate.

The Officer probably knew it may not be possible to secure a new passport in Ghana in less than three weeks. And if that were to happen that would have been the end of their application process. Fortunately for them and unfortunately for the Consular Section, the accompanying family member was able to secure a new passport in less than three weeks; thanks to some good Samaritans at the passport office who sympathized with the applicant and her accompanying family members.

When the applicant and her accompanying family member explained their situation to the officials at the passport office, the passport officials showed kindness and generosity to the applicant and her accompanying family member and the passport officials did not want the applicant and her dependants to lose all the money they have invested into this diversity visa application and miss the opportunity to immigrate to the United States because of a passport.

So the applicant and accompany family members returned to the Consular Section July 14th. Their passports and birth certificates were accepted and they were given a slip to pick up their visas August 6th.

Again, on their July 14th appearance at the Consular Section the other child issue was never brought up. The is clear evidence that every effort is being made to prevent the applicant from securing the visas before the September 30th deadline because the Consular Section simply couldn't find any fault with her application.

All the documents she submitted authentically checked out. To refuse them the visas at this time will simply be inhumane and unacceptable and we will do everything in our power to sue the United States government.

Table showing financial expenses incurred by the applicant and her dependants.

Item Amount in local currency      -   (Ghana cedi)       Amount in USD

Immigrant fee paid to the US Consulate ¢3,500.00                $2,454.00

Medical Examination clearance for 3 people ¢1,100.00                $771.26

Passports for three people                                  ¢1,000.00   $701.14

Background checks (police certificate) ¢100.00  $70.11

Birth certificates for three people                       ¢100.00   $70.11

One way airfare tickets (2 adults + one child) ¢7,114.68                $4,988.42

Total Expenses                                                    ¢12,914.68    $9,055.06

In Ghana, 9,000USD is a lot of money. The average annual salary in Ghana for professionals working in the banking industry is about 6,000 USD (and Bank professionals are among the highest paid in the country).

The World Bank's conservative annual salary for a junior banking professional is about 60,000USD. Approximately, 9,000USD in Ghana has the same purchasing power of about 90,000USD in the United States.

This family of three with one source of income (wife in college and taking care of their two year son) is doing everything possible to save for their future and for no good reason; the US government is taking away their life savings.

Where do they begin after this is over? Start all over again? How many average Americans have the equivalent of 90,000USD in their savings?

It's highly unacceptable for the US government to collect 2,454USD processing and immigrant fee from this hardworking people from the developing country. It's a different thing if they're denied the immigrant visas because they do not meet the strict eligibility criteria set forth by the diversity immigrant visa program. To be denied the visas for no legitimate reason amounts to racketeering.

The conclusion is that every attempt is being made to delay the application process so that the September 30th deadline will not be met.

When this happens, the US Consular Section will simply say it's not their fault that the process was not completed before the deadline. But this applicant has met all the strict eligibility requirements.

When the Consulate cannot find a legitimate means to refuse a diversity immigrant visa this is the game they play - 'go-and-come-go-and-come.'

But they forget these are human beings and these people take this seriously and spend their time, money, and resources to go through the process.

In this case, the applicant and her dependants have spent their life savings money to pay for all the application fees, documents, passports, and air tickets.

They took time from work, school and family to travel back and forth getting documents, medical examinations, passports, etc.

The psychological and financial damage that will be brought on these people and their families is enormous. The United States I know should not stand for these kinds of games.

Re: Case #: 2010-AF00030135
Principal Applicant: name removed to conceal identity, dependants: husband and son.

The applicant and her dependants appeared before an Officer April 14, 2010 and were to reappear June 21, 2010 with the note indicating: 'Awaiting results of administrative processing.' During the administrative processing the consulates conducts background checks to verify if the applicant meets all eligibility requirements - verify and authenticate education, marriage and birth certificates. A criminal background and medical exams reports are also verified and authenticated.

When the applicant returns and they are qualified, their passports are then accepted and a date is set for them to pick up their immigrant visas.

On June 21, 2010, they appeared before an Officer who noticed an error in dependant husband's passport – first and middle names were transposed in the passport. The office asked them to get a new passport to fix the problem and return to the Consulate July 14, 2010.

On July 14, 2010, their passports and birth certificates were accepted and they were given a visa collection slip to pick up their immigrant visas August 6, 2010. With this good news, applicants started making travel arrangements and bought travel tickets.

On August 6, 2010, their passports were returned to them without the immigrant visas in them. The Officer asked if the dependant husband was previously married and has another child, which he answered NO to both. Officer said dependant husband had mentioned that he has a child when he was interviewed in 2006 for a visitor's visa; to which he informed the Officer that it may have been communication misunderstanding at the time because his only child is the one on this immigrant visa application who was born 2008.

The Officer said they are going to launch an investigation and call the applicant when the investigation is done. The Officer further informed them that these investigations take time and if it's not completed by September 30, 2010, then it's not his fault that they will not get the visas.

We're very sad at the turn of events because the applicant's husband does not have another child and if he has another child he will gladly indicate it because won't he want to bring that child to America in the future?

They have been waiting since August 6th, and the September 30th deadline is fast approaching. There is no avenue for them to present evidence that they have to prove they are telling the truth. The dependant husband can prove from his employer that he was a single person on all his benefits, prior to 2006 when he added his wife (the principal applicant) to his benefits (health insurance), and it wasn't until 2008 when he added a child to his benefits. If the he has another child in 2006, why didn't he add him/her to his benefits?

I can assure you that the only child is the one on the diversity visa application. The applicant and her husband have been together long before his 2006 visitor's visa interview. Furthermore, one can always immigrate without his or her child. There is no aspect of the immigration law that requires that you have to immigrate with your child.

I am writing this letter to bring attention to these issues and help these individual get their immigrant visas. They have invested so much and it is unacceptable to refuse them visas.

George Adjabeng
North Carolina, 27502
(919) 599-4963. adjabeng-at-hotmail.com