Immigration Corner | Can my visa denial be appealed?

Dear Mrs Walker-Huntington,

I have read several of your articles in the Immigration Corner of The Gleaner newspaper and am very pleased with your work. I am now seeking your assistance/guidance with my situation.

In 2005, I applied for a C1/D visa to work on a cruise line, as I was employed by their agent in Jamaica at the time. Upon my interview at the US Embassy, I was informed that I would not be granted the visa.

In 2014, I applied for a B1/B2 visiting visa and was informed that I was not eligible for the visa by the representative consulate at the US Embassy and was given a blue paper that outlined that my denial was indefinite.

It was during my application process at the Canadian High Commission in 2015 that I found out later that I was on record at the US Embassy as having committed a criminal offence in 2005 by submitting a fraudulent document in my application. Please note that I was previously granted a visa by the US Embassy to attend a conference in Washington, DC, however, I was not able to attend the conference.

I am now in a situation where I will be required to obtain a US visa to travel for work purposes, as my duties require me to attend meetings and events that will be held overseas.

I kindly ask if an appeal can be done to reverse the indefinite decision, and if there will ever be a possibility for me to be issued a US visa.

Concerned

Dear Concerned,

This is a matter for concern because although no one is entitled to a non-immigrant visa, if there is an issue blocking your being granted a visa it should be addressed.

The question is whether you previously submitted a fraudulent document in a visa application. If you did, it can be a crime where the Jamaican authorities could be called to make an arrest. The US Embassy can choose not to call in the Jamaican authorities – it depends on the nature of the fraud. In either event, such an action would make a person inadmissible to the United States and be considered immigration fraud, and it would be a permanent bar to gaining any type of visa to the United States – immigrant or non-immigrant.

To overcome immigration fraud, you would need a waiver of the inadmissibility. For a non-immigrant visa application, the waiver would be submitted to the embassy with the visa application. For an immigrant visa application, you must have a qualifying relative (spouse or parent) to be considered. All waivers are discretionary forms of relief.

In addition to a waiver, a non-immigrant visa applicant must demonstrate that they have enough ties to their home country, to which they will return. There is no appeal for the denial of a non-immigrant visa, only a reapplication with a waiver.

If you did not submit a fraudulent document with a previous visa application, you would still need to apply for a non-immigrant visa waiver and explain your application, and, in your case, why you did not attend the conference.

Dahlia A. Walker-Huntington, Esq, is a Jamaican-American attorney who practises immigration law in the United States; and family, criminal and international law in Florida. She is a diversity and inclusion consultant, mediator, and former special magistrate and hearing officer in Broward County, Florida. info@walkerhuntington.com