Is there any chance of me getting another visitor’s visa?
Dear Mrs Walker-Huntington,
IAM a police officer who was injured while on duty over 15 years ago.
I was sent to America for treatment and rehab in
2004. I was picked up at the airport and taken to the hospital, where I stayed until I came back to Jamaica.
I was given only six months to stay in the country, but spent one year and four months in the hospital getting treatment.
Since then, I have tried twice to get a visitor’s visa but was denied, even though I produced all the records/documents showing my stay in the hospital.
Is there any chance I will be able to get a visitor’s visa? – C.G.
Dear C.G.,
Sorry to hear about your injury and long recovery, and hope that you are now doing well. It is unfortunate that you were unaware of your limitations and options. A person arriving in the United States on a visitor’s visa is usually given a six-month time frame to remain in the US. However, that time frame is for convenience and really not for someone in your situation. You should have applied for an extension of the six months – before the six months expired. The application should have included the reason for the request and proof of how you would financially sustain your stay in the United States.
You overstayed your time by 10 months and that subjected you to a mandatory three-year bar to returning to the United States. That mandatory bar has since expired. However, because you overstayed, the likelihood of you getting another non-immigrant visa is very slim – without being granted a non-immigrant waiver. Keep in mind, also, that no one is entitled to a visa to travel to the United States – no matter what the purpose of your intended travel.
A non-immigrant waiver application would, among other things, give you the opportunity to document and explain in writing to the US Embassy the reason for your extended stay in America in 2004. You would also state the purpose of your intended trip, your ties to Jamaica, i.e., your intention to return home, and make the necessary legal arguments as to why you ought to be granted a non-immigrant visa.
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 mediator and special magistrate in Broward County, Florida. info@walkerhuntington.com