How can I get a visa?
Dear Mrs Walker-Huntington,
I AM a Jamaican businesswoman. I have applied twice for a visitor’s visa to the United States and both times I was rejected.
I am suspecting that it is because I was charged for conspiracy in Jamaica, and the case was dismissed over 12 years ago. I sued the government and won. Am I being barred from entering America even though I was not guilty of any crime? If this is so, what steps can I take to have US immigration revisit my case?
Business Owner
Dear Business Owner,
Let me start out by reminding everyone that no one is entitled to a US non-immigrant visa – it is a privilege and not a right. This means that the grant or denial of a US visa is up to the consular officer and the US Department of State. Often, there are people with no negative backgrounds who are not granted visas. The denial of a visa is not an appealable decision, one can reapply and sometimes with a non-immigrant waiver.
Additionally, the consular officer looks at the ties the applicant has to his/her home country and makes a subjective decision whether the applicant will return after a visit to America. This means that, whether you had an issue in your past that would prevent the issuance of a visa or not, you can still be denied.
In your scenario, you indicated that you were previously charged with conspiracy but your case was dismissed, and that you sued the Jamaican government, presumably over the arrest, and won. You did not say what the conspiracy charge was. If it was drug-related, the US government does not need a conviction to find that you are inadmissible to the United States and therefore ineligible for any kind of visa – non-immigrant or immigrant. There is a concept in US immigration law known as ‘reason to believe’that allows the US to deny visas to individuals who they have a reason to believe has benefited or participated in drug trafficking.
I suggest that you gather the documents from your criminal matter and subsequent civil law suit and meet with a US immigration attorney to review your situation and to suggest whether you could apply for a non-immigrant waiver.
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
‘... no one is entitled to a US non-immigrant visa – it is a privilege and not a right.’