Trying to get a visa

Why a Mexican undocumented migrant – the infamous “illegal” - in the United States may decide not avail himself/ herself of the offer made by the Authorities to legalize his/her situation.

Why a Mexican would-be immigrant into the United States may decide to cross the border illegally (if he makes it) rather than apply for a work permit or a visa at a U.S. Consulate or Embassy in his country.

Illegal immigration into the United States by (mostly) Mexican citizens has been in the news for years and is now a weighty issue in the U.S. Presidential election campaign. In the higher spheres of Government – U.S. and Mexican – illegal immigration is a thorny issue and everybody agrees that “something must be done” to regulate this flow of people across the border from South to North, of course. The numbers are staggering, but on that level of officialdom they are just numbers, statistics devoid of a human face.

I would like to put my thoughts into perspective from the point of view of a German resident in Mexico, just South of the Californian border and as an impartial observer of the Mexican scene. I shall relate hereafter the trials and tribulations of a humble Mexican Señora, mother of four , who works as a cleaning woman in various houses here in Tecate, among others my house. Her youngest ten-year old daughter has a medical condition, and the local Rotary Club has arranged for her to have surgery in a Los Angeles hospital to straighten her legs – gratis. The operation is scheduled for later in the year.

Now, the problems start. First of all, neither the Señora nor her daughter had even a Mexican passport, but this hurdle was cleared quite rapidly. Then, she started the application process for a U.S. visa, hoping against the odds to receive priority treatment for her special case what with the appropriate letter from the Los Angeles hospital, but she was quickly disenchanted when she was advised that she had to proceed step by step like any other visa applicant.

After she had collected all the necessary documents – birth certificates, school attendance certificate, the letter from the hospital in Los Angeles, various forms to fill in and then, of course, having paid the corresponding fees – she made and got an appointment at the American Consulate in Tijuana. On the day of the appointment, she was at the Consulate’s gate at 7:00 in the morning to get a number for her interview. When she passed through security later, the X’ray machine detected an object in her bag – in fact, her cell phone - that was not supposed to pass through. She was told that she had infringed the security rules and was taken off the line as well as her daughter who was with her all the time. She had to hand in her number and was told to go to the end of the line that was forming already outside in the courtyard. She told me that there were at least 20 people, “punished” that way for such misdemeanors as carrying a cell phone, a lighter, a battery cable, and more. The wait there lasted until 3:00 PM – in the scorching July sun, no water, nothing to eat and nowhere to sit down. Yes, she said there were a couple of kiosks that sold water and some cookies, but at outrageous prices – private enterprise run by Mexicans.

When it was finally her turn for the interview, the first thing she was told by the female official of the Consulate that she had not paid all of the fees and that she owed right there and then an additional amount of more than 1,000 Pesos. Of course, she did not have such an amount and so told her interviewer. But the harsh verdict was “no money, no visa and if you don’t come back within two, three days, your application will be voided and you will have to start all over again”. In the meantime, it was so late that she was afraid to lose the last bus to Tecate. She got home by about 9:00 PM having achieved virtually nothing.

Somehow she scraped the money together and went back to the Consulate within a day or two. Her daughter was still so shaken she could hardly control her trembling hands. The second time around the same female official of the Consulate who now handled their application reprimanded her for having submitted the visa application so early, i.e. two months in advance, if it were not to visit the United States for a pleasure trip to Disneylandia? Our Señora protested that she just wanted to have her daughter operated and wanted to have everything ready for their trip to Los Angeles. To no avail. She was told that now and then she would only get a “permit” which would allow her to claim the visa “but don’t come back too early. We want to make sure that you don’t use the visa for a pleasure trip.” So our Señora still has no visa; she has to make a third appointment with the Consulate nearer to the date of the surgery in Los Angeles.

In any event, the visa she will be given will be a one-year visa stipulating the reason: Visit Los Angeles for surgery, and if the little girl is to have a follow-up procedure, this has to be done within a year. Now, one would think that a visa for medical purposes would waive certain fees payable for a normal multiple entry visa. But apparently no exceptions are applicable.
Just a footnote: When the Señora enquired how to proceed at a later stage to get a multiple-entry visa, she was told that she could only get one if her husband had already a visa. But, of course, he has not as of now. And consider this: Those officials on the lower rungs of the ladder are local people, Mexicans who, it would appear, use and abuse the little bit of authority they have.

This is just one example of a humble Mexican who wishes to visit the United States for a very specific reason, who has no desire to go and live there, but would of course very much like to show her little 11-year old daughter something else than just the hospital in Los Angeles, such as the zoo in San Diego, Seaworld and yes, of course Disneylandia. One has reason to ask oneself whether she has the desire and the will to go through the visa application process once more.