Problems with consulate people
Feb 12, 2001 | 5:42 pm
#16
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Dallas, TX USA
Posts: 2,257
1.Go to the web site of any of the big hotel
chains (Best Western, Hilton, etc.)
2.Make a reservation (or if it won't allow 2
names on one reservation, make 2 separate
reservations) and print copies.
3.Get the visa.
4.Cancel the reservation(s).
chains (Best Western, Hilton, etc.)
2.Make a reservation (or if it won't allow 2
names on one reservation, make 2 separate
reservations) and print copies.
3.Get the visa.
4.Cancel the reservation(s).
Feb 12, 2001 | 10:38 pm
#17
Join Date: Feb 2000
Location: New York, NY, USA
Programs: Lifetime: UA Gold, AA Gold, & Marriott Titanium
Posts: 1,352
I'm not at all surprised to hear of the bad treatment granted by American consulates given the truths that underly the negative stereotypes of us.
I'm curious, though, if Canadian consular officials are more professional and less tyranical. Any experiences?
I'm curious, though, if Canadian consular officials are more professional and less tyranical. Any experiences?
Feb 13, 2001 | 1:27 am
#18
Join Date: Aug 2000
Location: Exile
Posts: 16,063
I had a similar problem with the Italians a few years ago.
I was travelling on an Alitalia issued ID00 non-rev ticket through FCO to BOM with no intention of staying in Italy. However, their OWN DARN REGULATIONS require that all non-revs have to hold a valid visa if transiting through FCO in case we get bumped. Fair enough, I can spring for a visa since the tix were free.
However, they also required me to show them hotel reservations. This was impossible since I was NOT STAYING in Italy. I argued for a long time with some peon at the consulate in Miami, who insisted that it was not possible to issue a visa without hotel accomodations that I didn't intend to use. He said that an exception to this rule could be made by personal appearance at the Italian consulate in my "home country" (India in this case, although my passport is endorsed with my US address as well). I told him that I couldn't GET TO INDIA unless I got a visa through Italy, or if they issued a transit visa waiver. He refused to budge.
Since France and Italy are both Schengen visa states, I called the French Consulate in Atlanta one morning at 11am. The guy there told me to come over by noon. I had my visa within the hour, valid for all Schengen states. I used it to Germany and Italy before it expired.
So my suggestion is to call the Germans, French, Dutch, Spanish or Portuguese instead of the Italians. A visa issued by them works just as well and is usually less of a hassle to get.
I was travelling on an Alitalia issued ID00 non-rev ticket through FCO to BOM with no intention of staying in Italy. However, their OWN DARN REGULATIONS require that all non-revs have to hold a valid visa if transiting through FCO in case we get bumped. Fair enough, I can spring for a visa since the tix were free.
However, they also required me to show them hotel reservations. This was impossible since I was NOT STAYING in Italy. I argued for a long time with some peon at the consulate in Miami, who insisted that it was not possible to issue a visa without hotel accomodations that I didn't intend to use. He said that an exception to this rule could be made by personal appearance at the Italian consulate in my "home country" (India in this case, although my passport is endorsed with my US address as well). I told him that I couldn't GET TO INDIA unless I got a visa through Italy, or if they issued a transit visa waiver. He refused to budge.
Since France and Italy are both Schengen visa states, I called the French Consulate in Atlanta one morning at 11am. The guy there told me to come over by noon. I had my visa within the hour, valid for all Schengen states. I used it to Germany and Italy before it expired.
So my suggestion is to call the Germans, French, Dutch, Spanish or Portuguese instead of the Italians. A visa issued by them works just as well and is usually less of a hassle to get.
Feb 13, 2001 | 4:09 am
#19
Join Date: May 2000
Location: WAS
Posts: 1,107
I wanted to share my one (positive) encounter with U.S. consular staff to point out that not all of them are monsters (I also wish to add that I have a close relative working for the IRS who is professional and caring in what she does and I dont find the comment made in this thread about that agency to be amusing).
Although I was entitled to a green card (my father was a U.S. citizen), the INS inexpliquably held mine up while granting that for my mom and sister. At the embassy in Tel Aviv, a high-ranking FSO chose to intervene when he realized something was seriously wrong. This gentleman took the time to contact the INS in the U.S. and get the issue sorted out. When we subsequently met with him to get the proper documents, he told me and my sister (my mom translated) that in America children go to school in a big yellow bus and that since wed be living in California wed be able to go to Disneyland!
In all my contacts with government workers over the years, he was one of the friendliest and most helpful. This experience contributed to my interest in joining the Foreign Service when I get my degree.
Yonatan
Although I was entitled to a green card (my father was a U.S. citizen), the INS inexpliquably held mine up while granting that for my mom and sister. At the embassy in Tel Aviv, a high-ranking FSO chose to intervene when he realized something was seriously wrong. This gentleman took the time to contact the INS in the U.S. and get the issue sorted out. When we subsequently met with him to get the proper documents, he told me and my sister (my mom translated) that in America children go to school in a big yellow bus and that since wed be living in California wed be able to go to Disneyland!
In all my contacts with government workers over the years, he was one of the friendliest and most helpful. This experience contributed to my interest in joining the Foreign Service when I get my degree.
Yonatan
Feb 13, 2001 | 10:08 am
#22
Join Date: Oct 1999
Location: Third planet from the Sun
Posts: 7,024
You can blame part of the poor service on the security measures taken within the past 20 years. Before US Diplomats were targets, people who went to the US consulate sections would sit/stand face to face with a consular officer. face to face contact is much more intimate. These days you have to talk to them through wall to wall bullet/bomb proof glass. It takes away the "human" interaction with these encounters.
I never understood why it was neccessary to install these barriers since everyone is searched head to toe and bags xrayed before they are allowed into the consular section--I guess it is an indication of the security people going for the overkill.
I never understood why it was neccessary to install these barriers since everyone is searched head to toe and bags xrayed before they are allowed into the consular section--I guess it is an indication of the security people going for the overkill.
Feb 13, 2001 | 11:19 am
#24
Join Date: Oct 1999
Location: Third planet from the Sun
Posts: 7,024
One of the key's to decern intention of a visa applicant is to watch facial expressions. This is much harder to do through bullet proof glass.
My father is a retired FSO officer. He never had a person try to grab him for a denied visa. from time to time he has been offered bribes/gifts/threats to call US Senators. . . .
The biggest safety threat was not from visa applicants but from dangerous situations he lived through: He had a stray rocket shell land on his desk (when he was out of the office) and shells drop in front of his car while driving in Beirut. He lived through miltary coup's in Iraq and Haiti and countless other situations. A person trying to grab him from behind the visa counter was the least of his concerns.
My father is a retired FSO officer. He never had a person try to grab him for a denied visa. from time to time he has been offered bribes/gifts/threats to call US Senators. . . .
The biggest safety threat was not from visa applicants but from dangerous situations he lived through: He had a stray rocket shell land on his desk (when he was out of the office) and shells drop in front of his car while driving in Beirut. He lived through miltary coup's in Iraq and Haiti and countless other situations. A person trying to grab him from behind the visa counter was the least of his concerns.