DOES THE PUNISHMENT FIT THE “CRIME”???
(This is going to be a long post
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FACTS
My girlfriend applied through a student placement agency and lucky for her she got selected in May2000. I felt like I am going to lose her ( 7 years together) so I started to look for a sponsor myself in US, ending up in the same place like her as love was more powerful then money (I sent my resume to 2000 companies). I did not go through a recruiting company instead I did everything by my best knowledge and internet.(This is going to be a long post
)FACTS
20th July 2000 – 19th November 2000 visa j1 - work and travel, came back in time on 15th of December 2000
I checked the IAP 66 and visa application with student and presented myself with a valid student card for 2000, final year of study, i was asked all the usual questions, what am I going to do with the very important final exam (license exam), i postponed it I smiled got the visa went to US and I felt there that I can do everything I put my mind into.
Came back in December and traveled a month for training in France Alps for a company with a very interesting business model on leisure time and activities. i got trained but I did not stay with them as the US mirage was more powerful
30th April 2001 – 12th September 2001 visa j1 - camp counselor, came back in time on 11th October 2001
This is a disputed visa for which I got denied a manager trainee visa in 2003. Please pay attention to what I am about to say:
I went to the embassy with the exact same papers like the ones in 2000 as it was a identical situation, I still had the final exam to pass and I considered that ... I will face the consular officer I will tell him that I am still a student ... final exam to pass ... and having nothing else to hide with a previous respected visa I will get another one. NOW I know THAT I WOULD NOT HAVE GOT IT. Reason .. I was not a student anymore but a graduated student without license. It happened that in that day for the same visa like me the j1 there were hundreds of others in front of the embassy, not even a line was not possible that many were there, so the embassy officials decided to collect all the passports and visa applications and only to call in the few that needed explaining to do. I stood there waiting to be called in as I knew that my student ID did not have a stamp on it for the year 2001 but in my heart I considered myself still a student as I still had an exam to pass .. the most important one, only after that exam the license is awarded. I haven’t been called in and I was given the visa. I respected it grew on a personal level and came back: trained as swimming instructor, lifeguard, substitute teacher exam passed, the TEOFL test with 293 points out of 300.
23rd of July 2002 -03 October 2002 J1 visa – camp counselor, came back on time: 25th of October 2002
This time I applied for the J1 visa as a employee of a private business, you’ll ask me why not a student like the previous attempts, the explanation comes very easily… the former girlfriend whom I traveled all around finished her university but she follow trough with her final exam and she became a graduate thus unable to apply as a student; I do not know who taught her that you can apply also as a employee of a private business but she did and she was successful, so did I . The funny thing was that the consular officer warned me that my 4th attempt if I will come again.. I will not get a visa. Based on my previous activity with the YMCA my sponsors decided that I should be awarded with a manager trainee internship/scholarship only to start a month later or so. I came back full of hope knowing that I stroke gold and that internship is going to be my path to better myself. The papers followed me in 2 weeks or so.
I went to the embassy on my birthday but I did not stress out that thing, as it was not appropriate, I was in a great mood but to my surprise the consular officer was very upset almost rude … I had no idea why.. Even if I speak a good English, words like misrepresentation of material facts did not ring a bell. But he told me that in the second year I left I wasn’t a student anymore as I was not attending full classes anymore. He denied my visa. I went back home studied the thing to the best of my abilities went to refusals and there I met the consular officer of the higher rank and in my defense I asked him to point out why would I respect every visa that I was given not one but three and misrepresent myself at the embassy. It made no point and so it seemed to the counselor officer as he stamped my passports with a canceled with no prejudice stamp and gave me a 214 b and strongly advised me not to come in the following couple of years for a visa.
I DID NOT (6 years) I got a master degree married a beautiful women, parented a 4 year old girl that I am really proud of, until guess what, I WON AT THE GREEN CARD LOTTERY
We went there.. Laid out the whole truth and in 3 visits to the embassy we got denied as me being the main applicant I was told that I still fall under the misrepresentation thing that I thought the last consular officer corrected.
I am not challenging the consular officer (vice consul) judgment. For him it was a case older than 6 year who was already tagged. I will also tell you that the consular officer pursue my case to the best of his abilities but he failed to consider what the law should address misrepresentation is defined as an act that in the end prejudices one part and benefits the other. If you give a visa to someone in this world you give him credit that he will act as a human being according to the law in that country; you do not award the visa. It is not a prize; it is a right of way for someone who asks it. Now I come and ask you, if you ask for it, and you get it, but to the best of your knowledge are still wrong, respect it, do you actually commit a crime that is punishable for life. I was kindly told that and I specifically asked the consular office to manage my self esteem and so he did. He answered all my questions but he calmly told me that I am stained for life and it will stay on my record for life.
I write this to tell you my story as all of you on this forum deserve to know it and to let the people know that even if you GO BY THE BOOK, apply THE LAW, but the LAW allows for one single injustice to take place … as I feel now … THE LAW IS CORRECTABLE.
I also wrote it to reassure my self esteem (inner self) that even the things turned out bad for my family I still have to power to move on. Which direction .. it remains to be seen.
When it happened the first time, the first visa denial … I was enraged … but that was just a childish reaction to something I did not understand at that point. Now I sit in disbelief and type, but being a father and a husband I do not have that luxury any more.
I have no juridical experience … I might be wrong and I stand correction from each of you who know better; I am an economist with a master degree in management of adult education but the experience I got through meeting people in US/Europe I value as twice the formal training I was given in regular universities
Vice consul A answer on a day of December was:
"Section 212(a)(6)(C)(1) - Applicant completed his university coursework in 2000 per grade transcripts. Per the SWT requirements in 2001 only post secondary students who were returning to resume full time classes could participate in SWT, effectively excluding final year students. The applicant did not disclose in his 2000 and 2001 SWT interview that he had completed all his coursework and only had his final license exam pending, which he completed in 2003. Had the Consular Officer known this, the applicant would not have been issued a J1 visa. As such the original 6C1 finding from 2003 still valid"