The Tribune

By AVA TURNQUEST

Tribune Chief Reporter

aturnquest@tribunemedia.net

THE US Embassy in Nassau has granted just over 100,000 non-immigrant visas since 2012, according to statistics provided by the US State Department.

Meanwhile, the rate of refusal of Bahamians for non-immigrant B-visas has hung around 9.3 percent for the years 2016 and 2017.

This percentage does not reflect statistics for the Nassau embassy, but all Bahamians processed.

"The visa waiver programme non-immigrant visitor visa refusal rate is based on the worldwide number of applicants for visitor (B) visas who are nationals of that country. B visas are issued for short-term business or pleasure travel to the United States," according to the State Department.

It continued: "The department identifies multiple applications from a unique applicant and omits all but the last action from the calculation. Thus, an applicant is counted only once each year and is assigned the status in which he or she ended the year.

"For example, if an applicant who was refused in April re-applies and is issued in July, he or she will count only as an issuance. Similarly, if an applicant who was refused in April re-applies and is refused again in July, he or she will be counted as only one refusal.

"Rarely, an applicant may end the year in a third category, 'overcome.' This happens when an officer has the information he needs to overcome a refusal but has not processed the case to completion."

Haiti, Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago held a refusal rate of 71.44 percent, 46.78 percent, and 22.46 percent, respectively, in 2017.

For 2016, the Bahamas' rate was listed as 9.3 percent, with Haiti at 64.52 percent, Jamaica at 35.64 percent, and Trinidad and Tobago at 22.7 percent.

As for the Nassau embassy, for the fiscal years 2012 to 2017, a total sum of 97,575 non-immigrant visas were issued.

The 2018 US fiscal year, as defined by its federal government, started on October 1, 2017 and continued until September 30.

For this period, preliminary statistics indicate a total of 10,450 visas were issued.

The State Department notes preliminary dates are subject to change, but any change would not be statistically significant.