By RASHAD ROLLE
Tribune Staff Reporter
rrolle@tribunemedia.net
MANY Bahamians seeking American visas have taken advantage of the US’ interview waiver programme, according to US Embassy spokesperson Penny Rechkemmer.
The Tribune had incorrectly reported on Monday that the interview waiver programme, recently introduced in Trinidad & Tobago, does not apply to Bahamians.
In a statement, the US Embassy spokesperson clarified the requirements for Bahamians.
“The US government is the only source of accurate information regarding US visas and the US visa process. The US government is dedicated to making the process as transparent and straightforward as possible,” the embassy spokesperson noted. “The interview waiver programme has been in place for several years in the Bahamas, and many Bahamians take advantage of the programme. Under the interview waiver programme, those who are renewing a previous US visa, or who meet certain other age-related criteria, may qualify for a waiver of the visa interview. Eligibility is determined based on the answers provided to questions during the appointment scheduling process. However, consular officers reserve the right to require an interview for any visa applicant. You maybe be eligible if you meet the following criteria: you are under the age of 14 or older than 79 years of age; you have a previous US visa in the same class as the visa which you seek to renew; your fingerprints have been taken previously; you have no refusals for a visa in any category since your most recent visa issuance; if applying for a B1/B2 or C1/D visa, your prior visa in the same classification is still valid or expired within the last 12 months; and your prior visa is not annotated ‘clearance received.’”
The US Embassy is streaming a Facebook Live event on its Nassau Facebook page on Monday, April 1 at 2 pm and invites Bahamians to participate.
Comments
Well_mudda_take_sic 5 years, 9 months ago
What else is new? The Tribune has been choc-a-bloc full of fake news in recent years. Did The Tribune's Editor at least write a formal letter of apology to the U.S. Embassy for all of the public confusion caused? LMAO
SP 5 years, 9 months ago
So the US Embassy is streaming a Facebook Live event on its Nassau Facebook page on April Fools Day and wants Bahamians to participate?
No thanks! Maybe some other time....LOL
tetelestai 5 years, 9 months ago
Ok, I admit, I laughed out loud at my desk.
TheMadHatter 5 years, 9 months ago
Even if you don't have to interview, wouldn't you still have to somehow get the Visa stamped into your passport? How can you do that? Would you send it in via DHL, the same way they send it back?
I think it's a nice idea, but at the same time, a visitor visa lasts for ten years and I don't think it's too much trouble to go in every ten years. You have to do the police record and employment letter thing anyway, and like I said above - somehow the visa has to actually physically meet the passport, and your passport expires every ten years too.
Passport replacement is another whole adventure. You can't renew it without getting a birth certificate and all your original affidavits done all over again (hoping the people who remember that history haven't died yet). It's like every ten years you are branded a terrorist.
You can go on a trip to Canada 2 months before your passport expires, for say a week, and when you return to Nassau suddenly 7 weeks later you are automatically a vicious criminal who has no identity and no way to prove your identity and have to go around begging for signatures and affidavits and plead with the Registrar's office to try "find" your birth certificate. Were you born? I'm not so sure. Maybe you weren't. Maybe you would have been better of not to have been? One wonders sometimes.
Thanks to the US Embassy for trying to make our lives at least a little bit easier and hopefully they will keep up the pressure against our Fox Hill gulag.
ohdrap4 5 years, 9 months ago
they were on the radio. you upload copies of your documents. Once they accept the application, you drop it off at DHL.
Beyond Flags can do all of that for you.
You do not have to get a birth certificate every time, just get one or two certified copies and have them apostilled at the foreign affairs ministry. I believe you can have any affidavits apostilled too and they will last much longer.
tetelestai 5 years, 9 months ago
One slight correction ondrap4, having just completed this process, last week as a matte of fact. You do not have to have your birth certificate apostilled at MoFA, assuming you are a Bahamian (even if certificate is certified). Certified is good enough. Now, if you were not born in The Bahamas, then yes, you would need an apostilled document.
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