American Consular Officials Are The Real Fraudsters

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On November 15, 2007, Ghanaweb carried a news item titled “Consular Officials Warn Ghanaians of Fraudsters” in connection with applications for the 2008 US Visa Lottery.

Mr. Michael Gray, officer in charge of Diversity Visa (DV) at the American Embassy was reported to have warned Ghanaians to be wary of people who might want to dupe them in the application process. After establishing that the lottery was free to enter, Mr. Gray advised “applicants to avoid entering the lottery through fixers, who set up tables in front of university dormitories, in the village square or at their trade school”.

I’m very surprised that these words come from an American official. In the USA, there are millions of so-called immigration lawyers who collect fees to help immigrants apply for different immigration statuses.

Even if you are legally resident in the US and you want to change your status from, say, a permanent resident to a citizen you may have to pay an attorney to guide you in your application. Why then does Mr. Gray label Ghanaians who charge fees to assist others enter the DV lottery fraudsters?

In the process of labeling some Ghanaians fraudsters, Mr. Michael Gray, revealed that “the application fee of 755 dollars for winning entries was to be paid only to the Embassy during interviews after the applicant had been declared a winner”.

This is where I see the real fraudsters – the American Embassy. On what basis does the Embassy charge 755 dollars as application fee? This is pure day-time robbery! Does the Embassy provide hotel accommodation, meals, transportation, etc for the winners who attend interviews? Or is the US out to make money from desperate Ghanaians?

In her contribution to the issue, Ms. Nan Stewart, Consular Chief at the Embassy, asked “applicants who did not meet the education level and job experience requirements specified in the instructions not to submit and enter the DV programme”. This draws my attention to another fraudulent behavior of the American Embassy staff.

Applicants who win the visa lottery are directed to specific clinics for medical examination before their scheduled interview dates. After paying about $300 for the medical examination you could be denied the visa after the interview. In this case, wouldn’t it be rational for the American officials to direct the applicants for the medical examination after the interview? After, they are certain that the applicant was successful in the interview? We should remember that not everybody who wins the lottery, even if all have the requisite qualifications, is granted a visa. The Americans push you to spend a lot of money to get your medical examination done, take your $755 as application fee and tell you ’sorry, no visa for you’.

The American Embassy official noted that about 3,088 Ghanaians won the 2007 visa lottery conducted last year. However, they failed to tell us how many of these 3,088 were rejected after the initial interviews. More importantly, they did not tell us how many of these are rejected after the interviews, after they have taken their money! Possibly, they are not proud of their record on that.