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US consulate’s folly: Denies visa to Magsaysay winner
Within hours of denying visa to this year’s Magsaysay Award winner Neelima Mishra and that too without assigning any reason, the American Consulate in Mumbai on Friday realised its folly and frantically assured her that it would re-consider her application on Monday.
Informed sources within the city-based US Consulate indicated in the night that Neelima would be handed her visa on Monday.
“The American Consulate rejected my application for a visa to visit the US, after an interview this morning. The officials there did not assign any specific reason for denying me visa. But, in the afternoon, the US Consulate people called me and asked me to meet them on Monday with some more documents so that they could re-consider my case,” Neelima had said earlier in the evening.
A reason that was given to her in what looked like a formatted reply read something to this effect: considering her poor economic background, she would not be to support herself financially during her visit to the United States.
When contacted by “The Pioneer”, US Consulate’s chief information officer Kapil Gupta steadfastly refused to spell out the reason for denying visa to a reputed social worker like Neelima. Nor would he confirm or deny on whether the Consulate knew that she was indeed was one of the six recipients of the prestigious 2011 Ramon Magsaysay Awards.
“We don’t discuss individual cases (relating to visa applications) with the media,” Gupta repeatedly said.
On persuasion, Gupta confirmed that the US Consulate had asked Neelima to meet its officials on Monday.
Mishra has been invited India Development Coalition of America, a Chicago based group, to deliver the keynote address at its convention scheduled for October 15 and 16. If she gets her visa on Monday, She plans to leave for the United States on October 12 and return on October 19.
Informed sources, meanwhile, said that if the US Consulate developed cold feet and decided to re-consider Neelima’s case within hours of denying her a visa, it was because of a news report put out by an international news agency headquartered in New Delhi, saying that she had been refused the visa.
“Many of time, non-Indian officials working in the visa section of the Consulate are not abreast with the antecedents of the persons seeking the US visa. In Neelima Mishra’s case, this kind of faux pas would not have happened, had the official concerned known that she was a person of repute and this year’s Magsaysay Award winner,” an Indian official working for the American Consulate said with a request not to be identified.
Informed sources within the city-based US Consulate indicated in the night that Neelima would be handed her visa on Monday.
“The American Consulate rejected my application for a visa to visit the US, after an interview this morning. The officials there did not assign any specific reason for denying me visa. But, in the afternoon, the US Consulate people called me and asked me to meet them on Monday with some more documents so that they could re-consider my case,” Neelima had said earlier in the evening.
A reason that was given to her in what looked like a formatted reply read something to this effect: considering her poor economic background, she would not be to support herself financially during her visit to the United States.
When contacted by “The Pioneer”, US Consulate’s chief information officer Kapil Gupta steadfastly refused to spell out the reason for denying visa to a reputed social worker like Neelima. Nor would he confirm or deny on whether the Consulate knew that she was indeed was one of the six recipients of the prestigious 2011 Ramon Magsaysay Awards.
“We don’t discuss individual cases (relating to visa applications) with the media,” Gupta repeatedly said.
On persuasion, Gupta confirmed that the US Consulate had asked Neelima to meet its officials on Monday.
Mishra has been invited India Development Coalition of America, a Chicago based group, to deliver the keynote address at its convention scheduled for October 15 and 16. If she gets her visa on Monday, She plans to leave for the United States on October 12 and return on October 19.
Informed sources, meanwhile, said that if the US Consulate developed cold feet and decided to re-consider Neelima’s case within hours of denying her a visa, it was because of a news report put out by an international news agency headquartered in New Delhi, saying that she had been refused the visa.
“Many of time, non-Indian officials working in the visa section of the Consulate are not abreast with the antecedents of the persons seeking the US visa. In Neelima Mishra’s case, this kind of faux pas would not have happened, had the official concerned known that she was a person of repute and this year’s Magsaysay Award winner,” an Indian official working for the American Consulate said with a request not to be identified.
