The Visa Interview
In the midst of the pandemic, I was thinking about which country would be best if I get an option to choose one to live the rest of my life.
For many the obvious answer is the USA but for some reason, I don’t find it that attractive. The chaos there is too much for me to handle.
I prefer peace over the hi-fi tech world. What it means is that I would prefer Bhutan over the USA any day. But one needs to think about the practicality of things as well. Anyway, while I was thinking about this, I thought I should write about my last visit to Chennai embassy for US visa approval.
Last year in February, I went to the US embassy in Chennai to get my B1/B2 visa. I personally don’t have much interest in going to the USA. I find travelling 24–48 hrs in flight quite painful. But as my profession demands it, I had to try for it. My company paid for my trip to Chennai and all the other expenses.
She: “Please hand me your passport.”
She: “What’s your purpose of visit.”
Me: “? ? product ? ? ? code ? ? America ? ? rich country ? ? India poor ? ? ? me.” (This is I guess, whatever I said, seemed to her)
“What’s your salary?”, She asked.
“Xx lacs per annum.”
“Do you have an invitation letter?”
“Yes”, I said and handed it over to her.
“Why you have been chosen?”, she asked
I tried explaining it to her.
She smiled, I wasn’t sure at that time whether she was confused with what I said or was impressed with me.
“When will you be coming back?”, She asked.
“Whenever you want me to”, I answered. I don’t remember answering this, but there was no other possible reason she had, to reject my visa. I guess she got offended by my answer. I am no sexist, but sometimes beauty gets the better of me.
It’s not a rant but just a humorous take on my visa rejection. I really admire the USA, the country to which, travelling for a week required me to fill up 5 pages long-form, take 50 pages of printout of different documents, and 10k rupees visa fee plus around 25k in travelling and accommodation. I can skip the money part as that was taken care of by my company, I didn’t have to spend a single penny. But the time and a bit of effort I put in, made me rethink about few things.
**Do US citizens go through a similar experience when they apply for an Indian visa?** Obviously not.
Not getting a visa didn’t bother me much. But spending a total of 4 hours in Bangalore traffic to reach the airport and back which went in vain once the visa got rejected, was the real pain I felt.
Another thing that bothered me, was watching families literally pleading to the consulate’s officers after their visas got rejected.
