Friday, March 27, 2009

Policy

This will probably be the last post about Huyen's visa. Huyen and I have decided to wait till my next trip home to apply again for her visa. The guy from Waxman's office told me that it is an uphill battle to get a girlfriend a visa to the USA. He said that the state department doesn't give girlfriends/boyfriends visas because they want immigration to deal with those people. Yes, that's insane since Huyen is trying to visit the USA and not immigrate. I'm trying to think of a metaphor that is appropriate and the best I'm coming up with is going to the supermarket deli counter and ordering a half pound of honey turkey, only to be told to go talk to the people in the produce department because people like you usually like lettuce.

I wrote the guy in Waxman's office an email saying that as angry as I am about Huyen's individual case, I'm equally, if not more furious about the policy the embassy has of taken people's $131 just to sneak a peak at their bank account. The staffer in Waxman's office wrote me back saying, "Thank you for your email, and I wanted to let you know that I have forwarded it to Congressman Waxman and our legislative/policy aides in Washington DC for their consideration from a policy standpoint."

If anything this whole experience has cracked my rose colored glasses (that's an expression, right?) and opened my eyes. I have very little hope that Waxman will read an email from me but if he does, hell, that would be great. In the meantime though, I'll be writing an op-ed to the LA Times and New York Times.

Anyway, on to slightly less important things...

LETS GO ORANGE!!!! Win one for Huyen, Johnny Flynn!!!

1 comment:

Baby Songer said...

Given my similar situation, I found out that it is better to have them visit a "relative" instead of a boyfriend. Less perception that they will try to stay in the country illegally.