Doha - Qatar has one of the lowest "refusal rates" in the world as far as applications for non-immigrant visas to the US are concerned, a senior official of the US embassy said here yesterday.
Addressing a press conference at the embassy premises yesterday, Ellen Peterson, vice consul at the embassy said, the "refusal rate" in visa applications is generally low in the GCC countries and Kuwait and Qatar have the lowest rates in the region -- 4.0 per cent and 4.1 respectively.
The press conference was held in connection with the Consular Leadership Day, which has been observed by US embassies worldwide to create public awareness about the procedures for applying for non-immigrant visas (NIV) to the US. NIV's include visas for study, travel, business and work in the US.
Very few applications for NIVs from Qatari nationals have been rejected because the applicants normally fulfill all the necessary requirements. Under the US immigration law, a visa must be denied if the applicant can not establish his or her eligibility, either because the application does not meet the requirements of an established visa category, or because there are grounds for ineligibility based on other aspects of the visa cases.
The "refusal rate" among expatriates in Qatar is also presumed to be low but they are not included in the Qatar statistics, but, instead, in the statistics of their respective countries.
Among the GCC countries, Saudi Arabia has the highest "refusal rate" ( 11.3 per cent), followed by the UAE ( 9.8 per cent), Bahrain (6.3 per cent) and Oman (5.2 per cent).
The official advised nationals and expatriates in Qatar seeking non-immigrant visas to the US to apply two to three months in advance and ensure that all the application requirements have been met.
The embassy currently receives 50 to 60 applications for non-immigrant visas daily, said Ellen. Interviews of applicants have been conducted on three days in a week- Sunday, Thursday and Wednesday.
A applicant must fill all the prescribed forms which are available at the US embassy website and then take a print out of those forms before paying the $100 machine-readable visa (MRV) fees at the Commercial Bank. The bank will give pink and yellow receipts which should be produced during the interview. Appointments for interviews have been fixed on line.
Students and exchange visitors must pay the $100 Sevis ( Students and Exchange Visitor Program) fee at www.fmjfee.com/help.jhtml. All other fees must be paid at the US embassy in Doha in either Qatari riyals or US dollars.
"We recommend that applicants apply two to three months in advance of travel and bring old passports showing other international travel, salary and employment letters, bank statements, itineraries and purpose of travel," said Ellen.
The 2006 statistics had shown a steady increase in the number of people travelling to the US from all over the world, after a sudden decline in the number of visitors following the 9/11 attacks.
Overall non-immigrant visa applications, received by the US embassy in Doha during 2006 increased by 24 per cent. Tourist and business trips increased by 24 per cent while the student and exchange visitors had gone up by 30 per cent.
© The Peninsula 2007
