Panday complains about discrimination in granting US visas

Opposition Leader Basdeo Panday wants the U.S. Embassy in Port of Spain to clearly state its criteria for granting visas to citizens of Trinidad and Tobago.

And he also wants the embassy to advise a rejected applicant of the reason for refusal of a visa "in the interest of natural justice".

Panday’s call follows a report in the Trinidad Express about complaints from citizens that the Embassy has refused visas to pregnant women, those who already had a child in the U.S. and locals going to America for job training.

Panday stated that while it is recognized that a sovereign country has a right to determine who should enter its territory, "such a right should be exercised with empathy in this global village, that is today’s world".

He added, "Many of our citizens have families in the United States given the long history of our movement between the two countries."

The former prime minister said while the Embassy is exercising its right to determine who gets a visa he feels the practice is "senseless" discrimination that amounts to an act of cruelty. Panday said that it amounts to a human rights violation.

An internal probe done by the U.S. State Department’s Office of the Inspector General has concluded the discriminatory practice is illegal and visa officers have been told to follow U.S. visa application laws.

An embassy official told the Express that State Department officials have visited the Port of Spain office following the publication of the report several months ago and found that everything is functioning as it should.

The report stated, "Consular section management currently teaches non-immigrant visa officers to refuse visas to certain categories of applicants who should not be refused under visa law...Of special sensitivity are routine refusals for newly hired employees of known local and American companies going to the United States for training.

"These knee-jerk refusals have damaged relations with those companies, many of which do daily business with the embassy," the report stated.

The inspectors recommended that immigration officers issue a visa based on an applicant’s travel intentions and not what the person might do in future.