Members of the ‘Unmarried Adult Sons and Daughters of the US Citizens’ who are living in Ghana have pleaded with the US Embassy in Accra to fast track their visa application process to enable them travel.
They said they have been in the queue for the past six years and counting.
One of their spokespersons, Anita Dansowaa told 3news.com in an exclusive interview on Thursday September 1 that they have been left frustrated.
Their inability to travel has denied them opportunity to partake in the graduation ceremonies of their siblings and other family functions, she said.
Dansowaa explained that “With our category, the visas are quota for every year, and so because of that if the applications exceed the quota the rest of you have to join a queue, we have queued for six years.
“If your mother or father does the filing in America, it takes six years before we are called that our case has been approved, for which we can then submit our documents and then a date is fixed.
The U.S. congressional delegation that visited Ghana last week, interacted with the leadership of Ghana's Parliament and discussed a range of global issues from climate to security. https://t.co/P4ks1XwgoX #USinGhana pic.twitter.com/bbg6Do9MEW
— U.S. Embassy Ghana (@USEmbassyGhana) September 1, 2022
“The six years is a waiting time because visa is not available for your category, so you have to que until the visa is available. When a visa is available they will call you to submit your documents and if they are satisfied with the documents they will deem you Documentarily Qualified (DQ).”
She added “The Documentarily Qualified date is what is used to book the interviews. If you look at our category , me for instance, I was DQ March 2020, so I was going to be booked for the interview and this whole Covid came with the lockdown.
“So far, after Covid, three years, almost 30 months after they have cleared up to February 2020, they are yet to do March, which means that we have been in the queue for 30 months for just the interview, yet we haven’t been booked.
“This is frustrating and so we are appealing to them to look at our case , we are depressed, our parents are expecting to see us , there is also financial burden because they are aging and we need to cater for them.
“Our parents are American citizens. The American system is such that if you are below 21 years and they do the documentation for you, you can travel the following year. The moment you exceed 21 years you are categorized an adult. We are not married, we are Unmarried Adult Sons and Daughters of US Citizens. What makes us adults is that we are 21 years and above.
“Some have waited for more than 30 month s without interview and so we are pleading with them to FastTrack the process, we are depressed and frustrated, our parents are waiting for us, we are missing out on the graduation ceremonies of our brothers and sisters.”
Another spokesperson Kyei Godfred said the sis year period is too long and further pleaded with the Embassy to make the Visa acquisition instant.
“Even the six years is too long, we plead that they should do it immediately. We know the Ambassador will listen to our concerns.”
By Laud Nartey|3news.com|Ghana
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