Help! Visa Denied

[Veraz]

Sent an invitation for our cousin to come to the United States. Her visa application at the U.S. embassy was recently denied. We needed her to come, to help take care of aging mom. My cousin is recently divorced and in her early 50's. All her family is in Kiev, children & grandchildren. Any info. would be apprediated. Anyone know about the visas. We are going to try to call the embassy in Kiev, other than that is there anyone else to contact?

[Foggy]

I wish I could encourage you, but I can't tell you anything except that she has to keep on trying. IMHO, the system stinks, but it is what it is. There are only a few relatively low-eschelon embassy employees who conduct visa interviews, and they are grossly overworked in Ukraine. They have full authority to decide after ten to fifteen minutes whether or not to grant a visa, and there is no appeal once denied. Two years ago, I tried everything to get a visa for a dear friend (Ukrainian -- I am American) to visit me. I even faxed bank records and a notarized statement that I would be reponsible for him, all to no avail. I am sorry for the system my country has, but we are not the only ones.

FOG

[Veraz]

Thanks for the info. FOGGY. I talked to a friend of mine today, who works in accounting dept. of INS & she said it's also based on the countries quota, for visas. they might have already issued all the allowable visas. My cousin's being divorced, probably doesn't help. Thanks. We'll keep trying.