It has become more and more difficult for many people to get a "visitor" or "tourist" visa to the United States for any reason, including for an RC workshop. The U.S. government is being very restrictive in granting visas, with the result that many people who want to enter the U.S. for legitimate reasons are denied visas. It is important to start applying for a visa very early (at least six months before the workshop date) and to expect to make a lot of effort in obtaining the visa. We have prepared these suggestions to help you in obtaining a visa. Getting a visa to some other countries may also be difficult and some of these suggestions may be helpful when applying for a visa to go there as well. But the specific rules referred to in this text are U.S. rules, based in U.S. law. We have tried to explain the process simply, but the legal requirements are complex.
The visa application process is almost certain to be restimulating. U.S. law allows the State Department (the U.S. agency that handles visa applications) to treat people differently based on race, class, country of origin, economic status, etc. The basic civil rights that are granted to U.S. citizens (and to citizens of many other countries within their own country) are ignored in the visa application process. These U.S. laws are based in oppression, and while they are being challenged by citizens and organizations within the U.S., it is unlikely that they will be changed soon.
The law also allows the State Department to make assumptions about the visa applicant without having any facts to support the assumptions. For example, the U.S. State Department often makes the following assumptions:
These assumptions will restimulate lots of feelings in most people applying for a visa, and individuals applying for a visa need to be prepared to have a U.S. official ask questions in these areas. We have listed some of the possible restimulating questions and made suggestions for your sessions in a separate paper called "Discharging About the Visa Application Process." Reading this text and working on these feelings in your sessions will help you in this process.
While the U.S. government may imply that they do not want you visiting the U.S., the RC Communities (in the U.S. and elsewhere) very much want you to be able to attend RC workshops in the U.S. We hope you will apply for a visa to attend an RC workshop, even though the application process may be difficult and take a lot of your time.
Not everyone coming to the U.S. needs a visa, or will need to take these steps to get a visa. Many people visiting the U.S. already have multi-visit visas or are from countries where a visa is not needed (Andorra, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brunei, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Monaco, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, San Marino, Singapore, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and Uruguay), or are from countries where visas to the U.S. are not difficult to get. Some RC leaders have succeeded in getting a long-term "business visitor visa" because they are able to show that they have an ongoing leadership role in RC.
However, since September 11, 2001, all visa applications are more carefully scrutinized than they were in the past, and even if you have a visa, you may be questioned more than before by U.S. Immigration officials as you try to enter the U.S. Carry the phone numbers of the workshop organizer in case you are detained by Immigration officials at the airport.
A person whose passport contains a previously issued visitor visa should ask about "special expedited procedures" (faster than usual procedures) for getting another visitor visa. These procedures are available at most U.S. Consulate offices. If you have previously been issued a visitor visa you probably won't need to take all the steps outlined below.
Most Co-Counselors wanting a visa to come to an RC workshop will be seeking a "visitor" visa, called a B-2 Tourist Visa, which is valid until its expiration date (usually 90 days). Visas are issued by the U.S. Consulate, a part of the U.S. Department of State.
One of the major reasons the visa process is so difficult is that the U.S. State Department wants to deny visitor visas to people they fear might be trying to immigrate to the U.S. or might be planning criminal activity. In addition, consulates are carefully screening visa applicants for possible terrorists because they believe that some of the people involved in the September 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center came to the U.S. on visitor visas. The State Department is also very carefully examining visa applications from people from countries where there is war, where the economic situation is very difficult, and from Arab and Muslim countries. Again, U.S. law allows these discriminatory practices. Be prepared for this. Sorry.
Every visa applicant will need to convince the U.S. Consulate of the following things:
If you are Palestinian, Arab, Persian, or from a Muslim country, be prepared to answer questions about your political affiliation, terrorism, etc. Recently, the State Department began requiring men between the ages of 16 and 45 to complete an additional form, Form DS-157, as part of the B-2 (tourist) visa process. (They can require anyone to submit this form.)
The consulate official may assume that your real plan is to stay permanently in the U.S. You must convince him or her that this is not true. To do so you will need to have documentary evidence that you intend to return to your country after the workshop. This is the hardest part of the application process for most people.
If you have internet access, U.S. Embassies and Consulates world-wide are listed at the web site: http://usembassy.state.gov/. You can visit this web site and find out how to apply for a visa from your country. You may also call or visit the U.S. Embassy or Consulate in your country to obtain this information and any needed forms. (You may need to call over and over, as the lines are often busy.) Get all the necessary forms and instructions for completing the forms. These forms can be found on the internet at: http://www.state.gov/m/a/dir/c4455.htm
In your first contact with the U.S. Consulate, find out whether a personal interview is required to get a visa. If a personal interview is required, apply to get an appointment for the interview as soon as possible. Ask for the earliest possible interview date. In many places, there is a four to six month wait for an interview. Whether or not a personal interview is required, file your written application for the visa at the earliest possible date.
Documentation of the following types will be useful in your application. In general, use the most official-sounding documents or letters you can find. Those written by family or friends will be less helpful than those written by employers, or that are official records.
The U.S. government, of course, would like to know everything about you, and many people have had experiences with their government that make them uneasy about giving out large amounts of information about themselves. This conflict is something you have to face, have sessions on, and decide to handle the best you can.
A formal invitation to the workshop may be necessary or helpful. The workshop organizer or the staff at Re-evaluation Counseling Community Resources Inc. in Seattle can prepare and send you a formal letter of invitation to the workshop. Provide the organizer or Seattle staff with the following information to help them prepare and send you the invitation:
This information will help them prepare a better letter of invitation. You can contact the Seattle office at: ircc@rc.org, fax: 1-206-284-8429, or telephone: 1-206-284-0311. Sandra McDonald, office manager, will handle this invitation. Unless you instruct us differently, we will send you the invitation, notarized where possible, by email, by fax (to you and the consulate), and by regular mail (to you).
The consulate may also ask you for evidence of your ongoing contact with Re-evaluation Counseling, such as copies of correspondence with us, phone bills showing calls related to Co-Counseling, or flyers for other workshops you have attended.
If you are an RC teacher, you may want to attach a copy of your teacher certification to the application. If you are an ARP or RRP, you may want to provide proof of that title, such as the listing of your name in the back of Present Time (if you are an ARP or ILRP), correspondence from Tim or Harvey addressed to you as a Reference Person, or you may request a letter from Tim stating that you are a Reference Person. You may want to show how many years you have had this title and held this leadership role.
To show that you will stay in the U.S. for a limited time, you can show your planned travel itinerary and travel booking. (The booking should be paid for only after the visa has been issued.)
Other documentation will also be necessary, such as a letter from your employer giving you time off to attend the workshop and stating the date you must be back to work. You might also be asked for proof of your salary. It might also be helpful to have a letter showing an important appointment you have after the date you are scheduled to return, etc.
This is usually the most difficult step to prove. To show that you plan to return to your home country, you can show any or all of the following:
If you will be paying for the workshop and transportation yourself, you can submit a copy of your bank statement showing that you have more than enough savings to cover the costs. If RC Outreach will be paying for any of the costs of the workshop, travel, etc., the Re-evaluation Foundation will submit a notarized letter stating their commitment to cover the costs of your travel and workshop. The Foundation will need the following information in order to send you the notarized letter.
You can contact the Re-evaluation Foundation in the Seattle office at: ircc@rc.org, fax: 1-206-284-8429, or telephone: 1-206-284-0311. Jennifer Ross, business manager for the Re-evaluation Foundation, will handle this matter. Unless you instruct her differently, she will send you the invitation, notarized where possible, by email, by fax (to you and the consulate), and by regular mail (to you).
Every person applying for a visa must complete (either by typing or by printing in black ink) and sign the Non-immigrant Visa Application form, DS-156, and submit it to a U.S. Consulate with:
Men between 16 and 45 must also complete form DS-157. The local consulate may have their own form as well; you can get that form from the local consulate.
Making any false statements on the form could cause your visa to be denied, and possibly bar you from ever entering the U.S. Complete each item on the form; if a question is not applicable to you, put NA (not applicable) in the blank.
Make a copy of every page you submit to the consulate and make sure your name appears on every page you submit. (The consulates occasionally lose applications or part of applications.) If you submit the application by mail, use some form of mail that can be tracked. Don't give the consulate anything that can't be replaced. If you submit the papers in person, take your copy along with you and have them "date stamp" your copy (this shows the date you gave it to them). Get a receipt for any money paid. Keep notes from any conversation with a consulate official. Get the person's name. Date your notes. Keep any correspondence.
Have sessions on any part of the visa application process that has been restimulating and anything about the interview that you think might be restimulating. Read over your completed visa application forms and supporting documents and discharge on any questions that were hard for you to answer. Read over the separate document, also posted at this site, called "Discharging About the Visa Application Process." It has many suggestions for your sessions.
Sometimes you will want to go to a workshop, but you will not know early on whether or not you will be invited, whether outreach for you will be approved, whether you can get off work, etc. If the workshop is an important workshop for you to attend, we recommend that you begin the process of applying for a visa before you are certain of the answers to these questions. If you are granted a visa, but cannot go to the workshop, time, effort, and the application fee are lost but your success in obtaining the one visa will make it much easier to get a visa the next time you apply. If you wait to be certain that you will be invited or can go to the workshop, it may be too late to apply for the visa. (We are working to educate workshop leaders and workshop organizers on the importance of getting workshop invitations sent out early.) You can apply to Outreach for the visa application fee; please apply and get approval before you pay for the fee.
It is our experience that phone calls and faxes from our Seattle office to the consulate (beyond the letters and faxes mentioned above) have no effect and take a lot of staff time, so we will no longer make these phone calls or faxes.
The U.S. State Department has a web site:
http://travel.state.gov/visa%3Bvisitors.html where a document called "Tips for U.S. Visas" can be found. It should be read along with this memo. Other valuable information can be found on the State Department web site: http://www.state.gov.
Good luck.