Discharging About the Visa Application Process

The visa application process will unfairly exclude many groups of people from visiting the U.S. Discharging about all of the difficult parts of this process will increase the possibility of your success in getting a visa.

Here are some of the restimulating assumptions that the United States State Department often makes as part of policy:

• That you want to immigrate to the U.S. and that is your real plan for coming.
• That you are lying about your intent to go to the workshop and return home afterwards.
• That you might be a criminal or terrorist.
• That you will be unable to economically support yourself while in the U.S. and that you will seek a job in the U.S.

Here are some of the questions on the visa applications, forms DS-156 and DS-157, that many people might find restimulating:

Form DS-156:

• Have you ever been arrested or convicted for any offense or crime?
• Have you ever been refused admission to the U.S.?
• Are you a member or representative of a terrorist organization as currently designated by the U.S. Secretary of State?
• Have you ever violated the terms of a U.S. visa?
• Have you ever been afflicted with a communicable disease of public health significance or a dangerous physical or mental disorder?

Form DS-157 (required for men between 16 and 45, and could be required of anyone else):

• List all Professional, Social, and Charitable Organizations to which you belong (belonged) or contribute (contributed) or with which you work (have worked).
• Do you have any specialized skills or training, including firearms, explosives, nuclear, biological, or chemical experience?
• Have you ever performed military services, and if so, give details.
• Have you ever been in an armed conflict, either as a participant or victim?

We encourage you to get a lot of sessions on these restimulations before and during the visa application process. Use this process as an opportunity to work on the irrational policies of the U.S. and how they restimulate the hurts you have experienced earlier in your life and the oppressions that target you in your daily living. It is possible to discharge enough so that you are able to relaxedly handle these irrational policies when you meet with the consulate officials.

Here are a few other suggestions for sessions:

• Read the application form(s) and discharge on any question that is restimulating to you long before your interview.
• Discharge on whatever might keep you from presenting yourself well on the application and at your interview; work on not feeling bad about yourself no matter what is said to you; work on not letting the experience make you doubt your intelligence, goodness, and worth.
• Discharge on early memories of not being trusted, of having to prove yourself to someone else, and on attacks you have experienced.
• Review and discharge on experiences with bureaucracies and their requirements.
• Discharge on how you, your country, and its people have been treated by the government of the U.S. (or other countries).
• Discharge on the racism, classism, etc., of the officials you are dealing with.
• Talk about how you feel about coming to the workshop, how RC is important to you.
• Talk about how important it is for the workshop to have you in attendance; that you are an important part of the RC Community.

Good luck.
We want you to be able to come to the U.S. to attend the workshop and hope you will be successful in your visa application.