Havana/“You are not eligible for an immigrant visa.” It is the message they deliver on a green cardboard at the US Embassy in Havana to inform Cubans of the cancellation of family reunification visas that had already been approved, according to a publication from América TeVé.
Cuban Gabriel Agramonte Samper said on social media that his mother’s interview was approved on December 19 and she was notified on January 6 via email that she could pick up the visa at the US Embassy in Havana. The woman showed up two days later at the headquarters with the intention of picking up the document, but “they gave her the green card without explanation.”
According to the text of the document, “a consular officer determined” that he is not eligible under Section 212 (f) for reasons of “protecting the United States from foreign terrorists and other threats to National Security and Public Safety.”
“It is incomprehensible and deeply offensive that, after a rigorous investigation and review process, a child or adolescent (minors) is given a document of such magnitude,” the journalist denounced last November. Indira Solis on their social networks. According to the communicator, the family reunification process “has already validated that the petitioner is a legal resident and that his relative is a minor son or daughter seeking to join his father or mother.”
On January 9, a Cuban told the journalist Javier Díaz said that “of the 90 Cubans who entered with their mother on the day of the appointment, only their father’s visa was approved.” According to the Cuban-American, they granted it to him because “he has a Spanish passport and Spain is not included in the Travel Ban.”
“No one expects that after two years of waiting, doing everything right, submitting an Affidavit [declaración escrita y jurada]the claim, all the steps, as they should, suddenly because it occurs to someone it is all cancelled.”
The cancellations have especially affected immigrant visas in the IR5 category, intended for parents, children and spouses of US citizens. According to official notifications delivered to applicants, visas have been definitively invalidated, even in cases where the process had already been approved before the most recent restrictions came into force.
Official documents specify that there is no possibility of appeal and that no National Interest Exceptions (NIE) will be granted to reverse the decision.
The situation is not limited to immigrant visas. The United States Department of State has expanded the “visa bonds” program, imposing bonds of up to $15,000 for applicants for B1/B2 visas, corresponding to tourism and business.
This requirement applies especially to Cuban citizens, although it also applies to applicants from other countries included in the expansion of the program. It is important to emphasize that the payment of the deposit does not guarantee the approval of the visa.
The consular authority clarifies that the amount will only be refunded if the visa is denied, or the applicant strictly complies with all the conditions of entry, stay and departure from the country.
