Eddy Sasa had won the Diversity Visa (DV) program, popularly known as the Green Card lottery and he had hoped to move to the US.
However, he missed out on the chance to move to the US after making several mistakes during the application process.
The mistakes saw Eddy and his family denied visa to immigrate to the US. Here is his story as told by WoK.
Background
Eddy and his wife ran a cyber café and they learnt about the DV program when people would flock their shop to apply.
He happened to interact with a client who guided them through the application process.
“The biggest mistake we did is that we didn’t take time to learn about the requirements that were needed
“In fact, I was the only one who made the application because we didn’t have an idea that we could make separate applications as a couple,” Eddy said.
While making the application, Eddy took photos of the entire family from a nearby studio and submitted the application.
“The long wait was over after a few months and we were among the successful applicants who had been selected,” he recalled.
After successfully winning the lottery, they received communication from the Kentucky Consular office via email.
The email provided a detailed guide on the rest of the application process and other requisites including the payment instructions.
By the time he received the communication from the Kentucky Consular, he was yet to apply for passports for himself and the rest of the family.
While in the process of acquiring a passport, they fell prey to a rogue agent who tried to extort them by demanding more money.
“He demanded more cash after the document had been printed failure to which he refused to release the documents
“We had to involve the immigration officials who managed to trace the agent, repossess the documents and handed over to us,” Eddy said.
After receiving the documents, they realized that it had some errors and after writing to the Kentucky Consular, they promised to rectify them.
Eddy and his family also conducted a medical checkup after which they were issued with a certification for the same.
The visa interview was up next and together with his family, Eddy made way to the United States Embassy for the interview.
They beat the long queue and finally reached the reception where a staff member requested to go through their documents.
“She went through the documents and also sought more information about the baby who was born after the initial application,” Eddy said.
Eddy noted that the interview officer requested the adoption decree for her youngest child; the decree would show that he was legally mandated to look after the child.
They were also asked to show a proof that the girl’s biological father had signed a decree allowing for the immigration of the little girl.
“The officer indicated that the interview officer may or may not grant us the visa and allow us to proceed to the US unless we are leaving the child behind,” he said.
As if that was not enough, their marriage certificate complicated the whole process as it had been applied for after winning the lottery.
He noted that they should have held their marriage way before making the DV application to prove that the marriage was not for the purposes of the immigration.
“She looked at my wife and told her that she won’t be allowed to travel with me to the US. The officer explained that out case had issues; the adoption case and the marriage certificate
“She said that from her analysis, I was the only one qualified to immigrate,” Eddy said.
Eddy spend over Ksh 140,000 on the interviews.
They were advised to make the necessary arrangements and try their lick again in the near future.
