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Ok, my gigantic knowledge base and source of infinite wisdom…..
Is there a sure-fire way for a TICO to get a VISA to go to the States just to go to Disney or some other touristy thing, for a short period of time?
Why has our State Department made things so hard for TICOs?
Am I missing something, and do any of you have any wisdom, you wouldn’t mind sharing?
Thanks as always guys!!
I don’t have any particular wisdom to impart, but I can share my experience from last year when I accompanied a male family friend to the US Embassy for his visa application/interview.
We didn’t think that I’d be able to attend the actual interview part because we’re not a couple. He is male, I’m female, but I’m married (he is one of my husband’s best friends in CR). He went to the window alone, but a guard came to get me & I was allowed to approach the window. The attendant asked him a few questions but spent most of our time together asking me, in English, why I was there to help him & seemed to just want confirmation of the few things she had asked of him (how long I’ve known him, where he works, for how long, etc.). Before I knew it, he was told his passport would be ready in however many days & I didn’t even realize he had been approved!
Maybe my friend would’ve gotten the visa without my help, but he doesn’t think so & I’m not so sure, either. I watched people being turned away left & right & I don’t think there is any rhyme or reason to how that is decided.
My friend had me write what was basically a letter of recommendation for him in English that I translated to Spanish. He had another letter of recommendation from another gringo couple written in English. The Embassy lady never even looked at those.
Bottom line, I have no idea how they made the decision to grant him his visa. But it worked! Of course, now everyone in the small town he lives in thinks I’m able to magically make visa approvals happen so I have all kinds of invites to the Embassy now!
🙂
JessicaJessica, if I may ask…What documentation did they actually want FROM HIM?
..AND thanks for the reply!
And P.S. was there a fee?
[quote=”jreeves”]I don’t have any particular wisdom to impart, but I can share my experience from last year when I accompanied a male family friend to the US Embassy for his visa application/interview.
We didn’t think that I’d be able to attend the actual interview part because we’re not a couple. He is male, I’m female, but I’m married (he is one of my husband’s best friends in CR). He went to the window alone, but a guard came to get me & I was allowed to approach the window. The attendant asked him a few questions but spent most of our time together asking me, in English, why I was there to help him & seemed to just want confirmation of the few things she had asked of him (how long I’ve known him, where he works, for how long, etc.). Before I knew it, he was told his passport would be ready in however many days & I didn’t even realize he had been approved!
Maybe my friend would’ve gotten the visa without my help, but he doesn’t think so & I’m not so sure, either. I watched people being turned away left & right & I don’t think there is any rhyme or reason to how that is decided.
My friend had me write what was basically a letter of recommendation for him in English that I translated to Spanish. He had another letter of recommendation from another gringo couple written in English. The Embassy lady never even looked at those.
Bottom line, I have no idea how they made the decision to grant him his visa. But it worked! Of course, now everyone in the small town he lives in thinks I’m able to magically make visa approvals happen so I have all kinds of invites to the Embassy now!
🙂
Jessica[/quote]
There is a fee – I want to say something like $150 & that’s whether you are approved or denied! I think he must have paid that in advance, though. He brought a folder full of paperwork. He had the letters of recommendation, bank statements, papers related to the property he owns, CAJA receipts. I don’t know what she looked at prior to my arrival at the window, but I know she didn’t look at any of the paperwork once I was there & she could talk to me in English.
Okay…I figured I could Google the info you’d need to apply & found this to cover it well (since it is the US Embassy website).
http://costarica.usembassy.gov/consnonimmigrant.html#step3
Jessica
[quote=”Vmc”]Ok, my gigantic knowledge base and source of infinite wisdom…..
Is there a sure-fire way for a TICO to get a VISA to go to the States just to go to Disney or some other touristy thing, for a short period of time?
Why has our State Department made things so hard for TICOs?
Am I missing something, and do any of you have any wisdom, you wouldn’t mind sharing?
Thanks as always guys!![/quote]
The state dept has records of the lines of US citizens looking for help getting temporary passports, licenses, credit cards etc due to the smiling, helpful ones lifting them of the burden of carrying all that stuff around.
Naturally much of this happens at the beaches so they must also head to the paradise that is the Central Craphole 🙄 to get this done.Not….sure….I….understand….your….post….
[quote=”Doug Ward”][quote=”Vmc”]Ok, my gigantic knowledge base and source of infinite wisdom…..
Is there a sure-fire way for a TICO to get a VISA to go to the States just to go to Disney or some other touristy thing, for a short period of time?
Why has our State Department made things so hard for TICOs?
Am I missing something, and do any of you have any wisdom, you wouldn’t mind sharing?
Thanks as always guys!![/quote]
The state dept has records of the lines of US citizens looking for help getting temporary passports, licenses, credit cards etc due to the smiling, helpful ones lifting them of the burden of carrying all that stuff around.
Naturally much of this happens at the beaches so they must also head to the paradise that is the Central Craphole 🙄 to get this done.[/quote]I think he’s just referencing how many US citizens are in line at the Embassy to have passports replaced & get help after having their belongings stolen (maybe a tongue in cheek explanation as to why the Embassy makes it hard for Ticos to get a visa?).
Jessica
Ah, yes. That makes sense. I feel like such a dummy for not figuring that out! Must be having a brain fart!
I know many [i]Ticos[/i] who have unsuccessfully applied for a visa, and it seems for no good reason. They have supplied info on their bank account, have family here parents or children, own a home, have successful careers but they were denied. Helping to obtain one for a ‘friend’ who hasn’t much in the bank, and no real estate in their name may be next to impossible….but you never know.
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