Is US Embassy’s prejudice against Thai visa applicants justified?
Re: “US embassy is right to be suspicious of visa applicants”, May 12, Have Your Say.
Somsak Pola wrote that I am wrong to rap the US Embassy about its visa policies and that it is right to be suspicious of visa applicants. What I’m saying and will continue to say is that visa applicants need to be treated fairly and politely and that the current visa policies contradict what the US is supposed to stand for.
Khun Somsak makes a comparison with air travel, claiming that passengers are rightly treated as presumed hijackers. That has never been my experience. Yes, my bags and documents get checked, but always in the same polite, respectful manner with which everyone is treated. I have yet to witness anyone barred entry to a flight in all my years of travelling. And if anyone is stopped from flying, it is because something is wrong with their documents or they are carrying things they shouldn’t. Can the same be said for the US Embassy in their treatment of Thai people applying for visas?
Khun Somsak claims we should “blame the Thais who abused the system in the past” – but that claim isn’t supported by the statistics. Homeland Security estimates 416,500 overstayed their visas in the US up to 2016, but Asians only comprise 13.6 per cent of that number. And Thais don’t even make the list of top 10 overstayers. Khun Somsak also asks whether I allow strangers to enter my bedroom. The answer is yes – they’re called repairmen, but I always check their documents first. That is all I’m asking of the US Embassy.
Mark Harris
