"Applying for a US Visa? The earliest appointment you can get is February 2023 or 17
RAYMOND:
Bad news? Take a moment, particularly to those who have no
"If I had eight hours to chop down a tree, I'd spend six sharpening my ax."
Start sharpening your ax by looking at the 3 major
1. Fill up DS-160
2.
3. Undergo interview.
Let's focus on the critical step 3: Undergo interview. (The rest are clerical, a caveat though: one document discrepancy, like birth certificate, will nip your application in the bud.)
Consular Officer (CO): What will you do in the US?
You: I will tour the US, Ma'am.
If you're the first Pinoy tourist to enter the US, you would get your visa right away after that one question only. Sad to say, out of around 3.4 million Pinoys in the US today, more than 300,000 are facing deportation for staying illegally: a horde of them with expired visas (TNT). So, the CO would ask you a trick question to "catch" you in your clueless answer – second-guessing you would join the horde of TNTs -- when your visa expires.
CO: Do you have a family in the US?
You: Hmm ...
You'd be cautious of your answer. Expectedly, you'd be engaged in a "battle of wits."
CO's mind: You'll do the TNT trick.
Your mind: No, I won't.
I played chess. Just as I had prepared by anticipating my opponent's moves before the game, so I had prepared too by anticipating the CO's questions before the interview. I projected a total of 50 questions in 3 categories
1.
What will you do there?
2.
How much pension do you get?
3. Rootedness
What is your guarantee you will come back to the Philippines?
Working in the bank, I met clients applying for US Visa. One was denied because she had a "clean" passport. The CO advised her to visit first the Asian countries. Taking a cue, we booked, together with our two kids, a three-day tri-city tour of Singapore, Malaysia, and Indonesia that postmarked our passports. To show we could support our US tour, I gathered bank certificates of cash deposits and income tax returns. To attest to our rootedness, I compiled titles of our house and lot, photos of our house, and a certificate of ownership of our family car.
We printed all projected questions, memorized answers, and did mock interviews. Our son Leigh Roy in Manila booked us a hotel within 10 minutes walking distance of the US Embassy. We checked in three days before our interview for ample time to relax and familiarize ourselves with our new location. We declined all invitations of our relatives living in Manila to stay focused and steer clear of distractions. Our son James Ryan shied away from dropping by our hotel lest we would catch his cold.
The interview day came. Raymond and I woke up early, took our breakfast, and dressed up smartly as corporate guys. After the security check at the entrance, we passed two queues, one outside and another inside the US Embassy building, then made it to the final queue for our interview. Coming closer to the CO's booth, we could hear the question-and-answer exchanges between the COs and the applicants. Getting a glimpse of grimacing faces stirred up by not so few application denials made our blood ran cold.
RAYMOND:
Just as a Sicilian defense was my pet opening in chess, so too Truth defense was my prepped stance in the interview. Mentally, what became my mantra, from sharpening my ax to chopping down the tree, was this Truth medley: truth shines, truth prevails, truth sets us free, and so on.
This was our Truth: we TOUR the US. No more no less. We DROP BY only but NOT VISIT our daughter Jan Kristy in New Mexico. DROP BY means "come to see briefly" while VISIT means "go to see and spend time." We had internalized this Truth so deeply that we shared it with our daughter whose small kids have been waiting for our hugging arms. During the interview, we wanted to keep away from being lumped in with probable TNTs that have presumed Tour to be synonymous with Family Visit.
As the CO was interviewing a student ahead of us, I caught sight of her fixing her gaze straight at my eyes. It was unnerving. When our turn came, she launched the barrage of opening questions to me. Midway, we're hoping she would shift the interview to my wife because she was the one holding our money bag -- her recent retirement pay. But, the CO pressed on the interview with me. Then it finally came.
"You have a daughter in New Mexico, will you visit her?" she asked.
It was a sticking point I had wanted to avoid in coming face to face within this interview. But, Truth, as one saying goes, is always like oil in water. No matter how much water you add to depress it – the oil always floats on top.
"No," I replied.
"Do you mean, you won't visit your daughter in New Mexico?" she cut in and yelled.
My wife and I froze. Everything seemed to have stopped dead. We conjured up an image of the Sword of Damocles hanging over our heads set to drop anytime. After a long uneasy lull, I heard a still small voice.
"We'll just drop by our daughter's home," my wife said softly.
A long pause. Looking at her computer,
"What's your daughter doing in the US?"
"She's a nurse," my wife replied gently.
After a handful of soft questions to my
"You will receive your passports and your visas at home."
Oh! We both heaved a sigh of relief. Joyfully walking back to our hotel, I can't help wondering: was it the two mothers' instincts standing in each other's shoes? Or, was it His still small voice the CO heard?
If you're still interested in chopping down the tree, you must start sharpening your ax.
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