Posted on 01/14/2011 1:33:36 PM PST by Red Badger
A nine-year-old boy's dream trip to Disney World was ruined when US immigration officials ruled he was a threat.
Civil servants Kathy and Edward Francis planned to surprise their grandson Micah Strachan with the holiday of a lifetime to Florida in February.
They were only going to tell Micah about it when they took him to the airport on February 19 for the flight to the US.
They had already spent more than £1,500 on plane tickets and had been organising the trip for months.
But this week US Embassy officials denied the schoolboy a visa to enter the US.
They said there was a risk he would not leave the US at the end of his holiday and refused his application under Section 214 (b) of the Immigration and Nationality Act.
Micah was born in Britain and has lived in Middlesex all his life with his mum Claudia Lewis.
He holds a South African passport because his grandparents Kathy and Edward, who have lived and worked in Britain since 1990, only got him a South African passport.
They are originally from South Africa. A letter from Micah's primary school was included in his visa application confirming he attended the school.
But the US Embassy's rejection letter to Micah said: "Because you either did not demonstrate strong ties outside the United States or were not able to demonstrate that your intended activities in the US would be consistent with the visa status, you are ineligible."
His grandmother Kathy, from Brixton, South London, said: "It was going to be a total surprise. He would have loved it.
(Excerpt) Read more at telegraph.co.uk ...
If the kid was born and has lived in Britain, then why does he have a South African passport.
I support the USA on this one. The parents and grandparents need to get the kid’s identity straight. Is the kid a Brit or is the kid a South African?
Exactly. What is the world coming to when a person who is eligible for a British Passport doesn't avail himself of one?
And this while WE STILL allow people from terrorist states to come here.
Actually the Foreign Secretary under the previous Labour Government.
I'm an Anglophile myself, and I have relatives over there. But I have not been especially happy about the changes in government and culture that have been going on for the past 50 years and more. Similarly, I have not been especially happy about the way things have gone in America.
The current UK government is no longer Labour, but as far as I can see things haven't improved that much, either. And the Liberal Democrats are even worse than Labour.
Actually, a visa means nothing. You can have a visa, and if the border official had a bad day, they can send you back for no reason.
I have many friends in Germany who have had awful experiences with this, and the U.S. is losing large amounts of tourism revenue because Europeans are now afraid to buy tickets to come here (there is no refund if you are turned back).
The older I get, the more I think the only working hypothesis that makes sense is that the American government has been taken over by hostile forces determined to bring down the country, this being one of a thousand cuts.
LOL, my first thought was these "public servants" are getting the same treatment from the US that they give their subject Brits.
Well, it certainly makes it bit more of a pain to travel abroad. Having a British passport opens up all of Europe and the rest of the civilised world to travel unimpeded. Its probably about one of the increasingly fewer good things about being a British citizen these days. My Uncle is a lucky man, he has Canadian and British citizenship, and could also apply for New Zealand citizenship if he could. (Born in Britain of a Canadian Mother and a Kiwi Father back in the days when we were all British together)....
“Micah was born in Britain and has lived in Middlesex all his life with his mum Claudia Lewis.
He holds a South African passport because his grandparents Kathy and Edward, who have lived and worked in Britain since 1990, only got him a South African passport.”
Well, that will teach them that a S. African passport, isn’t the same as a British passport.
I thought that closed. Every night when the fireworks would start, France would surrender.
I know that it didn’t turn out to be the case, but the whole scenario screams “custodial abduction” to me. Grandparents getting a child a passport from their own country of origin, rather than the child’s, seemingly without input from Mom (supporting letter was from school), to go to a place relatively easy to disappear in. I’m not surprised the authorities were suspicious....
I'm getting to the stage now were all I care about is me, my family and my friends and everyone and everything else can go and hang. My investment strategy has largely been one of betting against Britain's prospects by investing in gold (the gains of which are magnified when sterling weakens against the USD) and so far, I've been better off for it. It gives me reason enough to smile as this country of mine keeps on going straight to the dogs....
The Brits should have declared themselves Muslims. That would’ve gotten them into the US without a problem.
The refusal had nothing to do with terrorism.
Read the article again.
This really isn’t unusual. My wife was born in Canada in 1951 to American parents. She is a Canadian by birth and an American by descent. This child is British by birth and South African by descent.
The Brits labelled Michael Savage a terrorist.
They let a Kenyan in!
I can not claim to know the rules for South Africa, but my daughter, who was born in the US, can have the opportunity to become a Canadian citizen if she wishes.
Since I am a Canadian by birth, she can do this, if she files to do so. Maybe this is the same for this child.
Huh?
My wife is Canadian by birth and both my children have done that, my daughter to work in Canada and to lessen the odds my son working in the middle east will have his head sawed off on Al Jazera.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.