I actually thought that it’d be easy for me to get a
visa, considering my travel history, job, bank statement and current
commitments (house, car) - but lo and behold, my visa application was refused -
TWICE. Imagine my frustration, living in the pedalaman Keningau and all - where
traveling for interview means time and money gone, and shipping takes longer
than within WM. SUPER FRUSTRATING K.
Refusal 1 - the very same visa photo I used for
Saudi & India visa was rejected by the US embassy. Reason: cant see the
edge of my eyebrow. Fine, my bad.
Refusal 2 - this is where the mystery comes - I have
no idea why! I have plenty of reasons in my mind, but I guess I’ll never know
for sure. Possible reasons:
1. I wear tudung
2. I have a ‘mohamad’ in my name
1. I wear tudung
2. I have a ‘mohamad’ in my name
3. I work in Sabah - the very state responsible to
put Malaysia in the US K-list
4. Single girl traveling alone - they might think I
don’t ever wanna return to Malaysia (I have all the intentions to go back,
thank you very much)
5. I prolly have too much stamps in a year (I travel
to 8 countries in the past year, including Saudi which has an arabic stamp to
it- they might think it’s from Iraq or something), it prolly seems suspicious
6. I traveled to Turkey, Saudi and Qatar in one
passport - all the countries that were listed in SAO list/List of 26
7. I might have too much in my bank statement, it
prolly seems suspicious
8. Or I have too little, they might think I have no
money to return to Malaysia
I highly suspect it’s reason number 5 or 6 though,
because I did leave my passport at the embassy. Meaning, they pre-approved my
visa application - but prolly after going through my passport thoroughly, they
decided to put me in AP?
Anyways, my visa was cleared after exactly one month
post-interview. It didnt matter much if my travel date was sometime later, but
I missed my trip that was supposed to happen three weeks after my interview.
And now I’m trip-less but with a $160 worth of visa
in my hand, I’m definitely planning one soon! Solo or not, ya gal is doin
it.
