A Telugu couple in Hyderabad recently faced a heartbreaking experience surrounding their only daughter’s wedding.
Their daughter and the groom are both H-1B visa holders, and concerns over changing US immigration policies made them hesitant to travel to India for the wedding without certainty about returning to America.
Hoping to attend the wedding, the parents applied for B1/B2 tourist visas from Hyderabad. They paid the regular visa fee as well as an additional amount for an expedited appointment.
They were eventually given their interview appointment in Kolkata, adding another layer of travel and expense to the process.
The biggest challenge was the gap between their biometric appointment and the actual visa interview.
The two appointments were separated by around ten days. The parents first booked flights to Kolkata from Hyderabad, stayed overnight, completed their biometrics and returned, only to make another trip to Kolkata ten days later for the interview.
After making two trips, paying for flights, accommodation and other expenses, the parents finally appeared before the visa officer.
However, despite completing the entire process and spending a considerable amount of money, their tourist visa application was rejected.
What made the situation even more painful was that the exact reason for the rejection was reportedly not explained.
The officer asked them the purpose of their visit, and when they said they wanted to attend their daughter’s wedding, the application was simply refused.
The parents were left devastated, not only because they could not attend their only daughter’s wedding in USA in person, but also because they had lost lakhs of rupees during the process on a rejected Visa.
Ultimately, they had to watch the wedding through a live video from India and bless their daughter from afar.
