A Curious Mixture

H.'s visa application was denied yesterday. Point blank, flat-out, denied. He travelled two hours South to Santiago, paid all the fees, spent months collecting the documents, bought a suit to look as presentable and responsible as possible. And he walked in. It looked (he related later) like a bank, with teller-like officials behind windows. And they called him up, and asked him to present any other papers, supporting documents he had. So he showed them my letter of invitation, my pay stubs and those of my parents.
And the official asked H. "Are you planning on gettting married soon?"
And H. replied "Someday, I hope so, but I still have three years of school to go, so I will have to finish my schooling here before we make any big plans."
A good answer.
The man replied with "I'm sorry, sir, but your application of non-immigrant visa status has been rejected."
H. asked "Why?"
The official handed H. a letter outlining reasons for rejection, and said "It's all explained on the form. Sorry, sir, and thank you for your time."
(I, of course, am paraphrasing based on what H. told me, and translating from Spanish.)
Well over $100 gone, and months spent working on this. And that's it. I didn't think they could just reject you, the same day of your interview. They say it will take no later than 16 days to hear from them, and they give you a time period of 2-16 days as the normal wait time. And, checking what their website says, you have to wait three months to reapply. Thus removing any shot we have of getting him to reapply, get here, spend a good amount of time together, and send him back in time for him to start another year at University in March.

The paper he was given, and he read to me, states that if he had a job with a contract (a full-time job, or a solid part-time job), and a letter indicating his status as a good employee, as well as bank statements or other such supporting materials to prove that he is actually earning money from said job and has a reason to return, then he might have a better chance. No job that would give him such a contract would allow him to leave for one-and-a-half months and come back. He has an "off-the-books" job as a gardener, much as I did when a teen and babysitting or working in the yard. He could get a job (a second one), but he would then have to register to pay health insurance (that's the way it works in Chile) and submit a lot of other nasty, confusing forms like tax forms and insurance claims. He must show sufficient ties to Chile. Other ties such as owning a house, or lots of money, or anything else in the undefined and ambiguous "other" category, are acceptable. So, the more money he has in Chile, the better. The truths that he is studying, and cannot possibly continue his study in the U.S. (hard to do when you don't speak Engish at all), and that I do not have sufficient money to support him indefinitely, do not matter.

We know a young woman whose mother died recently, whose aunt lives and works here, and who is studying, just as H. is, at an (albeit different) University in Chile. She has no job, no contract. She was granted a visa immediately. She must have a similar, or perhaps slightly more elevated, economic position than H. has. And she has more ties to the U.S. than he does, and therefore less ties to Chile. She's of a different "race" and female. These last two are the only significant differences between them.

Well, why don't I go there? I want him to meet my family, see my life here. And my job is now full time. It was a stroke of luck that it wasn't last time. I can't go off for six weeks or two months at a time. I need to be saving money. So, if I were to go for three weeks at a time, I spend $1000 just to get there, and support myself for three weeks, then come back. I can't visit him in our summer; he only has a two-week break in July. Their winter break is pitiful, but he has three months in their summer, our winter, during which we can see each other. Once a year. And now, not this year.

It just gets harder and harder to see the reason behind anything humans do. And we knew there was a possibility that he might not get his visa, but, honestly, we did everything possible. Looking over the requirements for other types of visas, some seem easier to win than just getting a simple, non-immigrant, visitor's pass. The fiance(e) visa, for instance, requires proof that you can support yourself in the US, that do, indeed, intend to marry the person you bring over. I wonder what if you lied, and said you did intend to do so, then sent him/her packing before the expired time limit (90 days)? Would you say something went wrong, and we couldn't get on with it as planned. Would you get in serious trouble? I am feeling pretty desperate, here.

I am just lost. I feel helpless, and hopeless, and just this kind of quiet rage that I can't even express. There's nothing to rage against. Just a mindless entity, a faceless law, an uncaring world, and an unjust system. A curious mixture of frustrated tears and angry defiance boils inside me. Just...lost.