People dealing with the US Embassy in Riyadh are facing two major problems. First, the unexplainable and bizarre delay in giving visas for patients in critical or dangerous circumstances and the second is with regard to some Arab employees who are violating the celebrated American punctuality.
One of my friends — who had been diagnosed with a serious disease — wanted to be treated in the United States. He sent an e-mail to the embassy requesting a personal interview and sent the required papers by fax.
My friend waited for one week and they didn’t contact him. Because the hospital’s appointment was due and because his situation couldn’t tolerate any more delays, he contacted the American Embassy in Riyadh.
One of the Arab employees answered the telephone and my friend explained the situation to him. The employee gave him a phone number in Jeddah. He tried calling the number but no one answered.
When my friend called the embassy again, the same person answered the phone and told him they were busy and hung up.
After sometime, my friend again tried calling the embassy. An Arab employee answered the telephone.
My friend does not know whether or not this was the same person who answered his previous call. He tried to explain that the embassy never got back to his requests and that he was running out of time, but the employee never gave him the chance to elaborate and answered saying he was busy. Because my friend desperately needs an American visa, he continued to call the embassy. This time another Arab man answered him.
My friend told the man that his illness was serious, that there were only 12 days left for the hospital appointment and that he had not been interviewed yet for the visa. The embassy employee gave him another phone number in Jeddah that again was never answered.
This is the real story of a person I personally know, whose disease is slowly killing him. He still has hope that the American Embassy will be kind enough to fulfill his request.
People working for the embassy must realize that obtaining visas has become a very slow and complicated process. Complaints are growing because the embassy is turning a deaf ear to them. There has to be an easy system to facilitate visas for students and sick people in a reasonable amount of time.
