I feel that it is down right dirty for the US embassy to take $100 for an interview(non-immigrant visa) that will more than likely be denied. Especially for persons who live in a 3rd world country where one works for a long time to see that type of money. Why don't they give the money back if they are denied?
Just wanted to know how others felt.

I want a refund for all the lottery tickets that I bought and have not won with......

A fee is for a service provided whether you are approved or not. Just like taking a drivers license test or testing for MS/Cisco Certification, you pay a fee for the test whether you pass or not.

It's disgusting. I wonder how many are denied visitor visas everyday .. 90% or more? How many hundreds of dollars do they collect everyday? My husband tried twice for a visitors visa. The first time they said no because he's not my blood relative. The second time they said he didnt have enough money even though I provided a letter of support. They thought he was broke but didn't mind taking his $100 though.

I know. It's totally dishonest and crazy. I tried to have my fiance come up on a visitors visa and they denied him right away even before he could claim his case. He said they just took one look at him, denied him and told him to file for a fiancee visa. I was mortified. He said the person was nice in the process when they told him the option of the fiancee visa. They took the money and they gave him back his passport. Thankfully they didn't stamp DENIED in his visa. I was told that sometimes they stamp something inside their visas which makes it hard for them to use it in the future, probably having to apply for a new one.

When I saw the new embassy in Accra (from the outside), it was a few BIG buildings. It made me think of a prison. I said to my fiance wow, where did they get the money to build this? He said, uh, all the money they take for the visa's. (He sounded almost like duh, don't you know?) He's right, they get rich off it. Makes me sick to think about it, but thanks to God he was approved.

It's very very frustrating. Before Ombeni and I were really serious, I was considering trying to see if he could apply for a visitor's visa. But it's not worth the 8 hour bus ride and a month's worth of his salary just to find out that he doesn't have "strong ties" to his country. However, there's an article in the Arusha Times (a Tanzanian newspaper) that says "around 80% of Tanzanian applicants for visitor visas and 75% of student visas are successful". So maybe he COULD have gotten one. Then again, Tanzania's embassy seems a bit more lax than some of the other African consulates.

YESSS, IT IS DISGUSTING. I was discussing this with some other people a few days ago. I totally agree that they should have some sort of refund process if you are denied. It's not right at all. I don't care of the fee is for a "service provided". We aren't getting that service so we should be able to get our money back. Imagine the amount of money they make knowing very well that these people have NO CHANCE at a visa.

The thing that makes me madder is that on top of taking your money, they lie to you, avoid you, give you generic answers, do anything to get you to shut up, etc. I think it is so unfair that we jump as high as they want just for them to mistreat us with their power trips. We provide them with our life and they treat us like criminals. I know it is their job to protect the US from "the bad people", but they could at least be a little more subtle and compassionate with it. There are tons of genuine couples out there being dragged through this process and losing money and having their marriages/relationships strained and split up from this mess.

On top of a refund process there needs to be a complaint process. How many times have I called the embassy and had someone talk to me in a terrible manner just because they can? How many times have I been talked to horribly and had to shut up and deal with it just because they might "ruin us"? I don't think it's fair at all for these people to be so rude and unprofessional (especially when we are paying them and letting them dig into our entire lives) without having some kind of complaint system set up.

I'm having a horrible day and sorry to go off on a rant, but I'm just truly sick of seeing couple after couple having to go through such a stressful process. This isn't a court hearing, but just two people wanting to be together, why should we have to endure such hell and uncertainty? I have vowed to write several letters...as soon as Booker gets here, lol. I don't know what difference they will make, but maybe enough letters from people will make a difference in this process for future applicants.

Couldn't have said it better.

Personally I agree. It is scandalous and highway robbery how these Embassy's are doing. I wanted to say this too what in the world are people like us going to be paying for on July 30 when the new fees come into effect. We pay enough already for the bad service that is provided but I can only talk about the Lagos Embassy. You call them and what do you get an inquiry recording. You e-mail them and what do you get no response. And please please don't even try to go to the Embassy to inquire about anything. I understand you Princess Metzer and I agree with you 100%. First they make it a must that you go visit your fiance and this cost over $1000, then they charge you for filing your petitions, and this is only a few fees that we have to pay. By the time you are finished with the process and get to the Embassy interview you are about broke. Then they tell out right lies to you at your interview. Let me tell you guys this at our interview we were told that our visa was approved and even given a letter to pick up our visa. We go try to pick it up and they say the visa machine is down. For 2 weeks this visa machine is supposedly down when we see people getting visa's during this time. We call Washington DC and they say we are going through Administrative Processing. Now you tell me my friends and family what in the world did we pay for. And then to put the icing on the cake you ask how long will this take and they tell you we don't know. So you mean to tell me I paid well over $3000 for a process that you do not know when it will end for me. This is totally crazy. And I am not venting people I am just telling it like I see it. I hope and pray that every single one of us go and complain to our representatives and please dont say they can not do anything because if they cant then when it is time to vote please dont vote for them. We put these people in office to represent our interest and if they dont represent you what is the point of paying them every time you get a paycheck and it is taken out of your check as taxes. I can see it if we had a record but most of us are just plain working people with no records of any kind and we are treated so badly. I just feel like my rights as a citizen of the U.S. has been violated. Okay okay I will be quiet for now but I am going to do the same thing Princess Metzer is going to do. I am going to make sure I write a letter about this process to my representatives so that I may be able to at least try to make a change in this system for the people coming behind me. There needs to be a committee that is separate from the government that has the last say. And we should be able to go to this committee and represent ourselves and be told why we are being done this way. These people have too much power over our lives.