The White Fiance

Oh, boy. Do you seriously think I'm going to take homework assignments from you? Do it yourself. I came here and tried to be helpful, and I'm getting very ungrateful and uninformed responses. If you don't believe me, do your own work and prove I'm wrong. Apply for about a dozen tourist visas. I warn you, it's a waste of time.

Yes. The Schengen people do it, too. They don't call them "fraudulent," but they are. It's asinine, but it's what they want. You can't fly with dummy tickets. They can't be used to hold your place on a flight. They're useless. They prove nothing. Somehow consulates still ask for them and caution people against buying real tickets. I could show you emails. It's amazing. You can get your ridiculous fake tickets at dummyticket.com.

Consulates commonly request dummy tickets, which they know are fraudulent. Not my idea.

Taiwan gave us a visa. No problems. Takes a couple of weeks. We will give the Swiss our application in August. Taiwan accepted ridiculous dummy tickets.

I am inclined to do more or less what you did. I do not believe in lying as a general rule, and it pains me to do it, but when you are dealing with professional career swindlers who have abused you and others repeatedly for blatantly racist reasons, and you have no plans to do harm, it may be justified. It's surprising how racist European countries are. They're always criticizing the US as though it were 1860, but their governments are much worse. Meanwhile, we've had a black president and vice president, secretaries of state, a national security advisor, many Senators and representatives, and a slew of black billionaires. Europe has never had a black ruler. Not once. Unless you count the guy who was just elected in Wales, which isn't really a country. There is only one black billionaire in all Europe, with a population twice as big.

I have a follow-up. I have come to believe the whole Schengen tourist visa business, for people from countries Europeans don't like, is a racist scam. The actual purpose of the process, at least in the countries we have dealt with, appears to be to find excuses to keep certain applicants out, especially Africans. They do not want Africans on their continent, but they want to virtue-signal and hide the truth, so they encourage people to apply, and then they find any excuse to reject their applications. We went to Greek consulate. We brought all sorts of things they hadn't asked for, in addition to the things on their list. We thought we would try to be prepared in case they tried to sandbag us. Then they asked for other things we did not have with us. They would not let us sit down for an hour in their waiting room to download things, and they would not let us drop a missing item off the next day. We were able to prove we had many, many times the assets needed to pay for a brief trip, but they suddenly decided they had to have tax returns, which I don't carry around with me. We had paid hotel and Airbnb accommodations for every destination, but they demanded to see tickets to show how we would get from country to country inside Europe. They said airline tickets were better proof of where we intended to be than hotel receipts. That's idiotic, since refundable airline tickets can be changed very easily, but a good hotel booking in a peak month is like gold. If you have one, you will do anything to hold onto it. I went home and requested refunds for all our bookings, and now we are giving Switzerland a shot. Greece said we could try again, but my feeling is that if you're going to suffer like this, it should be for the best possible destination, not Greece, which is perfectly fine, but not on the level of Switzerland. We are applying mainly for the purpose of getting my wife's biometrics into the system. The Swiss are very responsible, so even if they don't accept us, I think they'll obey the law and keep her biometrics. The other countries we applied to spat on the law and threw her fingerprints out, so we know they never actually looked at her applications, although they did encourage us to give them money for doing nothing. They just took her papers, set them aside, lied to us about processing them, and threw them out after rejecting her. We may apply for a Japanese and/or Taiwan visa simultaneously with the one for Switzerland. Maybe if the Swiss let us in, we won't even go this year. At least we'll be in the system. I got some information from an Indian who has been through this mess many times, and he told me the tricks to watch out for, so maybe we'll eventually see Europe. He said I should give my wife a sponsorship letter and notarize it, which is moronic and has no legal significance, but I will do it next time. He said I should bring our marriage license. Crazy. As it happens, I did take our license to the consulate, because I was paranoid.

Thanks for the help, but we definitely don't want go to go Africa after spending two years getting her out. Neither of us wants to visit Africa. She really wants nothing to do with South Africa. She is interested in Dubai. I'm not. It's a last-resort destination for me. It's like they took a big sandbox where there was nothing to do and added tourist attractions. She claims Zambians go to Dubai so they can see if KFC is better there! I don't even like KFC in America. The food has been no good since about 1970. They stopped frying chicken in beef fat and started using powdered potatoes. Unfortunate, because as I said above, "I used to live there, and there is no way I will go back even briefly unless the other option is death." I really hate that city. I won't go even for funerals. We have a consulate interview coming up. Hoping for the best. Surely they can tell the difference between a wife who hasn't left Zambia and a permanent US resident in Florida. Our solution to the problem of being forced to provide airline bookings, which is impossible in the US without paying for the tickets, is to buy refundable tickets, get our visa, and then return the tickets and buy cheaper ones. Buying fraudulent tickets is sort of unfair to the airlines, but we didn't make the rules. We also booked a bunch of refundable rooms. I can't even recall all the times we've canceled reservations because she could not get a visa. We went to Mexico recently to get her some dental treatment. They let her walk right in. Unfortunately, it's a pretty bad destination for tourists, except for American kids who like to get drunk in loud bars. The cops kidnapped three American girls while we were there and made them pay ransom. The dental clinics are great.

If Greece won't cooperate, we'll have an acceptable backup. Thanks again.

If other countries can learn to use technology, so can the Europeans.

Here's something funny. I emailed the Hungarians, and they said we could apply in New York, like it was across the street from Florida. I emailed back and conveyed my regrets, noting that it was 1000 miles away. They suggested DC, which is only 850 miles away. That's totally different. I'll get in the car right now! Instead of two days on the road, it's only 1-3/4 days. Game-changer there. Many Europeans have no idea how big America is. They're just like Americans who think Johannesburg is a short drive from Lagos.

Not helpful.

It looks like the UK uses VFS in Atlanta. Basically, if we want to see Europe, and they DID throw out all her biometrics without entering them, we will be starting with Greece because the consulate is close to us, or we will try Switzerland, because they're in Atlanta, not Miami or DC. A bunch of countries work through Atlanta. Switzerland is the only one I want to see again badly enough to make the drive. I wouldn't drive to Atlanta just to get a chance to visit England. If we can get into Greece, we can hit Paris on the way home. That's a pretty good trip. If we decide to give up on Europe, we'll see if Japan or Taiwan will work with us. I wish we could go to Israel, but this is obviously not the time. I put together this list of Schengen countries and the places where people who live in Florida have to apply. Austria - VFS Miami Belgium - Atlanta Czechia - DC Denmark - VFS DC England - VFS Atlanta Finland - DC France - VFS Atlanta Germany - VFS Miami Greece - Tampa Italy - VFS Miami Luxembourg - DC Netherlands - VFS Miami Norway - VFS DC Sweden - VFS DC Switzerland - Atlanta

The web claims Schengen countries keep biometrics from rejected applicants for 5 years, but they treated us so badly, I would be surprised if they even entered the information in their system. She applied 5 times, and they took biometrics every single time.

I just found out Greece issues visas in Tampa, Florida. Not that far from us.

Thanks for all that help. It's a little hard to tell which of your experiences were pre-green-cart and which came later. Sadly, some of the most attractive countries would require us to drive to Miami. I used to live there, and there is no way I will go back even briefly unless the other option is death. Some countries will let us apply in Atlanta. A monstrous inconvenience, but anything is better than a trip to Miami. I would rather never see Europe again than return. Japan sounds promising. I have been checking out Taiwan, and so far, it looks like she can get in. When she lived in Zambia, she had several Schengen applications rejected because the Europeans do everything they can to keep Africans out. I'm trying to find out if they still have her biometrics. They probably threw them out or deleted them immediately.