Retired couple grounded by ‘hostile’ US agencies

A FEW days ago my wife and I arrived at Dublin Airport to board a flight for a holiday in Florida, having previously obtained the visa waiver number from the US security authorities. In spite of this my passport was rejected on a new and purely technical ground and we were not allowed to fly. They told us I could obtain an emergency visa. As the next available flight was in two days we had very little time to get it.

It is impossible to contact the US embassy in Dublin, except through email, and when I finally got a reluctant return phone call from them I was told I would be granted an interview in a few hours and that I had to have all necessary documentation by then. This required a knowledge of computers well beyond my capabilities. Because of this and the very limited time allowed, I could not complete the documentation.

I turned up at the US embassy anyway and was treated with indifference and contempt. Their attitude was “if you haven’t all your documentation, buddy, don’t bother us”.