Make visa process less punishing for Africans

Kenyans have been affected by prolonged waiting periods. [iStockphoto]

The news that the United States Embassy in Kenya will address visa delay complaints is good for many Kenyans who have been affected by prolonged waiting periods.

A few weeks ago, Kenyan sprinter Ferdinand Omanyala almost failed to take part in World Athletics Championships in the US after his visa delayed.

While there have been conflicting reports regarding the athlete's case, Kenyans applying for US visa have been getting appointment dates that spill to next year even when they need to attend events happening this year.

On Monday, the US Embassy said it had added staff to help clear a backlog of applications which piled due to the Covid-19 pandemic. It could have taken this move earlier since it knows that its visa is in high demand.

While it is grappling with the issue of migrants, and wants to curtail the number of people landing on its shores, there are other people apart from students who have urgent and genuine business to conduct there, and will not play cat and mouse games with US immigration authorities afterwards.

The US has every right to limit the number of people moving there, but there is need for it to work out a formula of identifying urgent cases and not lumping all together, and either delaying the process or denying them visas.

Sadly, these overly strict visa rules applied by North American countries such as the US and Canada, and European countries, tend to target only Africans, and currently, some may not attend International Aids Conference in Montreal, Canada which starts on Friday, because of either delay or denial of visas.

North Americans and Europeans travelling to Africa don't go through harrowing experiences of waiting for months for visas appointments, and even get theirs on arrival.

It is only fair that they apply some degree of reciprocity and treat Africans the way their citizens are treated, and not only expedite visa process, but also have rules that aren't needlessly stringent.