Please publish the attached open letter to the US embassy highlighting the disgust many Jamaicans feel with how they are treated by the US consulate in Kingston.

Dear Sir/Madam:

I had a very unfortunate experience at your office in Kingston, Jamaica, on November 18. The entire circumstances surrounding my experience with your administration have left a very distasteful reminder that Americans consider themselves to be 'superior' and all other people 'inferior' and 'beneath them'.

I was unsuccessful in my bid to obtain a non-immigrant US visa, but the basis on which I was denied, is still a mystery to me. I was told, "I am sorry but you do not 'qualify'" for a US visa, with no established or stated reasons why. I am in a good job and I am currently enrolled in a four-year degree programme at one of the island's prominent universities, yet your agent did not even bother to read or look at the supplementary form, nor was it deemed relevant.

'I love my country'

I love my country and despite the problems we are experiencing with crime and violence, I would not trade it for anywhere else in the world. I breathe fresh clean, unpolluted air and we do not consume recycled water. Our beaches are unsurpassed in standards, so I am quite content with Jamaica as my home. Therefore, my desire to visit your country to see friends and family members whom I miss terribly should not be seen as a threat (to God alone knows what). I am not a terrorist, nor an extortionist who wants or even has the means or desire to violate your economy or your people.

If your people are familiar with the Jamaican economy, you would know that $11,000 is not money that people spend for nothing or for repeated horrible service from any entity. If there are pre-requisites for qualifying for a US visa, your clients should be advised of same prior to their application. As far as I know, in business there is often a pre-qualification exercise that can be carried out before one pays for a service for which he/she does not qualify. On that basis alone, every unsuccessful visa applicant to your consulate should be refunded 100 per cent of the fees paid.

I hope you recognise that the Jamaican citizen who applies for a visa is a 'client'. Therefore, buying an application from February 2008, then waiting approximately eight months later to even get an appointment is just unacceptable and displays a total disregard for the client and their hard-earned resources.

Interview questions

The representative who conducted my interview asked me what was my salary for the year and I told him approximately $758,000 p.a. Now, if this was one of the reasons for my disqualification, I think I should be notified that I do not qualify based on my earnings prior to my spending $11,000 out of my 'hard-earned' meagre salary.

Thousands of Americans come to our shores every year, and we Jamaicans see them as our clients, the source of our highest foreign exchange earner. Americans do not need anything but their plane fares, and when they do come to our island we treat them with the utmost respect and courtesy.

With that in mind I wish the United States Embassy would return the same courtesy and respect to the citizens of this country. The scant regard with which your offices treat the Jamaican citizens who are your "paying clients" is disgraceful.

The consulate should give more care and due diligence in the way they handle applications. I believe the behaviour of your officers is reprehensible and offensive.

I am, etc.,

A VERY DISGRUNTLED CUSTOMER

Kingston