These few months I’ve been busy running around arranging things for various visa applications. Here are my experiences, as a Myanmar passport holder, with different consular services in Fiji. Depending on the type of visa application, type of passport and your situation, the services might be different. This is entirely based on my personal application experiences.

Most visa application takes 3 days to 2 weeks of processing period and 0 to 210+ FJD visa fee. Most visa application requires you to show the followings:

• 1 or 2 passport photos,
• Valid passport,
• Completed application form,
• Application Fee,
• Related documents
  • return flight itineraries
  • approved visa from final destination (if you are applying for transit visa)
  • bank statement, pay slip
  • accomodation arrangements in the destination country (hotel booking etc)
  • sponsor letter/invitation letter/leave approval form/support letter from your work if it is work related
  • program detail schedules,
• and any other requirements stated in the application form.

For the recent Bali trip, I had to apply for Indonesia visa, Malaysia Transit visa and Australia Transit visa. All three visas didn’t cost a cent for me and were done within 2 weeks time. It was a wonderful trip and I enjoyed it a lot thanks to all the help from Indonesia Embassy, especially Ms Lina Dilliane and the organizer Ms Oona Solberg. I sincerely thank you all for very smooth and fast processing with my visa as well as the trip plans.

I was invited for this year GV Summit which will commerce on 27th – 30th June, in Budapest, Hungary. My sponsor has sent all the required documents and flight itineraries. I had to apply for Schengen visa, British Transit visa and U.S Transit visa. They all cost a big sum and each application took 5 – 10 working days.
The fees are:

• Schengen visa – FJD 140.85
• British transit visa – FJD 150
• U.S transit visa – FJD 210 + $4 EMS

I was able to obtain Schengen visa and British transit visa but my U.S transit visa was rejected.
Due to unreasonable rejection from U.S embassy, I’ve:

• missed out a great opportunity to attend GV Summit 2008 in Budepest, Hungary,
• missed the chance to meet all those wonderful people from GV,
• the above approved 2 visas have been wasted,
• wasted the above visa application fees,
• wasted USD 3000 return flight tickets,
• wasted a great deal of time and afford on preparations eg. having done passport photos, prepare required documents, running around embassies,
• wasted a great afford/support (time + $) done by Ms. Georgia Popplewell (GV Managing Director),
• wasted time and afford of various friends and family (especially Sally and Mom) who helped me with U.S visa application and plan to rearrange flight route.

Most of all I’ve missed out the chance to learn the whole new world of citizen media and global voices community. It is very rare to get such kind of opportunity for me, as a Myanmar passport holder, to be able to attend such great conference and U.S Embassy has crushed all my hope and dreams down the drain.

The reason they gave for rejecting my 1.5hr of transit time in Los Angeles U.S.A is that I lack “TIES”, as you can see in the following letter.

During the interview, the interviewer told me:

• my passport is old and unreadable, (unreadable my arse! all other embassies approved of it and everyone can read it, only her god forsaken eyes are blind!)
• that my application needs to be applied from U.S Embassy in Myanmar, (how the hell am I suppose to apply from U.S embassy in Myanmar while I am in Fiji!!!)
• and Fiji embassy will take 2 or 3 weeks of further processing time. (normally 24hr processing time for transit visa, according to the visa officer on the phone and from website info page)

She simply refused to answer my question of any other document that I need to submit in order to speed up the processing and RUDELY reply me by saying “this application needs longer processing. I will deny the visa right now if you like”. There is no explanation of what kind of things they are looking for in that processing time and what I need to do in order for them to approve my visa. I have asked many times via emails as well as phone conversation on what more they want to see from me. I only get a response such as your application is not convince enough and refuse to tell me how the f*ing way to convince them. It’s like – my country, my rule, I don’t like you, you can’t enter, that’s it, F*off, kind of policy. Ofcos’ that’s the same policy for almost all the countries but at least be reasonable and give me proper reasoning/explanation for the worth of $210 fee for god sake!!! I tried not to write about this but just for remembrance I’m keeping my bad memories on this blog post. Excuse my bad language but I couldn’t find the better words to express my feelings. Arrgghhh I’m just seriously pissed!!!

Anyways, since I can’t do anything about it and my trip has already been canceled, now let me get back to my experiences with some embassies here.

Indonesian Embassy – Super Sweet and Fast
The embassy is very close to our office. When you get there, once of the officers will come meet you with application form. Fill in the form and give them the required documents. In my case, I told the officer that I need to apply for other transit visas as well so need to get this visa quickly. I lodged my application in the morning and in the evening I got a call from the embassy that my visa is ready to pick up. How sweet is that! Since my case is special, I don’t need to give any application fee. I was surprised and really lucky to get a visa within a few hour time. It’s very neat and well decorated with Indonesian handicrafts and you can view lots of country tourism related booklets and brochures while waiting. The ambassador is very nice as well. While I was there to pick up my passport, the ambassador came in and saw me so he asked whether anyone’s already served me or not. That’s just so sweet. Most ambassadors or big bosses don’t even bother to give a glance at visa applicants.

My experience with the whole embassy services and the staffs are just so great that I must say they are the best embassy in Suva.

Indonesian Embassy in Suva, Fiji
6th Floor, Ra Marama Building,
91 Gordon Street
Suva
(P.O.BOX 878 Suva)
Phone: (679) 331-6697
Fax: (679) 331-6696
Email: kbrisuva@connect.com

Website: Nil
Phone Support: Excellent
Email Support: Great
Walk in reception: Excellent (polite security, very helpful smiling visa officers, a nice ambassador)

Malaysia High Commission – Very friendly

I emailed them first whether I need to apply for the transit visa since their website wasn’t stated clearly on who need visa and things. I didn’t wait for the reply but I went down in person since the high commission is quite close and met with this very friendly receptionist.
I’m not sure she’s a Malaysian or an islander but she is pregnant and asked me lots of friendly questions. She told me about her high school days where she met some Burmese students and what she think of them etc etc while waiting to meet the proper visa officer. Five minutes later, the officer came to meet me with my email print out. He asked me a few questions about my trip. I told him that I’m only transiting in Malaysia, he said no need to apply for the transit visa since I’m an ASIEN member passport holder or something. I can get a visa on arrival at Malaysia airport and need to pay about $20 USD there. We talk for a while about my stay in Fiji and the family. Then we found out that he plays Badminton a few times together in a group so kind of remember the faces, he even sent regards to my mom. It was very friendly environment and the officer was very helpful in explaining visa related things. Their office is small but friendly staffs and I get what I came for so I’m very much satisfied with their service.

On the note of the visa on arrival transit fee, I didn’t get to pay anything. The immigration officer thought I was an Indonesian/Malaysian and greeted me in their language. Then he just quickly check my passport and didn’t ask for any $. How nice!

High Commission of Malaysia, Suva
5th Floor, Pacific House,
Butt Street, Suva
P.O. Box 356 Suva
Republic of the Fiji Islands
Phone: (679)3312166/3312617
Fax: (679)3303350
Web Site: http://www.kln.gov.my/perwakilan/suva
Email: malsuva@kln.gov.my
Office Hours: Monday-Friday 8.30 am-4.30 pm

Phone Support: Good
Email Support: Slow
Walk in reception: Excellent (very sweet-talkative-pregnant receptionist, very friendly handsome officer)

Australian High Commission – Strict and Uptight but good support
Australian High Commission, in my opinion, is the most busiest consulate office in Suva. Everyday it’s packed with long queues of various visa applicants. Previously it’s quite easy for Fiji passport holders but after the coup, due to bad relation between governments, they started to make things hard for all visa applicants. You have to fill in 4-6 pages long application form together with 16-18 pages long booklet about you and your whole family history. You need to state about your kindagarden, primary, secondary, your current address, your past 3mth address, 6mth address, 1yr address, your step parents, step mother’s cousins, your brother’s 2nd wife’s daughter’s date of birth, your cousin’s great grand father’s FNPF number, your 1st contact in case of emergency, your 10th contact in case you puke on flight etc etc. (ok I might be a bit, just a bit, exaggreating but still – ) After an hour or two sweating, pulling hair and rethinking/creating your whole life story, you then sign at the bottom last page saying – I swear I wrote all the truth and nothing but the truth and god mercy the bloody truth in this document. Finally you walk up to the reception, pay the fees and submit the application. You get a receipt number which you use to call and ask for your application status. Normal visa take 2 weeks and transit visa takes 3-5days.

Australian High Commissioner to Fiji
37 Princes Road,
Tamavua, Suva.
Fiji Islands
Phone: 679 338 2211
Fax: 679 338 2065
Web Site: http://www.fiji.embassy.gov.au/
Email: public-affairs-suva@dfat.gov.au
Office Hours: The High Commission is open from 8am to 4.30 pm Mondays to Fridays except for public holidays.

Phone Support: Many machine steps to choose but reaches to proper section
Email Support: Good (1 day response)
Walk in Reception: As long as you got your ticket, in due time you can talk to the personnels

French Embassy – Very quiet
This was the first time I been to French embassy and my first impression was quiet. It’s just too quiet. There is 1 security officer loging you in and out of the office. The receptionist/visa officer, Fiji girl, sitting and lazily listening to slow Fijian song from the radio. You don’t see any other officers at all. Anyways I emailed to the embassy before I go and when I got there, the girl sweetly says “Oh you are mayvelous, you emailed before”, I was really surprised they actually read their emails and actually REMEMBER who email them. She quickly explained me about procedures, check my application documents, write a receipt for the fee and said it will take about 10 days and I’ll call you when it ready. It took exactly 10 days for my visa and I picked up from the embassy. Everything was done quietly and sweetly.

Embassy of France in Fiji
Dominion House 7e floor,
Private Mail bag,
SUVA,
Fiji Islands
Ph. (679) 3310526
Fax. (679) 3223901
# Website: http://www.ambafrance-fj.org/sommaire.php3?id_rubrique=2

# Phone Support: Good
# Email Support: Good (actually they don’t list email address at all on the website but I somehow found it from main french site, and from there they direct me to proper personnel in Suva office.)
# Walk in Reception: Good (the receptionist/visa officer remember you from your email and she smiles)

British High Commission – An OK, stern face
When you get to the embassy, you need to talk with security first stating what you came to do ie. lodging or picking up the visa. They only work 8am – 12am and you can pick up your visa only after 10am. There is only 1 visa officer there. She is a Fijian lady, very stern face and doesn’t listen to you at all. She couldn’t find Myanmar in her system so she called up her friends and asked about it. I was telling her from the other side of the glass that it’s called Burma but she won’t listen to me and wave at me to be quiet. Gosh why can’t she just listen to what I say for a sec and she won’t have to wait 2-3 min asking her friend to search for the country name. Anyways I let her do as she wish and finally she found Burma and started typing things in. She then asked me to take my finger prints and also took the photo. Everything is done one word at a time and you cannot extra question at all or she will ignore you. Anyways the transit visa normally takes 5 days but I get my visa after 6 days. But it’s still ok, as long as I get my visa.

British High Commission
47 Gladstone Road
Suva
Republic of the Fiji Islands
Opening hours: (Mon-Thur) 1000-1200hrs
Telephone enquiries: (679) 3229100
Fax: (679) 3307118
Visa Email: visasuva@fco.gov.uk
Passport Email: ukpassportsuva@fco.gov.uk
Consular Email: consularsuva@fco.gov.uk
Website: http://www.britishhighcommission.gov.uk/fiji

Phone Support: Good (answer quite politely and transfer to proper personnel)
Email Support: Good (1 or 2 days response)
Walk in Reception: No ticket system, talk to security and he’ll let you in to the office. Only 1 visa officer there who manage everything. No smile, 1 question, 1 word answer, very stern faced visa officer.

U.S Embassy – F* up Services, F* up Staff, F* up Policy
Everything about U.S consular service is a headache for me. You cannot call them, email them or walk in to get information at all. You have to check everything from the website. Fill in the application form online which creates a .pdf file with your info in it. You keep the bar code number from there and check the time for interview. There are very few slot each day. Some days, it only has 8am slot and some days none at all. Anyways I scheduled for 8am appointment and got there on time. There are about 15-20 applicants waiting across the road, outside embassy. Since it’s for my first time I went up to the security officer and ask when can I go in since I got 8am appointment. He told me to step back to road side and wait for them to call you. Around 8:15am another security came and asked to make a line. He then check out names and passport. There are quite a few old Indian couples who do not know what he doing so they went up to ask him but he rudely told them to go back in line. Then they call the applicant one by one in to the embassy. I was lucky to go in a second place. Inside they do the x-ray check, switch off your mobile or any electronic device and leave them at the counter. Finally you walk in the door. There are about 50 seats in line and 5 counters, non of them open yet. We have to sit in order, since I’m the 2nd person to walk in, I have to sit in the 1st row – 2nd seat. About 10 applicants are seated, the security officer turn on the TV showing how to take a finger print. Around 8:45am the first 2 counters opened and we have to go up one by one to lodge the application. One officer is a fair Indian lady and another is some islander lady. Both has totally stern faces. They talked very snappy and the islander lady even yelled at the old Indian couple for not being able to print their fingers correctly. There is another old man asked her what to fill in one of the questions. I guess he couldn’t read well or understand the question and wants her to explain a bit about it. But she rudely said “Read the question and answer Yes or No” with very stern face. I wished I could take some video or voice recording of how seriously unfriendly, rude service they were giving. Unfortunately we have to leave our mobile outside so can’t do anything about it. For my application, the Indian lady collected it and said I need to pay $60 something more once the application has been approved. I’ve already given $210 application fee and they are asking for more…it’s just ripped off. But I didn’t say anything and went back to my seat to wait for interview.

Around 9:30am they call me for interview. Interviewer was an old American lady. The first thing she says before even saying hello was, “Your passport is old”. I says hello and told her that it’s about 8yrs old now but it’s very much valid passport and showed her the pages with the renewal information. She briefly look around then says “it’s unreadable”. I asked her what’s she mean by unreadable, may be the cover is a bit old and worn off but you can read everything inside clearly and all other embassies give an OK to it. She then says I need to get a new passport and carry on with a few visa related questions such as where/why I’m going. What I’m doing in Fiji etc. I answered them all properly. She then paused for a while and said I have to apply the visa from U.S Embassy in Myanmar and Fiji embassy doesn’t work on my passport. I was shocked. How can I apply from Myanmar since I’m currently in Fiji and asked her that’s impossible and why can’t Fiji office process it. She then said it will take about 2 or 3 weeks and may be more. I was again shocked. I reminded her again that it’s only for 1.5hr transit time in Los Angeles and I will only stay inside airport. It’s very short transit and shouldn’t have any problem. The normal application takes 24hr processing time and how come mine need to take that long. She then said it’s simply cannot be done and need further processing. So I asked her what more documents do you need in order to process faster. She said she has to submit it to other officers above and they need to check things out and if I don’t like waiting she will deny the visa at this instant. I told her I’ve already got 2 other visa approved and all my flight and trip plans are ready. I just need this transit visa only. There is no negotiating or consideration about the loses from the applicant end at all if the visa is denied. After she said that she won’t say a thing no matter what I said. It’s like she simply ignoring me, so I finally summit to her and to let me know if they need any more documents from my end. She gave me the green form, stating “need further processing” and don’t response me at all and waiting for me to leave. I was standing there, asking what more do I need to do and requesting for her help but she was completely ignoring me and started taking away documents. Gosh I was like some crazy person talking to myself. The blood rushed to my face, if the glass is not there, I would start shaking at her but I kept my cool and walked out of the office, feeling very dissatisfied and depressed.

About 3 days later, I received my passport and all my documents back with EMS and yes, it was rejected. I called up and asked why my visa was rejected and how can I reappeal or reapply for it. The lady said my application was not convinced enough and I did not convince the interviewer during the interview. I asked what do I need to do to convince them or whether I can reapply it. She said I can apply for as many time as I wish provided I pay for the visa application. Until and unless I provide them with different situation/documents, the result will be the same. I asked what more documents they want but she only says I need to convince them and starting to hang up on me. So…, that’s it. In the letter it says I lack “ties”. I don’t know what the hell those ties are. My colleague said I need to have a husband and a kid back home to make sure that I come back here. Gosh it’s like if you are single, you can’t even enter U.S or something. Ok, I think I said enough and I’m sure you get the idea of how I’m feeling.

U.S. Embassy in Suva, Fiji
31 Loftus Street
P. O Box 218
Suva, Fiji
Phone: (679) 3314466
Fax: (679) 3300081
Email: consularsuva@state.gov
Website: http://suva.usembassy.gov/
Office Hours: Monday – Thursday from 8 a.m. to 11 a.m

Phone Support: The number mentioned on the website is useless, once called, tells you to call another number. Extremely RUDE and snappy response.
Email Support: F* up. I sent 5 emails; out of them only 1 got a automated reply saying it has been directed to proper section and will contact you soon. Other emails lost in the queue. Fax is not working as well.
Walk in Reception: Nil

For other consular services such as New Zealand, Singapore, Thailand and Myanmar, are done by my Dad so I couldn’t write about them here. We do not have SG, Thai and MM embassies in Fiji and have to apply via respective embassies residing in the closest neighboring country (Aus/NZ) or send to directly to the main land. There you have it, my experiences with some consular services in Fiji. I’ll update this post again if I get to go other offices in the future.

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