Funferal

Why Visas don’t work

If you needed proof of the hellish bureaucracy administrating migration policy, then the headline from the Chicago Sun-Times should persuade you: Kidney donor denied visa for cousin’s transplant. And for those who need more, well, here it is:

U.S. Embassy officials in Manila think Monzon’s relative may not have enough family and financial ties to return to the Philippines after the transplant, despite assurances by Monzon’s family and the Chicago hospital planning to perform the surgery that the donor would only stay here for six weeks.
We are willing to deliver this man in person to the U.S. Embassy, if that is what it takes for them to send him here,” said Corazon Monzon, Erich’s mother. “I don’t know if there is enough time for my son, and there are so many things he wants to do.”
…
Liggayu’s visa application was supported by UIC’s Organ and Tissue Transplant Services, which said Liggayu has an identical blood type to his cousin, as well as common DNA antigens. UIC also said it would cover all of Liggayu’s transplant expenses.
“He [Ben Liggayu] is the only living donor available for Erich. He could wait on dialysis quite a long time, but his chances of survival are higher with a successful kidney transplant,” said Dr. Enrico Benedetti, UIC’s chief of transplant surgery.