Some of them claimed that even though their American husbands had given birth, they had spent more than two years apart from their kids. Others claimed that their partners needed care because they were ill.
In an interview on Thursday, August 11, Kevin Mensah, a representative for the 500 Ghanaians, expressed his disappointment.
“We are here today about our visa issues, we have pleaded with the embassy to also look at our cases. We are married to Americans and the way the visa process is going, is quite long, and as a married man or woman, there are some things you do with your partner, all these things you are not getting any longer.
“Also, some of our spouses are sick, some have given birth that they need their spouses to be with them which we are not getting that privilege all because the embassy is saying that there are backlogs and there are Covid cases.
“If you look at West Africa for instance, Nigeria is in 2022, Benin is in 2022, Togo is in 2022 and they have less Covid cases but only Ghana is where the problem is.
“So, we don’t know, we are pleading with the Ambassador and the entire workers to have mercy on us because Togo are not having backlog, Benin and Cote d’Ivoire are more than us but they are moving but Ghana is not moving.”
He added “So we are pleading with them that they should have sympathy on us for us to also know how it feels to be with our spouses. They themselves, know how it feels and the Ambassador herself has married an Immigrant before, so they all know the dictates and everything.
“We are pleading with them to temper justice with mercy, that is all what we are seeking for. That they should attend to us and work on our cases too because we are tired of the long waiting. Some are waiting for two years, three years, four years, which is bad, you have to wait for years before you see your spouse which is quite frustrating.
“It is true you can let your spouse come but not all of them can come because some are working, based on their work they can’t come so we are pleading with the embassy to also look at the spouses and work on our case.
“We are Ghanaians and we are married to Americans, we can say that we are Americans because marriage make you become a citizen of another country, we are like them, we are Americans, so they should come and look at Americans who are married to Americans and help us because we are tired of long waiting.”
Amoako Richard, another representative for the group, stated that before the Covid-19 pandemic, obtaining the interview letter as part of the visa application procedure would only take two months; however, at the present time, he claimed, one must wait more than two years to do so.
“Basically, Americans per se believe in the family system and then all we are saying is that it is all about family because you can’t get married to someone who lives elsewhere, long-distance marriage, you have children, you have wives there, you have husbands over there and then the emotional support, psychologically, it is actually dawning on us.
“How will you feel when your wife is abroad and then your wife has given birth and for about a year or two years, you haven’t even seen your son or your daughter, you haven’t even touched your son or daughter, you don’t even feel how he or she looks like?
“It is all about video calls but video calls are not what we want, what we want is that we will be together, plan the future because you can’t plan the future when both of you are in separate countries, your future can never be bright. Moreover, it is also making a lot of people here in Ghana not able to plan their lives very well. This is the case, you know that you are supposed to join your wife or husband or daughter.
“There are some people with us who have children who are sick, it is not easy, American system believes in families and as they believe in families they should allow us or help us to go through the whole system so that we will also in our spouses so that we will all have that American dream that better American family system they have been always preaching about.
“It is just a plea that we are making to the Honourable Ambassador that she should try as much as possible to fast track the process so that one by one we can go and join our spouses.”
He added “We are more than five hundred, almost all of us are waiting for interview letters, some of us have waited for twenty-four months, twenty-five months, twenty-six months.
“Under normal circumstances, before Covid, you could only wait for like two months and you get your interview letter and you go for an interview and given the visa and then you join your spouse but now one has to wait for over twenty months.”
