A little insight into my day at work

I realize I haven't talked much about work yet. A few vignettes, sure, but nothing that might let you know what interviewing a visa applicant (a big part of my job) is like.

So here goes..... this was as verbatim as I can remember from Thursday morning with a man who was about 55 years old.

Bear in mind I'm looking at an application that is supposed to be filled out by the applicant or by someone who has been told what to write by the applicant.

me: Where do you plan to go?

Applicant: America

m: what state?

A: uummm, to visit for 3 months.

m. what state or city? Do you know what state you are going to visit?

A: my brother's son.

m: okay, you are going to visit your brother's son?

A. yes.

m: do you have other relatives in the US?

A. No, my brother's son only.

m. Do you know where he lives?

A. in America.

m. Do you know what city or state he lives in?

A. ummmmmmm....

m: okay, what do you do here in Laos?

A. I'm a rice farmer

m: do you have income from your rice farm?

A. yes, we get about 40 bags of rice per year.

m. okay, how many bags do you eat, and how many do you sell?

A. we eat about 60, and we sell about 20. We have enough to eat.

m. That's 80 bags of rice, you said you get 40 bags of rice per year before.

A. oh, I was mistaken.

m. Okay. Are you married? And how many kids do you have?

A: yes, and I have 9 kids, 7 kids in Laos and two kids in the US. I'm going to visit my son and daughter in the US. I haven't seen them in a long time.

m: okay. Before, you said that you had your brother's son in the US and noone else.

A. Yes, my son and daughter are in the US.

m: okay. Why does your application say that you have a grandchild and a sister in the US, but doesn't mention a son, daughter, or nephew?

A. yes, my sister and nephew are in the US.

m. anyone else?

A. no.

m. Okay. Who filled out your form.

A. yes

m. No, who filled out your form for you? You didn't fill out your form, right?

A. my brother's son.

m. okay, your form says that your cousin filled out your form. Did you tell the person who filled out the form what to write?

A. my brother's son filled it out.

m. okay, have you ever traveled outside of Laos.

A. no.

m. okay, well.....

and there it ends. I won't say whether Mr. A got a visa or not, try to guess for yourselves.

And then it begins again.

It's very difficult many times to figure out if an applicant is trying to tell you what you want to hear, if they are just confused, or if they are purposely telling untruths. In the above, I don't think the man was actually purposely lying, but really, this is how it goes. So trying to get to the bottom of a story is very hard. Now, overlay jackhammers (we are undergoing reconstruction in the section) and the knowledge that there are many more people waiting to be interviewed, many times to the same end, and you get an idea of my day. Two days a week at least. We do visitor visas (as compared to immigrant visas) two days a week now, but are transitioning to three days a week as we speak, as the number of applicants is continually growing.