JOIN USNeelima said no reason was assigned for denying the visa.
“I had applied online for the visa earlier this week and got an interview call this morning. But my visa application has been rejected without assigning any reasons,” Neelima said.
“We are not in a position to comment on individual visa application cases,” a consulate official said. Neelima said she was invited by the Chicago-based India Development Coalition of America to deliver the keynote address at its convention next month.
“I had planned to leave here on October 12 for the function scheduled for October 15 and 16, and planned my return on October 19. Now, my tour programme has to be cancelled,” she said. US officials have given Neelima the option to resubmit her application, an aide, Vinod Sonar said. Neelima is now not interested. Neelima had gone to the Philippines last month to receive the Magsaysay Award for social work.
A US visa application of noted social worker Prakash Amte, the son of legendary rights activist Baba Amte, was rejected in 2007. “The grounds cited for me were that I am economically backward and hence not eligible to support myself in the US, so the visa was rejected,” Amte, who was conferred with Magsaysay Award in 2009, said on Friday.