In some African countries, queues at American embassies to be interviewed for a visa stretch for miles, so much so that one would have to wait for nearly a year just to get to stand at the embassy official’s window and plead their case as to why they should be allowed to travel to their country. Blame Hollywood with its blockbuster movies, depicting manicured lawns and picket fences, the land of milk and honey.
The American film industry has been its most powerful tool of propaganda; it sold the illusion that once you land in the United States, your pockets will magically fill with dollars, or that money grows on trees, ready to be plucked. Working at fast-food joints like McDonald’s was a great way to stack up some dollars for Tanzanian students in the US.
That money comes in handy once one’s 3-year degree is done and the family back home expects some American gift when you depart the country. As years went by most students and visitors on temporary visa never departed, nevertheless, these educated immigrants were easy to absorb into the American workforce, so were the illegal immigrants who went to the country to fill up the manual labour demand much needed in the agricultural sector, mostly because the cheap labour with no demands for benefits and healthcare insurance became the backbone in the plantations, ever since the enslaved Africans were emancipated.
For decades, with the influx of skilled immigrants from Asia in the tech industry and the porous southern border. Immigration became a hot topic that would bring the conservative Trump back in office, who blamed the nation’s decline and woes on the illegal immigrants.
A great salesman sold his ideas well to his base, with a vow to deport all illegal immigrants, who were supposedly raping and killing Americans. One year into his second term.
It seems like the Trump administration is hell-bent on finding all ways to expel all foreigners who are in the country illegally. The administration have escalated their quest even further, seeking ways to even go after people with all the legal papers, but seem not aligned with the current government’s political leaning.
Many Tanzanians have on numerous occasions applied for visas and even got appointments but never got their hands on a visa. “The officer just looked at me through the window.
I could see her holding my documents. I was too nervous to speak, and just like that, I was handed my papers back and told to try next time,” said Mr Juma, who was hoping to join his mother in Miami after he graduated from the Open University in Dar es Salaam.
Another Tanzanian student who has applied for a student visa, but during his interview, he couldn’t speak fluent English, and within a few seconds, he was denied his visa, and just like that, the thousands of dollars he scraped up went down the drain. The US embassy’s no-refund policy ensured that.
This was the norm at US embassies across Africa; social media is full of testimonies from those who were denied visas. But that was before the current Trump administration’s strict immigration policies that are openly being applied by the US government, along with swift deportation of illegal aliens.
One can only imagine how much harder it is for an ordinary Tanzanian to get a visa now. The American Embassy in Dar es Salaam has, in recent times, repeatedly posted on social media posts warning against ‘overstaying’ one’s visa, among other posts outlining the country’s immigration policies.
It is clear that rigorous background and financial checks are now enforced during the visa application process more than ever before. What are the chances for ordinary Tanzanians who had dreams of studying or emigrating to the country? For the uniquely skilled professionals who wanted to secure an H-1B visa that allows US companies to employ foreign workers in speciality occupations like IT and medicine in hopes of achieving the American dream, the future is uncertain.
The announcement of the major changes in the cost of the H-1B visa caused panic among US employers and their foreign employees. The Tanzanian population in the US is growing, estimated to be close to 100,000; the number of those living there illegally is debatable.
But the recent immigration clampdown has affected them just the same. Parents are worried their deportation would leave their American-born children without parental care.
Some of these Tanzanians moved to the country as students or on visitors’ visas but worked hard and earned their American dreams, which are now in jeopardy. Those who have sacrificed their youth, laboured in the land of the free, and started families, but now their stay in the country is under heavy scrutiny.
For the immigrants who are held at deportation centres, it is unclear if they are allowed to collect their belongings or empty their bank accounts, but at least they can have funds to start a new life when they are kicked out. The recent arrest of Ian Andre Roberts, a beloved Guyana-born superintendent of schools in Des Moines, Iowa, has revealed new ways the American government is reviewing the work permits of its residents, even for those who have been in the country for decades.
If a countrywide federal employee review is done, no one knows how many Tanzanians will come under scrutiny or be detained. And for those Tanzanians who are still doing ‘side jobs’ that are not necessarily legal, how many of them will cease working? These ‘immigrant jobs’ have been a huge part of the remittances Tanzanians send back home, which amounts to millions of dollars annually.
The jobs that ordinary Americans will never apply for, or the small businesses, just like the farmers, depend on immigrants, who are normally paid less, to do the jobs. Working at an African saloon, African and Caribbean markets, delivery services, and warehouses, among other jobs, has sustained many Tanzanians.
Those who have invested their hard-earned dollars back home for years. If these workplaces are monitored.
To avoid ICE agents, these Tanzanians will eventually stop working; the effect will not only be felt by Tanzanians in the diaspora but also their dependents back home. Immigration is a ‘silver bullet’ many politicians love to use to rally their bases during elections.
Trump just perfected it. But we have seen the Nigerian and Tanzanian governments recently enacting strict immigration laws that seem to appeal to their voters, who supposedly have to lay the blame on aliens in times of economic hardship.
To be fair, most of these policies are within the law but not within the societal norm. Communities have thrived in a multicultural setup, and countries have been known to welcome the less fortunate, but times have changed.
This means that for those Tanzanians who still have dreams to emigrate to the US, they have to be aware and not delusional about the country they are hoping to visit or relocate to. The New York you see in movies is a far cry from the real New York, with thousands of homeless people sleeping in the streets.
Yes, the largest economy in the world is a land of possibilities, but your hard work, business network, and academic achievement are crucial to success. The success that might come after decades of struggling to make your dreams a reality.
If you have a B1-B2 visa, make sure you do not overstay, lest you live a life looking over your shoulder, ready to run from ICE agents, and that’s no way for a human to live. You do not want to live like an antelope in the Serengeti, always wary of when the lion will show up.
For the fortunate with a student visa, those on scholarship, make sure that after graduation, you go back to Tanzania, where your education will be valued without chucking out $100,000 for a work visa. But before you spend the money you have saved to book for a US visa appointment, make sure you have all the supporting papers needed to improve your chances of that embassy official granting you a visa; otherwise, you will join the huge pool of Africans who spend their hard-earned money to fill the US government coffers and never get any visa handed out to them.
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