Tattoo can cost grinkarts

Is a person related to the criminal world? The answer to this question gives a police dossier. But if no offenses are recorded there? Then an employee of the American consulate is not studying, but a tattoo of the applicant for a residence permit. If this underwear contains images or words that criminals often use, then its owner is suspicious. The bad reputation of two theatrical masks with the inscription "Now you laugh, then you cry."

But lett, says lawyer Thomas Bormann, this tattoo in recent years has become popular not only among criminals, but also among some part of youth, which has not been involved in anything. “Yes,” the other lawyer Jeff Joseph supports his colleague, “our authorities cut everyone under one comb and such overshadows violates human rights.” They are objected to representatives of the State Department: only a tattoo is not at all an obstacle to entering the United States or for a residence permit. Is it so?

A native of Mexico Hector Villalobos got into the United States illegally, but after marriage to the American received the right to apply for a residence permit. Such requests are considering US consulates in the country where a person came. When considering, its presence is mandatory. For this, Hector returned to Mexico. And then the consulate became interested in his colorful tattoos. He was asked if he was in the gang, he replied - no, but they are in no hurry to give out a residence permit. Villalobos cannot return to America, where not only his wife awaits him, but also three children who were born over 6 years of their marriage.

The American Association of Immigration Lawyers claims that there are many innocent people in a too widely spread out network of the State Department. Nevertheless, if an employee of the consulate sees a suspicious tattoo, he is obliged to conduct an investigation, says Aira Melman, a representative of the Federation for immigration reform, which advocates restricting access to the United States. But how will the tattoo be discerned at the consulate if a person came to the appointment in a shirt and a jacket? This question is answered by the investigation by the correspondent of the newspaper Wall Street Jornel Miriam Jordan :

- A person who wants to move to our country usually takes fingerprints, he undergoes a medical check. During this check, he undresses to the waist and then all his tattoos are visible.

Participants in the Internet forum of people who find themselves in the position of Hector Villalobos are going to go to court. Their lawyers intend to challenge the wording, due to which their clients suffered: "the State Department has reason to suspect that this person is associated with criminal groups." In 2006, on this basis, the State Department refused two applicants. In 2010 - already 82.