PANAPRESS
Panafrican News Agency
US embassy tight-lipped on denial of visa to Liberia's Vice President
Monrovia, Liberia (PANA) – The United States Embassy in Liberia on Friday said that the country’s “privacy laws” forbids it from discussing visa and immigration issues with anyone other than the person concerned.
“U.S. privacy laws prohibit us from discussing any person’s visa application status, immigration status, or citizenship status with anyone other than the person in question,” the embassy said in a release.
It said the comment follows inquiries from some media institutions about a U.S. Visa issue concerning Vice President Jewel Howard-Taylor.
A local newspaper, Hot Pepper, on Thursday reported that Liberia’s Vice President Taylor was denied American visa.
But the office of the VP, who is ex-wife of jailed former Liberian President Charles Taylor, rejected the newspaper’s publication, explaining that the Vice President was “undergoing the normal administrative process” at the US Embassy near Monrovia.
It said contrary to the claim by the paper that the Vice President pleaded with the US State Department to reconsider its decision to issue the visa, the Vice President at no time pleaded with the US embassy to grant her visa after been denied.
The Office of the Vice president revealed that she is currently visiting neighboring Ghana and was still awaiting response from the embassy on her request to travel to the US to attend the 62nd session of the Commission on the Status of Women.
The event will take place at the United Nations headquarters in New York from 12 to 23 March 2018.
The release also dismissed as “complete falsehood with no iota of truth” reports that the Liberian Vice President “might be visited by investigators on issues of war and economic crimes.”
While serving in her previous position in the Senate, the upper House of the Liberian parliament, Madam Taylor, visited the United States.
-0- PANA PTK/VAO 9March2018
“U.S. privacy laws prohibit us from discussing any person’s visa application status, immigration status, or citizenship status with anyone other than the person in question,” the embassy said in a release.
It said the comment follows inquiries from some media institutions about a U.S. Visa issue concerning Vice President Jewel Howard-Taylor.
A local newspaper, Hot Pepper, on Thursday reported that Liberia’s Vice President Taylor was denied American visa.
But the office of the VP, who is ex-wife of jailed former Liberian President Charles Taylor, rejected the newspaper’s publication, explaining that the Vice President was “undergoing the normal administrative process” at the US Embassy near Monrovia.
It said contrary to the claim by the paper that the Vice President pleaded with the US State Department to reconsider its decision to issue the visa, the Vice President at no time pleaded with the US embassy to grant her visa after been denied.
The Office of the Vice president revealed that she is currently visiting neighboring Ghana and was still awaiting response from the embassy on her request to travel to the US to attend the 62nd session of the Commission on the Status of Women.
The event will take place at the United Nations headquarters in New York from 12 to 23 March 2018.
The release also dismissed as “complete falsehood with no iota of truth” reports that the Liberian Vice President “might be visited by investigators on issues of war and economic crimes.”
While serving in her previous position in the Senate, the upper House of the Liberian parliament, Madam Taylor, visited the United States.
-0- PANA PTK/VAO 9March2018
