Stop Discrimination Against Romanian Visa Seekers to the U.S.

Dear Friends--

Please send to your Senators:

American Consul's Attitude in Bucharest Toward Romanians:

 

Dear  Ambassador Nicholas F. Taubman --

 

You might be interested in the letter I wrote to Pattison and to my fellow Romanian American friends--

 

Please let me know if you agree with the following ation and please support us by publishing it in your prestigious newspaper "America." Thank you so much.                             

 

                        September 10, 2008

 

Dear Senator  Barbara Boxer                                            ,

From: Olga M. Lazin

Tel: (310) 208 7914

Fax: (310) 454 3109

 

We, American Romanian constituents, congratulate you for your great concern with labor and human rights!   We also need your help in solving this post  - Cold War treatment of Romanians at the American Consulate in Romania (Bucharest.)

 

        University Professors at UCLA and Americans in California (UCLA, Caltech and USC campuses,) we write to you to express concern and to seek your help regarding a broader and alarming discrimination issues.

        As Consul General in Bucharest, Romania, Mr. Steven Patisson has

constantly been denying tourist and specialist visas to Romanian academics, specialists and relatives whom we have invited to the UC campus ( for research and Hooding Ceremony,) without any valid reason since 1994.

 

 

        This policy runs the danger of American Romanian constituents

interpret and see the American foreign policy as plain demagoguery and

flagrant violation of human rights.

Enclosed please find the names of all the signatories of these bill proposal and policy recommendations for change of this abhorrent, discriminatory policy toward the Romanian minority in general and academics in particular.

                                               

TO:   Mr. Steven Patisson or actual

        U.S.A. Consul General in Bucharest

FM: Dr. Olga M. Lazin, PROFMEX, Dr. James W. Wilkie and Romanian Diaspora Organizations

 

RE:   Revising the American Consulate's Attitude in Bucharest Toward

Romanians (Tourist or Specialist Visas For Romanians & Summer Interns at UCLA from Sighet)

 

                      Dear Mr. Steve Pattison, dear acting Consul General,

 

    Following up our e-mail about the denial of visas to half of our

UCLA Group from Romania, we write to express concern and to seek your help

regarding a broader and alarming issue.

 

We have acknowledged hundreds of other cases of visa denials and we

express our sadness vis a vis the negative USA Consular service officers in Bucharest and around the world toward Romanian academics.

 

   Also, we are appalled at the draconian treatment most of the

Romanians are subjected when applying for a visa. (See Mr. Big Radu's

remarks on how he has never felt so humiliated, as the officer made him

feel at the Consulate.) he is a remarkable executive from a big firm in Romania, CDIMM.

 

Therefore we are suggesting some changes to be made in order to

democratize the visa processing, so that the USA does not seem to only

demagogically proclaim the Bill of Rights, and then apply double standards,

which happens in reality.

 

First case:

    We had requested that we follow the Group Visa method precisely to

avoid the "case-by-case" method, which does not help consular officers (no

matter how conscientious) understand that a Group is coming to UCLA and

returning to the home country as a Group. The Group Visa method is the

procedure that works well with the U.S. Consulate in Mexico (which is

perhaps more concerned about illegal immigration to the USA than any post

in the world); and we have never had anyone overstay their visa let alone

not return. (If your consular office is not familiar with the Group Visa

method, I will be pleased to supply information on whom to contact whom at

our Embassy in Mexico City.)

 

      Taking into account the information in your spring 1999 "Letter

from Bucharest" which carries messages by you and Ambassador James

Rosapepe, we write in hopes that we can still rescue the present summer

Program, the critical mass of which are at least seven persons.

 

 

Two additional persons can still come (thus giving us the seven

needed), however, and I am pleased to say that they will reapply for visas.

They will have with them this time the letters from CDIMM Maramures

(Development Center for Small and Medium Business Enterprises in

Maramures), which shows them to be part of the UCLA Group:

 

1. Dr. Claude G. Matasa has been refused visa ;

2. Alexandru Lazin, who filled out his visa application when Olga (his

sister was with you in Romania) and who apparently filled out the form too

literally (Olga was in not in the USA at the time, but does live here, as

you know).  Alexander has made two trips from Romania to Mexico (1997 and

1999) and now needs to visit the USA. He is our most advanced intern on the

Mexico side of our Program. He will have his letter with him that notifies

you that he is Program Coordinator for CDIMM.

 

(3) Dana Lazin, who is a legal assistant for the law firm of Lenuta Bledea

in Sighet, will upon reapplication have with her a letter from CDIMM

notifying you that she is Program Coordinator for Globalization Studies.

With her computer specialization, she will be taking back her knowledge to

establish via internet a virtual library for Sighet.

 

4. Third case, Arpad Kovacs  was refused a simple tourist visa, without any resonable explanation and the civil servant was yelling at us histerically.

 

Please let us know how else I can be of assistance in resolving

this matter.

 

     We appreciate your help and we look forward to visiting with you

on our next visit.

 

We request therefore that you change and democratize the visa processing

toward all Romanians, with all our hope for change:

 

Dr. Cristina Mitrovici-Dobrescu, Los Angeles, CA

Dr. Nicolae Constantinescu, Consul General, Los Angeles, CA

Dr. James Platler, Pepperdine University, CA, USA

Dr. James Wilkie, UCLA, Latin American Studies, Chair

Dr. Ivan Berend, prof, UCLA,

Dr. Richard Weiss, UCLA, History Department

Dr. Nathan Shapira, UCLA

Dr. Corduneanu Constantin, USA

Richard Jacobsen, Pacific Palisades, CA, USA

Dr. Peter Kovalsky, Los Angeles, CA

Horia C. Dugala, KS

Joseph Covacs, President Association of Romanian Citizens, Portland, Oregon

Octavian Geliman, CA, USA

Big Radu, Baia Mare, RO

Mihai Patrascu, Baia Mare, RO

Vasile Stoica, RO

Olga M. Lazin, AmROm,  CEO

Mihaela MIHET , Bordeaux, France

Ionica Maris, Maramures, RO

Mihai Popescu, Monitorul Bucuresti

Lia Stan, Detroit, USA

Alexandru Lazin, Maramures, RO

Daniela Lazin, Maramures, RO

Dr. Raul Lomeli, L.A., CA, USA

Liviu Gabriel Ratiu, HU

Mircea Trufasu, RO

Luminita Lazin, Sighet, RO

Vladi Knejevici, Bucuresti, RO

Mircea Baniciu, Bucuresti, RO,

Mircea Vintila, Bucuresti, USA

Florin Pittis, Bucuresti, USA

Bogdan Cojocneanu, San Jose, CA, USA

Mircea Roman, Toronto, Canada

Alexander-Peter Popescu

Chris Vigueria, LA, CA, USA

DR. SANDA AGALIDI, Los Angeles, CA

Mihai Patrascu, Baia Mare, MM, RO

Kenneth Davis, LA, CA, USA

Sara D. Tucker, Los Angeles, CA, USA

Vasile Stoica, RO

Peter Rashkin, Los Angeles, Carson, USA

Valentin Grecu, LA, CA

Elena Chiriac & Linda Chiriac, LA, CA, USA

Lazin Gheorghe, Budapesta, Hungary

Covacs Arpad, Satu Mare, RO

Mircea Mirea, Ny, USA

Stacy Dukes, LA, CA

Dr. Ana Moldovan, Baia Mare, RO

Mircea Moldovan, Baia Mare, RO,

Linda Moldovan, Baia Mare, RO

Marcela Peterliceanu, Baia Mare, RO

Vasile Bouleanu, LA,  CA, USA

Mircea Mirea, LA, CA, USA

Daniel Mocioaca, LA, CA

Dr. Joel Bienenfield, LA, CA, USA

Magda Moldovan, Baia Mare, Maramures, RO

Floarea Saptelei, Corabia, RO

Elena Aloman, Bacau, RO

Robert Nemo, Los Angeles, CA

Daniela Zainea, Los Angeles, CA

Dr. Ing. Claude G. Matase, Matase@aol.com

Joseph Kovacs, Portland, Oregon

European Integration Director, PROFMEX

Penzes Pali, Caltech, LA, CA

Ted Lungu, JPL, LA, CA

2 comments

I%u2019m offering the possibility of approaching existence from a different perspective.

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Dr. Olga M. Lazin, UCLA Post-Doctoral Fellow

 

http://www.olgalazin.net

 

Tel  310 208 2244

E-mail: olazin@ucla.edu

Cell: (Numeric Message)(310) 488 0061

P.S.  We had been writing constantly to then president Bill Clinton at no avail, and now to bush, and finally  now we have evidence that Mr. Pattison has misbehaved and arrogantly refused visa to academics (Dr. Claude G. Matase and Radu Big) and approved visas in exchange for money to some people, as  a commodity.

We have received no response from Mr. Steven Pattison yet. We are hoping that the new Consul (a Republican) will be more responsive to this ardent matter for the American-Romanian community.