Magsaysay Award winner's visit to US in doubt

Mumbai: Within hours of denying visa to this year’s Magsaysay Award winner Neelima Mishra without assigning any reason, the American Consulate in Mumbai on Friday changed its mind. It asked her to come to the Consulate on Monday with some more documents so that it could re-consider her application for visa.

"After an interview this morning, the American Consulate rejected my application for a visa to visit the United States for a week in October, without assigning any reason. But, in the afternoon, the US Consulate people called me and asked me to meet them on Monday with some more documents so that they could re-consider my case,” Mishra told “Gulf News” here on Friday evening.

Neelima had applied online for the US visa earlier this week.

Mishra, who is among the six recipients of the prestigious 2011 Ramon Magsaysay Awards, has been invited India Development Coalition of America, a Chicago-based group, to deliver the keynote address at its convention scheduled for October 15 and 16.

According to Mishra, she had planned to leave her October 12 and return on October 19.

Now, following the manner in which the US Consulate has conducted itself – that of denying her the visa first and assuring her of re-considering her application on Monday, there is uncertainty about her impending visit to the US.