Why wouldn't anyone who has a remote chance of making it to the world championships not have their visa ready to go months in advance?
Because the American Embassy in Nairobi considers Kenyans potential illegal migrants (even though the numbers don't support this) and requires them to have officially documented reasons for travelling there. They would never grant him a visa before he's officially selected for the team. Meanwhile, I can walk to any European consulate and get a tourist visa in 24-48 hours, no hassles.
You Americans need to get over yourselves. Your country isn't the Eldorado it used to be.
Don't blame is that your country couldn't do what every other country did and fi out a visa application. Good thing your best athlete (Korir) lives here.
Did you read the article I posted? The team applied for visas at the same time. The other athletes got theirs and only his was held back. Why? I'm starting to think him whooping Kerley's butt at Kip Keino has something to do with it.
As for Korir being our "best athlete" ... whatever.
Yeah....because the American Embassy and US immigration officials are very concerned about a track meet none of them are likely aware of.
get your heads out of the letsrun echo chamber: many many more athletes from several other countries are in the same situation and risk not being able to fly in in time. E.g. all the South African spinters are stuck in Italy awaiting visas delayed by US immigration, not their inaction
If you guys had any conception of just how difficult it has been this year to renew a passport in the U.S. within 10 weeks and especially in a rush case, and how difficult it is to talk to anyone about it at the state department (who run passports and visas), and similarly how difficult it is to even hope to speak to a person at the IRS about a delayed tax refund, both because Congress has not been willing to fund the agencies at the staffing levels necessary for demand in 2022 (try pre-2010 levels) and because of COVID-related employment limitations, then you'd see that this problem might not have had much to do with the athletes--who after all are picked, and thus can get a visa, only within weeks of the championships.
As for Omanyala staying home when all he'd have to do was waltz through prelims in 10.3-10.4, that raises major red flags.
Why wouldn't anyone who has a remote chance of making it to the world championships not have their visa ready to go months in advance?
Because the American Embassy in Nairobi considers Kenyans potential illegal migrants (even though the numbers don't support this) and requires them to have officially documented reasons for travelling there. They would never grant him a visa before he's officially selected for the team. Meanwhile, I can walk to any European consulate and get a tourist visa in 24-48 hours, no hassles.
You Americans need to get over yourselves. Your country isn't the Eldorado it used to be.
You are just unbelievably ignorant in your comments about the United States. Not only does no one at State know anything about U.S. chances in the men's 100m at the World Track and Field Championships, or the names of any of the competitors, but the U.S. continues to be the enormous lure to the whole world it has been since the 19th century. Immigrant #'s have increased 400% in the U.S. since the 1965 immigration act, which lifted draconian limits on non-Europeans.
"Top 10 Countries with the Highest Number of Foreign-Born Residents (Immigrants) - United Nations 2020: United States — 50.6 million Germany — 15.8 million Saudi Arabia — 13.5 million Russia — 11.6 million United Kingdom — 9.4 million United Arab Emirates — 8.7 million France — 8.5 million Canada — 8.0 million Australia — 7.7 million Spain — 6.8 million The United States is home to the highest number of immigrants in the world. An estimated 50.6 million people in the United States—a bit more than 15% of the total population of 331.4 million—were born in a foreign country. The number of immigrants in the U.S. has increased by at least 400% since 1965. The population of immigrants in the United States is incredibly diverse, with nearly every country in the world represented among U.S. immigrants. Mexico is the leading origin country for U.S. immigrants, accounting for more than 11 million, roughly 25%, of all immigrants in the United States. Immigration, of course, played a formative role in making the U.S. the country it is today: except for those whose ancestors arrived as slaves, the majority of citizens of the "Great American Melting Pot" are descended from immigrants—and early European settlers in particular."
If you guys had any conception of just how difficult it has been this year to renew a passport in the U.S. within 10 weeks and especially in a rush case, and how difficult it is to talk to anyone about it at the state department (who run passports and visas), and similarly how difficult it is to even hope to speak to a person at the IRS about a delayed tax refund, both because Congress has not been willing to fund the agencies at the staffing levels necessary for demand in 2022 (try pre-2010 levels) and because of COVID-related employment limitations, then you'd see that this problem might not have had much to do with the athletes--who after all are picked, and thus can get a visa, only within weeks of the championships.
As for Omanyala staying home when all he'd have to do was waltz through prelims in 10.3-10.4, that raises major red flags.
Yeah, let's see. The guy that Chavez recently RT'ed expressing more Omanyala doubt is just spouting off conspiracy theories in his TL. No idea if he has any real info. If he's really gotten his Visa already, it'd be hard for me to believe he'd stay home because of fears of being tired. Every other road race we hear about Kenyans who have to sleep 24 hours in the airport before the US due to Visa/flight issues and they don't turn back.
Why wouldn't anyone who has a remote chance of making it to the world championships not have their visa ready to go months in advance?
Because the American Embassy in Nairobi considers Kenyans potential illegal migrants (even though the numbers don't support this) and requires them to have officially documented reasons for travelling there. They would never grant him a visa before he's officially selected for the team. Meanwhile, I can walk to any European consulate and get a tourist visa in 24-48 hours, no hassles.
You Americans need to get over yourselves. Your country isn't the Eldorado it used to be.
I thought this guy was good. Why wouldn't he have traveled to the US for other meets?
You're just a Kenyan homer. Admit the guy is a moron and messed up.
I thought this guy was good. Why wouldn't he have traveled to the US for other meets?
You're just a Kenyan homer. Admit the guy is a moron and messed up.
He's an Adidas athlete, so it makes sense he wouldn't make the very lengthy trip to the Pre Classic (and it's exceedingly unlikely he was invited considering Bromell was a last-minute invite). Otherwise, I'm not really sure what US meet you'd expect any athlete based out of Africa to go to. The second best US meet was the NYC meet, which had athletes solely from the US or the Carribean.
Syrian high jumper Majd Eddin Ghazal, 2017 world bronze medalist, withdraws from Eugene World Championships because of visa delays.
The visa saga continues:
Syrian high jumper Majd Eddin Ghazal, 2017 world bronze medallist, withdraws from Eugene World Championships because of visa delays. pic.twitter.com/Dtgt0aIJDd
I feel like the US weaponises its visa process, and there'd be even more havoc if Russia and Belarus had been allowed to send teams. That, along with the expected tepid support from the American public, should give World Athletics enough reason never to host an event of this calibre to the United States again. It was a mistake to award Eugene the championships and they were right to withdraw Diamond League status from New York.
The population of immigrants in the United States is incredibly diverse, with nearly every country in the world represented among U.S. immigrants. Mexico is the leading origin country for U.S. immigrants, accounting for more than 11 million, roughly 25%, of all immigrants in the United States. Immigration, of course, played a formative role in making the U.S. the country it is today: except for those whose ancestors arrived as slaves, the majority of citizens of the "Great American Melting Pot" are descended from immigrants—and early European settlers in particular."
The are more Kenyans in the U.S. (immigrants and other expats) than any other country in the world, but their numbers are still relatively small compared to other similarly-sized countries. My point is, there isn't a flood of Kenyans itching to emigrate to the United States or anywhere else. So no need for the onerous visa process.
Just saw he got his visa 4 hours ago, apparently. Still not enough time for him to make it and be ready. Won't make it out of the rounds after over 24 hours straight of flying.
Versus getting some rest, taking a shower, eating, adjusting to the time zone, stretching out, getting a massage after a day on flights and in airports…he has less than 24 hours to make a 20 hour journey. If there’s any delay at all, he’ll miss the start. If everything goes perfectly on time, he has 2 hours from landing to the start of his race. Hopefully he doesn’t get injured running in these conditions, nevermind being in top form.
You didn't note that Omanyala literally said that his visa problems were like everyone else's: "Visa challenges are faced by all Kenyans and people daily, in this case I was no different." I'm glad he's going to compete. Champs require the best to have standing.
That’s not saying there’s no problem - he’s saying that discrimination and delays exist not only for celebrities but for all common people as well. It’s not exculpatory of the US Visa system - he’s saying don’t just get upset about him because you want to see him run when these issues happen everyday to poor people and workers.