[Brendinooo]

I had a friend who worked in constituent services for a US Senator, and...yeah, if you can get someone's attention in that setting, they can make stuff happen that otherwise would have fallen through the cracks. Been awhile since I heard stories, but one came to mind was someone getting the right visa for his bride in time for the wedding. Another one had to do with getting some kind of medal for a soldier.

Not sure if doing things on someone else's behalf can be as effective, but it almost certainly won't hurt to ask.

[refurb]

Oh when it comes to immigration issues for the family of US citizens, yes, calling your Congressman can definitely move things along.

But a foreigner whose visa is denied? Not sure why the Congressman would bother unless it somehow impacted the US.

[dwheeler]

They have an incentive to do it because the congressman is my representative, and I am a voter who is a complaining.

I live near DC, so I guess I assume others know more about the US system than is common knowledge. My apologies. Please let me explain.

Of course the congressman will not actually read the letter. That's not the point. The point is that every congressman has a mechanism for accepting requests from constituents, routing them to the correct agency, and tracking them to make sure they are resolved. You fill in a web form, prove that you are a constituent, and then the information gets routed to their staff. My daughter was did this job a few years ago, there are small armies that do it. It's just part of the US system.

There's absolutely no guarantee that this will be resolved the way I want, but this is the standard US mechanism for dealing with stuck bureaucracies.

Other US citizens could do the same. It might be a good idea, because with multiple complaints, then the US state department would get the clue that this is important and needs to get worked on.

[refurb]

No doubt you can try and hey, maybe it will work?

I definitely know it works for people stuck in the immigration system, but this particular example (a visa for a temporary trip to the US) doesn’t seem like it would rank all that high on a Congressman’s priorities.

My guess is they’ll look into and tell you there isn’t anything they could do. Might speed up the rejection though.

[dwheeler]

The Congressman himself doesn't read these things. There are staffers in his office who do this. It's the usual way to try to get things unstuck.

I already got a phone call back from the Congressman's office from a staffer. She explained that she needed a few additional pieces of info. I've already contacted Daniel Stenberg as well. So we will see!