Talking to Them

Consular sections find so many ways to communicate with the public, and Madam has yet to hear of a single method that either failed or that the section regretted.

Here are just two totally random samples: 

The first is someone's personal web page that has linked to the official embassy web site's emergency evacuation information, in a country where evacuation could be a serious issue.  While the consular section didn't deliberately draw attention to its page, it did at least make the information available to be found.  How many consular sections have any such information available to the public at all?  Sadly, very few.

The second example is more forward:  a regular feature in a local newspaper, no doubt negotiated and agreed to by the consular section and the paper itself.  Notice that the the newspaper filters the possible massive flood of queries (it is, after all, Jamaica), a flood that the consular section might struggle with, and the result is win, win and win.

Consumer-friendly consular sections also hold periodic warden meetings, public meetings with the Amcit community, even open public information sessions with whomever wants to come.

In places with high rates of student applicants, consular officers meet regularly with groups of students to explain the visa process and - if the F1 refusal rate is high - to encourage students to not put all their eggs into single baskets.

Some consular sections participate in on-line lists and groups, or at least follow them to see if misinformation is being passed around, and to correct those errors.

Some write regular columns for the local newspaper.

Some hold press conferences.

Some schedule regular "ask the consul" on line forums.

One section, in a country where it was rumored to refuse all NIV applicants, simply posted its monthly issuance numbers on its outdoor bulletin board.

Every consular section that has used any one (or several, bless their hearts) of these methods has found that the phones ring less and the public hostility scales back.  The worst that has happened, in Madam's knowledge, is that a few individuals in public meetings became aggressive, and were deftly brought under control by their fellow countrymen.  Communicating actually reduces the workload rather than increasing it.  And it makes it appear that we have nothing to hide.