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LONDON - A 9-year-old boy's dream trip to Disney World was ruined when U.S. immigration officials ruled he was a threat.

Civil servants Kathy and Edward Francis planned to surprise their grandson Micah Strachan with the holiday of a lifetime to Florida in February.

They were only going to tell Micah about it when they took him to the airport on Feb. 19 for the flight to the U.S.

They had already spent more than $2,400 on plane tickets and had been organizing the trip for months.

But this week U.S. Embassy officials denied the schoolboy a visa to enter the U.S.

They said there was a risk he would not leave the U.S. at the end of his holiday and refused his application under Section 214 (b) of the Immigration and Nationality Act.

The U.S. Embassy's rejection letter to Micah read: "Because you either did not demonstrate strong ties outside the United States or were not able to demonstrate that your intended activities in the U.S. would be consistent with the visa status, you are ineligible."

His grandmother Kathy, from south London, said: "It was going to be a total surprise. He would have loved it.

"We feel so deflated by the whole experience.

Tessa Jowell, a Labour MP, said: "I was very concerned to learn about the situation facing my constituents and of course understand the distress the decision has caused.

"I have asked the American authorities to look again at this and very much hope they will feel able to reconsider their decision."

Meanwhile, the family has written to U.S. President Barack Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to ask for an explanation of the decision.

A U.S. Embassy spokesman said it was "not policy" to comment on individual immigration cases.





one less potential terrorist the TSA will have to fondle.

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Originally Posted by Dødherre Mørktre:

one less potential terrorist the TSA will have to fondle.

Maybe that was it: they were trying to save the kid from getting groped at the airport.

Why were they trying to get him a visa through the embassy anyway, the UK is one of the member countries of the Visa Waiver program. So, you go online, you pay your $15, you get your little green form to fill in on the plane where you promise you're neither a terrorist or a Nazi (I always wonder why they have that bit in there) and you're in.   Sounds like this is just another case of a small-minded bureaucrat getting his thrills by exercising the little bit of power that he has (or she has, hey, am all for equal opportunities here)

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just pathetic... really, just pathetic

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Sounds like an admin error.  They'll probably get it worked out.