Inadequate Preparation for Visa Applications

What Happened: From January-July 2024, several Fellows struggled to receive their visa to travel to the Leadership Institute. Two Fellows were denied for visas twice and were unable to attend. Mountaintop was unprepared to support its Fellows through the process. In one case, a Fellow was told during their visa interview that they had applied for the wrong visa due to confusing language in our Letter of Support we provided them. The Letter of Support mentioned that the Fellows would receive funding for their fellowship, which confused the consular officer into thinking that the Fellow needed a J1 visa, even though in reality the B1 visa (which they had in fact applied for) was the correct application.​​

How Mountaintop Responded: Mountaintop immediately updated its Letter of Support and communicated key changes to other Fellows going through the visa application process. Mountaintop also worked with Fellows to update and improve Mountaintop's visa application support system and create a visa application guide to support future Fellows. Last, Mountaintop built relationships with each embassy where Fellows are serving and plans to build relationships in every embassy where new Fellows serve in order to build greater awareness of our model and ease the visa application process going forward.​

Mountaintop's Learning and Commitment: Mountaintop has learned that the visa application process is rigorous and challenging, and requires strong relationships and intense preparation for each Fellow. Mountaintop commits to continually learning about the B1 visa process and building relationships with US embassies around the world to increase the odds of Fellows having their applications approved in the future.