Muslim student pays extra fees for U.S. visa checks

U.S. embassy officials forced a Muslim student to undergo extra security checks because his name was Muhammad, BBC reported.

Muhammad Umar Haleem Khan, who studies at the Manchester Metropolitan University in Britain, wanted to get a U.S. visa to work for the Camp America project in Philadelphia.

The 22-year-old student says he had to an extra $80 (£45) to have his fingerprints checked against a U.S. terror suspect database.

Mr Khan, who is still waiting to hear if he will get his visa, said an embassy employee “asked me all the usual questions like what was my purpose for visiting and what was the nature of my job and then she said there was a problem with my name,

“My paperwork was fine, but she said there were a lot of bad people in the world with that name, meaning terrorists,

"Then she told me I would have to have some additional security checks, which meant all my fingers were fingerprinted and she told me these would be compared to a database in Washington. I had to pay an extra 80 dollars.

"I was totally speechless. I didn't know what to say to her.

"Now I am worried I may not get a visa and travel to the States because of my name.

"I feel completely discriminated against. I'm sure that if some white candidate came along there would have been no problem."

An embassy spokesman said he couldn’t say how visa applications are assessed.

"We do have expedited procedures for exchange visitors and students that should allow us to process the visa before the travel date," he said.

"In general, there are any number of reasons why one visa application may be different than another or take longer to process,

"The important point I must make is that if someone needs a visa, they should apply well in advance of the travel date."

Khan says that he had never visited Afghanistan or any other trouble hotspots and could think of no reason why his name would cause a problem.

“This is a worrying incident and seems to fit a recent pattern whereby the U.S. appears to be treating all Muslims as potential terrorists just because of their religion,” said a spokesman for the Muslim Council of Britain, Inayat Bunglawala.

"Although Muslim parents name their children from a wide variety of names - just like other parents - many of them, especially those from the Indian subcontinent, will often give their male children the name of Muhammad as a kind of respectful prefix in honor of the Prophet, even though the actual name by which these children are known will be something else,

“U.S. Embassy officials ought really to have had the training to cope with basic elements of Muslim culture which would help prevent these kinds of unfortunate situations."