(Newswire.net — April 19, 2017) — Paul Kenyon was filling out his grandson’s visa form, before the family went to Orlando, Florida. But, the grandfather’s skill for online forms wasn’t so advanced, and he accidentally made a mistake when answering a question related to terrorism.
Harvey’s grandfather mistakenly ticked the wrong box on the visa form. He clicked the option ”yes” when answering a question: “Do you seek to engage in or have you ever engaged in terrorist activities, espionage, sabotage, or genocide?”
The grandfather realized his mistake when the 3-month old baby boy was invited for an interview at the embassy in London, as he was refused a visa.
62-year-old Kenyon said that he couldn’t believe that “they couldn’t see it was a genuine mistake and that a three-month-old baby would be no harm to anyone.”
Furthermore, parents brought the baby to the U.S. Embassy in London to meet with the officials, and to be interviewed on terrorism. This round trip from Cheshire to London and back took almost ten hours, which is longer than the flight from Manchester to Florida.
Also, the grandfather’s mistake had cost him 3,000 pounds (about 3,591 dollars). He said that it was a really expensive mistake, but he was hoping that the U.S. Embassy will notice that it was an error.
“If you were a terrorist, I suspect you would not be ticking yes on an ESTA form anyway,” Kenyon said and added that during the interview, the boy was patient and did not cry.
Kenyon joked that he thought about taking him along in an orange jumpsuit, but changed his mind. “They didn’t appear to have a sense of humor over it at all and couldn’t see the funny side.”
He also said that the 3-month old ”terrorist” obviously never engaged in genocide, or espionage, but that he has sabotaged quite a few nappies in his time.
“Though I didn’t tell them that at the U.S. Embassy,” the grandfather said.
Since Harvey’s visa did not arrive in time when the flight was planned, the boy traveled a few days later with his parents, instead of grandparents.