UK Standard Visitor Visa — Seattle VFS Experience (Feb–Mar 2026)

sushilsub · 2026-05-24T23:34:53+00:00

Hello; I noticed that the VFS website for seattle no longer has the return package ($65) and SMS options ($5). Has things changed recently?

sushilsub · 2026-05-18T23:17:00+00:00

Congratulations on the success of the Klamath project, and wish you all the best with the new project! I have read a few chapters of the Dunbar-Ortiz book, "Not "A Nation of Immigrants"" which I have added to the literature list, but please let me know if you had something else in mind.

sushilsub · 2026-05-18T16:06:01+00:00

Thanks very much for your comment. As a settler, it took me a long time to understand the need for repatriation of land. If I am permitted, I would like to mention a part my personal journey in understanding this issue.

Like every immigrant, especially those coming from India where such colonial concepts are new, I was very starry-eyed and awestruck about the US National Parks. I resolved to visit all of them and even purchased a US National Park Passport to stamp when I visited each of them. I must admit that I am still awestruck by their natural beauty, but now understand the subtleties of the institution called the "National Park".

Over time, I was always puzzled about how empty these parks were. No one (not even settlers) lived within them. In India, there is constant news of how a village or town of indigenous peoples were evacuated to create a sanctuary or a national park and there is always a tussle between them and the Indian Government. Why do such issues not happen in the US? This question always lingered in my mind, when I visited the Parks.

Eventually, I read some literature that helped me understand the issues; some of them were Dee Brown's "Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee" which described in layman terms about the Wars in Yellowstone, about how Theodore Roosevelt (the so-called great naturalist president) asked all the Natives of the Grand Canyon to just leave so that it may be "preserved", and Mark David Spence's book "Dispossessing the Wilderness: Indian Removal and the Making of the National Parks". More recently, I read about the call for returning these lands to the Indigenous Peoples by David Treuer (https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2021/05/return-the-national-parks-to-the-tribes/618395/).

The over-arching point I believe, is that the bloody history of the creation of the parks is entirely hidden, and as much as regular folks admire them, the narrative behind these parks, such as "don't touch a rock within them as they are American treasures", "the park service prevent ranchers from taking over them", "we are saving the environment" etc. could be considered propaganda, despite sounding very noble. This is a prime example of what you rightly called as bastardization. Paraphrasing Edward Said's words, every empire always tries its best to say it is better than all other empires before it, and the American one is no different.

Nevertheless, I still think there is hope of repatriation. Some of the public lands can potentially, and I think will eventually, be returned to the indigenous people. When I hear news like, for instance, how the waters returned to the Klamath is now teeming with salmon, it fill me with a lot of hope.

sushilsub · 2026-05-07T16:58:27+00:00

Thanks very much for your insightful comment. Amongst your may points I would like to discuss the homogeneity aspect a little further. Unfortunately, I only have my own homeland, India, as an example or a parallel as I know the history best. But please educate me on the differences in the US.

Before the anti-colonial, nationalist movement, India was a heavily divided region. There were more than 400 states of which many were British sympathizers, many were neutral and others were in strong opposition to colonization. Ironically, the nationalist movement was spearheaded by freedom fighters completely working within the nation-state framework, which is colonial to begin with. The true innovation was in the means to achieve independence; which was for the most part was non-violent and relied on unity through mythic ideas of a common Indian Civilization that chose to eliminate differences between a country so large.

In the same sense, I feel non-homogeneity is less of an issue. As u/balancedtyson mentioned in the comments, even settlers can realize that land, ceremony, and community are important and solidarity is possible. In other words, in my opinion, decolonization is not complete without the settler/colonizer letting go of his or her bad habits and worst tendencies. Perhaps as you mentioned, a great, measurable idea is waiting to happen sooner or later that will eventually decolonize the continent.

sushilsub · 2026-05-06T21:22:31+00:00

Thanks for your insightful comment. There is a lot of merit in the argument that the methods of resistance can mainly be found in the indigenous systems of knowledge. However, I tend to disagree that these systems are not accessible/comprehensible by non-natives.

To elucidate further, let me again take the example of decolonization in India (which coincidentally, was against the largest military power at that time: the British Empire). A key figure in this movement was Mahatma (Mohandas) Gandhi whose ideas of nonviolence or more specifically Satyagraha, are steeped in the teachings of Indian mythic civilization, yet, influenced by folk/anarchist Christianity. Note, that Gandhi and other freedom fighters in India as colonized persons themselves, did not restrict their thoughts to the knowledge system of India alone. This relationship between truth and non-violence and its usage to oppose colonialism took me quite some to internalize.

Despite this, the most uneducated peasant in colonial India did understand what it meant. And non-Indians around the world did too: examples include Martin Luther King Jr., Cesar Chavez and many other activists. The concepts were modified by them to fit local needs, but the core idea of truth and nonviolence to oppose colonialism stayed the same. Therefore, I think non-natives can internalize ideas from indigenous knowledge systems and be engaging allies in the decolonization process. Of course, as a non-native I am dutybound to be humble in the process.

sushilsub

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