Roma actor may miss Oscars after being denied U.S. visa

Roma actor Jorge Antonio Guerrero may not be able to attend the Academy Awards after his U.S. visa application was denied.
The Mexican actor plays Fermín in the critically-acclaimed film, which has been nominated for 10 Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Director for Alfonso Cuaron. But according to editors at Mexican publication El Sol de Tijuana, Guerrero may not be able to attend the Oscars ceremony on 24 February (19) as his application to obtain a U.S. visa has been denied three visa times.
“What I want to interpret is that it is a matter of procedure,” said Guerrero said, reported IndieWire. “It is a procedure that I want to do and that I have been denied by the interviewers that have touched me (sic).”
Guerrero first applied for a visitor’s visa in early 2018, months before Roma debuted, but it was denied. Two subsequent applications were also turned down, which meant he was unable to attend streaming giant Netflix’s Los Angeles gala premiere for the film, and the 2019 Golden Globes in January, where the film, which tells the story of a domestic servant and the family she works for in early-1970s Mexico City, won Best Director and Best Foreign Language Film.
The 26-year-old actor also told the website that during one of his attempts to apply for entry, U.S. Embassy officials in Mexico City thought he was trying to go to America as a worker despite providing an official letter from the film’s producers requesting he be able to travel to the U.S.
“I want to think that, if we could find a way for a consular officer or someone in the embassy to read those letters of invitation, one could understand,” he told the newspaper, citing the importance of Roma as an example of a “cultural exchange that is taking place between two nations”.
Cuaron has retweeted a number of articles about Guerrero’s situation.