Tourist Visa for In Laws

[NicoNShawn 2]

Hello, my wife and I would like to have her parents come visit us. Ideally we'd like for them to have a reentry visa so that they could visit every year. We've reviewed the guides and I am worried about them being able to prove financial support and ties to their country. They have some things in their favor. Her father has a pension in Romania, and they own a home there. But, the pension is not very large, and they have spent a lot of time recently in Italy. Her Mother was working there for the past 2+ years and they have just moved back home.

We can write a letter of invitation and show the ability to support them while they are here. Would that be acceptable to the embassy?

Would the embassy consider their long leave of absence from their country to invalidate their ties to Romania? They have maintained their home there and can show that they have kept it in good standing (paying bills/maintenance/etc) with the intention of returning. Italy also has strong ties to Romania now because they are both European Union. There shouldn't even be stamps in their passports for the travel. Does that help in any way?

Thanks in advance.

[Brother Hesekiel 2,236]

As you probably know, the B-2 process involves 2 components:

1) Strong ties to Romania

2) No ties, no support system, in the US.

You are concerned that your in-laws may not have sufficient ties to Romania. The whole idea behind this is that the consular personal is required to assume that anybody who wants to visit the US will stay there without authorization. The applicant has to prove that this is not the case. If you now send them a letter of invitation, showing that you can support your in-laws while they are in the US, it can have one of two outcomes:

1) Consular employee understands that in-laws only want to visit their child and are sympathetic to it

2) Consular employee sees existing support system in the USA as a potential problem.

You just never know.

Another issue I read out of your post is that your in-laws want to spend considerable time in the US. That too will only work until a CBP officer simply assumes they spend "too much" time in the US and limits their I-94 to a period of less than 6 months.

Unfortunately, the US has no visa for snowbirds or relatives of LPRs who would like to spend "some time" every year in the US. The system just lacks a lot.

[NicoNShawn 2]

I don't believe the time period that they would stay would be considered significant. Probably no more than a few weeks to a month.