What visa do we need?

[jcncnc 0]

My church has a quarterly missions conference where we bring in people who work in missions in different countries around the world. Last year one of our members came into contact with a Christian woman who lives in Pakistan that we would like to invite and sponsor to come to one of our conferences.

Most of the people we've hosted in the past have already had visas to travel to the US so we've never really gotten involved in that. But this woman doesn't and we wanted to help her.

I read on the State Department website that you should use a tourist visa to attend a conference. I think she probably has the necessary credentials to show strong ties to her country. She owns a small income-producing farm, and she has a job in a church there. She has traveled out of Pakistan one time - to Oman and she returned within the required time limits. And as you probabl know, Oman is a much nicer place to live than Pakistan is. She doesn't have any ties to the US. No friends here, and no relatives. And I guess not in her favor is that she's young - 25 - and not married.

So my basic question is - should we send her a letter of invitation? I've read on this site where many people have said that's almost completely unnecessary for tourist visas. What's really important is showing that the person will go back to their home country.

Also, if we should send a letter of invitation, how should we determine the date of the conference she is to attend? In other words, our next missions conference is next month - which I'm assuming would be too soon to get a visa approved for. The one after that is in November. So if we invite her for the November conference - what happens if her visa approval comes in after the date of the conference? Could she then come to the next one in February? Or would they just deny the visa knowing the approval wouldn't come in time for the date we invited her for?

And any other advice you might have would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

[Boiler 45,659]

Seems a very long shot but tell her to apply for a B Visa. She has only the fee at risk.

No harm in sending her an invitation to participate at the Conference.

[CC90 90]

If it weren't for her age and marital status, it might work. As Boiler said, there's no harm in trying.

It would be good to have the invitation since it is a conference. If asked for it, it would be bad not to have it on hand.

As for your other questions, you should worry about those if it's placed in administrative processing.

[jcncnc 0]

Thank you for your responses. Can you think of anything we could do to improve her chances?

Also, should we say in the letter of invitation that we will be paying for all of her travel, lodging and food expenses?

[Boiler 45,659]

Much better if she pays her own way.

[jcncnc 0]

Much better if she pays her own way.

Really? It's amazing how in this immigration process one day you get told one thing and the next day something else! So, why would it be better if she paid for her travels?

[Boiler 45,659]

Isn't that what Visitors do?

[jcncnc 0]

I guess... but the purpose of her visit is to attend this conference. And the church wanted to help her out because she's from a very poor country and even though she can afford to buy the round-trip airline ticket, we know it will be a much greater burden on her than it would be on us.

[Boiler 45,659]

Her Church is not helping?

[jcncnc 0]

Yes, they are willing to help actually. They've said they would be able to pay half the airline ticket. And they're giving her the time off from work to come.

Edited July 8, 2013 by jcncnc

[Boiler 45,659]

That probably helps.

[jcncnc 0]

That's good to know. And that's exactly the kind of information I'm looking for - what helps?

Being a total newbie to this process - the immigration service seems to think upside down from the rest of the world! Which is understandable given the upside down world we live in - and what they're trying to prevent - esepcially from places like Pakistan. But it's very unintuitive to the newcomer.

So let me see if I understand their thinking. If her church there pays for a portion or all of her ticket (if they can), then it shows she has strong ties to them? And if we pay for it - it might show she has stronger than expected ties in the US?

[Boiler 45,659]

With Pakistan and a Visitor there are 2 main issues:

1 She is not a Terrorist

2 She will honour the terms of her visa and return.

Probably in this case the second one is the more significant. Anything that can help this issue improves her case. Remember half the 'undocumented' entered the US legally, that is a LOT of people.

[Harpa Timsah 13,258]

They want to see that she has a happy life in Pakistan and that she will be happy to return to that life after visiting the US.

[CC90 90]

Unless you can make her older, get her married, or do other things, the chances will remain relatively static. There's not much you can do other than to have her research on her own what she needs to do. A significant amount of the process is subjective and depends on the overall personal impression she gives the interviewer, along with the details in her application.