What do I do to increase my chances for a B2 visa to visit my boyfriend.

[Boiler 47,487]

Sounds more like a R than the B the OP is interested in.

[BKKflyer 17]

Even if you apply for a B2 to visit a BF you have not met, he's still a BF and the whole purpose of your visit.

You will likely not get the visa to do so, even with the items you have as proof, which isn't much at all and his items you want to include will

hinder not help. You have to show that you stand on your own 2 feet with ties and finances.

Save the money and let him come visit you instead, see your country, meet your family and gather evidence of that visit

for a future K1 if he wants to petition you.

Your chances are zero for a B2, especially not because your country is Nigeria. Sorry !

That's bizarre--and horrible--advice.

My (Thai) GF got a 10 year B1/B2 visa. I gave her a letter that said, in part:

I understand that every applicant for a United States tourist visa must qualify on their own merit. However, I am also aware that visiting a significant other may be considered to be a negative point in the eyes of the consulate when determining visa eligibility. For that reason, I wanted to write this letter to explain our situation.

I am a [listed my professional job here]. I usually travel to Bangkok 4-5 times per year and stay for between 2 weeks and 4 months each time. I will be travelling back to Bangkok in mid-March and again in mid-May (at the same time as [HER NAME] will be returning to Thailand if her visa is issued). I will remain in Thailand from May until August and I will return again in October and December. I have had this travel schedule for several years.

Miss ----- is a Thai government employee and holds a Master’s degree. We are dating, but we have no intention of getting married at this time. I work in Thailand so often that we are actually able to see each other more often if she remains in Thailand and visits the United States during her 6 week holidays.

She handed over the letter as well as copies of my entry/exit stamps from Thailand with her other documentation. No idea whether the letter helped and it certainly might not have helped, but the officer read the letter and asked her a question about it (that I cannot recall). I CAN say one thing for certain though--it DID NOT HURT. She had a short interview and the visa was issued in three days. She's been here three times since.

Good luck!

PS: The point of the letter was NOT to help her qualify. She clearly qualified on her own. The point of the letter was only to dispel doubts (if any) about her trying to stay illegally with her American BF. It would be very rare for a young single Thai woman to travel to America alone, regardless of her circumstances.Thais rarely do the solo travel thing. In addition, he address in America was my place. There was no way that they wouldn't guess the reason for the trip whether she overtly stated it or not.

Edited March 29, 2016 by BKKflyer

[HFM181818 750]

One can write a letter saying anything....it does not, repeat, does not make anything in said letter true nor legally enforceable.

[BKKflyer 17]

One can write a letter saying anything....it does not, repeat, does not make anything in said letter true nor legally enforceable.

Did I say that it did?

Again: The point of the letter was not to bolster her financial case. It is quite clear that you cannot do that with a letter. The point of a letter is to explain a situation (in this case along with travel stamps) that might otherwise be misinterpreted.

And finally, whether a letter helps or not, my point of posting this is to dispel the nonsense that such a letter will hurt the case. It does not.

[Boiler 47,487]

Did I say that it did?

Again: The point of the letter was not to bolster her financial case. It is quite clear that you cannot do that with a letter. The point of a letter is to explain a situation (in this case along with travel stamps) that might otherwise be misinterpreted.

And finally, whether a letter helps or not, my point of posting this is to dispel the nonsense that such a letter will hurt the case. It does not.

I can think of many cases mentioned here where it probably did, depends.

[BKKflyer 17]

I can think of many cases mentioned here where it probably did, depends.

Well, ok, you are likely right about that.

A letter that said something stupid could certainly hurt. (Example: "We are thinking about getting married, but she wants to have a look around...")

A letter guaranteeing expenses wouldn't help.

I personally believe that an otherwise qualified applicant with a situation that could be potentially be misinterpreted can be helped with a letter that explains why that situation should not be disqualifying.

[Boiler 47,487]

Certainly my experience and seemingly from what I have read of others, it is unusual for anything taken to be read.

[BKKflyer 17]

Certainly my experience and seemingly from what I have read of others, it is unusual for anything taken to be read.

I wish I could remember the question she was asked. I think it was something along the lines of how long she'd known me. At the time the answer was six months... now two years and six months.

Honestly neither one of us is thinking about marriage. If we wanted kids, maybe it would be different, but I don't see the point otherwise. Even if we did get married, I'm not sure we'd ever apply for a green card anyway. I have a long term visa for Thailand and get (up to) one year stamps there. She gets stamped into the US for 6 months. I haven't spent six months in a row inside the US in over 10 years.

I didn't want her getting turned down just because she happened to be dating me.

[HFM181818 750]

letters written by some interested third party are neutral at best, harmful at worst. Why? Because letters prove nothing, and letters are not being interviewed (my own personal policy was to merely glance at them, then chuck them in the trash, as I never opened myself to influence from third parties)....nothing in a letter can be legally binding, especially upon the most important person in an interview - the applicant!

It's the applicant who must convince the CO (or me, in the past), not some letter, not some other person. I chose the most efficient route to that end....which was to virtually ignore such letters (the only ones I perused for accuracy were letters from doctors, brought by applicants seeking medical care....but in the developing countries in which I worked, more than half of those letters were bogus, with exaggerated claims of medical problems that turned out not to be true [i never accepted such letters without having the embassy medical staff review them]...) so even letters from alleged physicians could be nothing more than window dressing, and certainly any letter from some American BF that was presented to me was not even read (except later on a Friday afternoon get-together after all of the applicants were gone and we needed something for amusement)...COs who fall prey to letters need re-training.

[NigeriaorBust 4,087]

The truth about Nigerians and visitors visas is they have a horrid record of abusing them for immigrant intent which makes it nearly impossible for those that want to be just visitors to get a visa as their stories are all the same. Most of the tribes have conventions each year and families fight for the right to invite speakers over for the convention on visitors visas and over half those speakers come to the US, get a case of the hot hornies and end up marrying and adjusting status. It had gotten so bad that some of the bigger groups have been told their invitations are no longer welcomed as evidence in the consulate. So imagine your case , a young marriageable woman with limited ties to Nigeria ( you should be able to find a better position in the US , people change jobs all the time ) asking for a visa to come to the US with a connection already here. The consulate hears this hundreds of times a day. Any officer would assume you don't intend on coming back.

[Ebunoluwa 6,136]

That's bizarre--and horrible--advice.

My (Thai) GF got a 10 year B1/B2 visa. I gave her a letter that said, in part:

I understand that every applicant for a United States tourist visa must qualify on their own merit. However, I am also aware that visiting a significant other may be considered to be a negative point in the eyes of the consulate when determining visa eligibility. For that reason, I wanted to write this letter to explain our situation.

I am a [listed my professional job here]. I usually travel to Bangkok 4-5 times per year and stay for between 2 weeks and 4 months each time. I will be travelling back to Bangkok in mid-March and again in mid-May (at the same time as [HER NAME] will be returning to Thailand if her visa is issued). I will remain in Thailand from May until August and I will return again in October and December. I have had this travel schedule for several years.

Miss ----- is a Thai government employee and holds a Master’s degree. We are dating, but we have no intention of getting married at this time. I work in Thailand so often that we are actually able to see each other more often if she remains in Thailand and visits the United States during her 6 week holidays.

She handed over the letter as well as copies of my entry/exit stamps from Thailand with her other documentation. No idea whether the letter helped and it certainly might not have helped, but the officer read the letter and asked her a question about it (that I cannot recall). I CAN say one thing for certain though--it DID NOT HURT. She had a short interview and the visa was issued in three days. She's been here three times since.

Good luck!

PS: The point of the letter was NOT to help her qualify. She clearly qualified on her own. The point of the letter was only to dispel doubts (if any) about her trying to stay illegally with her American BF. It would be very rare for a young single Thai woman to travel to America alone, regardless of her circumstances.Thais rarely do the solo travel thing. In addition, he address in America was my place. There was no way that they wouldn't guess the reason for the trip whether she overtly stated it or not.

This is not about you, your relationship and Thailand. It is about the OP and her BF wanting to take their relationship to another

level and the country is Nigeria. Your advice is unrealistic and it won't fly in Nigeria. Period.

[BKKflyer 17]

This is not about you, your relationship and Thailand. It is about the OP and her BF wanting to take their relationship to another

level and the country is Nigeria. Your advice is unrealistic and it won't fly in Nigeria. Period.

The point is that your advice that letters are always unhelpful is wrong. Period.

[Ebunoluwa 6,136]

The point is that your advice that letters are always unhelpful is wrong. Period.

I did not say that. Others said that. Your reading comprehension is misguiding you.

Let me make it clear to you again :

This is a Nigerian wanting to visit her BF with bank statements and a job and his invite letter.

Your story is irrelevant.

Focus on the country and evidence of the OP not your own which is different.

[BKKflyer 17]

You said "his items you want to include will hinder not help"

You don't know the content of the letter he wrote, so you made an incorrect blanket statement, which, yes, others jumped on.

[HFM181818 750]

Letters are worthless...anyone can write anything on a piece of paper, but that does not make anything written true...nor enforceable...I could write a letter claiming that the moon is made of green cheese, but yet.....

Letters from interested third parties cannot miraculously, through osmosis or whatever, transfer bona fides upon an applicant.

The pedigree of the Amcit BF is not relevant....it does not matter what college the BF attended, what job he has, how much $$ he has in the bank or who he allegedly knows....totally meaningless...nor can some random third party 'make sure' that the B2 visa holder departs the US when it's time or keep them from working illegally...because no one, save some officials from ICE, have any legal authority over another person taking up space in the US of A.

I've had letters from the president, from congress, senators, mayors, lawyers (the worst), boyfriends, girlfriends, neighbors or people chosen out of a phone book, all attesting to the 'character' of some young, single woman from a developing country....most of those letters went into the round file, where they did the most good!

And when, sometimes, Susie Sweet Cheeks, the one who someone had claimed had taken over Mother Theresa's spot on the globe, who was the most honest person in the solar system, etc, etc, committed fraud during her interview...well, those conversations (back to the interested third party, to the extent I could legally discuss the aftermath) were more than amusing....

A good, experienced CO should never be swayed in a positive direction by some letter presented at the interview....even doctors' letters from third world countries were viewed with suspicion, and rightfully so, as I routinely had those letters vetted by our medical staff....and a significant percentage of them were nothing more than medical double speak, trying to claim some malady that the applicant was suffering that could only be treated in the US (said maladies often being nothing more than the sniffles or a stomach ache!)...

Of course, a lot of egotistical BFs thought that their letters and/or presence at the interview would somehow make a difference (a negative one) or that they could somehow intimidate me....good luck with that....as so many discovered....

Letters are just window dressing....nothing more.