High risk list of countries. Where?

[SmallTownPA 71]

Ok, people are running scared because of a list of 'high marriage fraud risk' countries.

 

Where is this list?

 

Or are you really saying 'low approval rate countries'?

 

Please post a link to an authoritative source.

Edited June 7, 2019 by SmallTownPA

[Ben&Zian 4,397]

1 minute ago, SmallTownPA said:

Ok, people are running scared because of a list of 'high marriage fraud risk' countries.

 

Where is this list?

 

Or are you really saying 'low approval rate countries'?

 

Please post a link to an authoritative source.

 

High risk is mainly do to low approval rates, not just with spousal visas or fiances visas, but also tourist visas and such. There is a general knowledge about these but doubt there is a specific list identifying them from any official government source.

[Ontarkie 13,915]

~~Moved to General Immigration Discussion, from K1 P&P - As the topic applies to more than a K1 visa~~

[Cryssiekins 976]

34 minutes ago, Ben&Zian said:

 

High risk is mainly do to low approval rates, not just with spousal visas or fiances visas, but also tourist visas and such. There is a general knowledge about these but doubt there is a specific list identifying them from any official government source.

Also “high risk” and “low approval” doesn’t mean impossible, it just means the petitioner and beneficiary have to make sure the case presented is rock solid.  For tourists, they really have to demonstrate strong ties to their country.  

 

Is it fair?  No, of course not, no system is perfect, but that’s just how it works.  No one should be scared per se, but they should use it to prepare and plan.  At the end of the day immigrating to or visiting the US from anywhere else is a privilege, and should be treated as such at every step in the process. 

[Ash.1101 1,755]

Looking over your past posts, you seem very informed about a lot of things immigration. At least on Visa Journey. Makes this post look more like something that was meant to be a comment on another post.

Either way, I haven't seen anyone running scared over a list of high risk countries. The countries that are high fraud countries have been high fraud countries for some time now.

What I do see are people who are surprised that they are dealing with a harsher embassy or are unprepared for the process.

I'm sure someone will be by with approval and refusal ratings of each embassy though.

Edited June 7, 2019 by Ash.

[millefleur 5,035]

I really doubt there is an official list. If you spend enough time on VJ, it becomes pretty apparent which countries are higher fraud than others. And, again, that doesn't mean that each individual person from said high fraud is a fraud or shady. It's just a statistic, if your case is strong and the relationship is real, you will get approved eventually.

Edited June 7, 2019 by millefleur

[TBoneTX 43,058]

Years ago, I asked "What constitutes a high-fraud country" to an immigration attorney who had been a vice-consul at multiple posts.  He firmly said, "Any poor country."

 

Each consular post will be aware of certain red flags that are specific to the host country or culture.

The Visa Waiver Program countries are probably lowest-fraud.

Among non-VWP countries, Manila hands out K-1 visas like candy, which I've never understood.

On VisaJourney, the lore is to refer to countries as low-fraud, medium-fraud, high-fraud, and Lagos.

[ineedadisplayname 442]

17 hours ago, Cryssiekins said:

Is it fair?  No, of course not, no system is perfect, but that’s just how it works.  No one should be scared per se, but they should use it to prepare and plan.  At the end of the day immigrating to or visiting the US from anywhere else is a privilege, and should be treated as such at every step in the process. 

That is true. You should not be scared. Yes it can be harder. I wouldn't say it is not fair. Most of it we can thank to our own people because they abused, circumvented the law. E.g Romanian is a no ESTA country because a lot of ppl forgot to go home from their vacations in the USA. (Ok, super simplified)

Yes it is harder for us now and yes we should not be punished for what other people did, but I totally understand it.

 

I have ESTA and I could have just adjusted status on my visit, but we decided to do it in the right way and wait out the 8-9 months. It was hard, yes, but at least i know I did it right. 

 

It is probably unlikely to happen but I am sure USCIS could put some data analyst to work to crunch out numbers per country to see how many ppl adjusted from ESTA  or just overstayed and advise some higher entity to initiate the revocation of ESTA privilege of that country. (It is more economically complex than that, but you see why is harder for some nations to visit/immigrate and we can thank to our own people) 

 

Edited June 7, 2019 by ineedadisplayname

[Jeanne Adil 1,651]

This is the map of high fraud countries

 

https://mypathtocitizenship.com/which-countries-are-on-the-uscis-high-fraud-list/

[SalishSea 16,770]

1 hour ago, ineedadisplayname said:

That is true. You should not be scared. Yes it can be harder. I wouldn't say it is not fair. Most of it we can thank to our own people because they abused, circumvented the law. E.g Romanian is a no ESTA country because a lot of ppl forgot to go home from their vacations in the USA. (Ok, super simplified)

Yes it is harder for us now and yes we should not be punished for what other people did, but I totally understand it.

 

I have ESTA and I could have just adjusted status on my visit, but we decided to do it in the right way and wait out the 8-9 months. It was hard, yes, but at least i know I did it right. 

 

It is probably unlikely to happen but I am sure USCIS could put some data analyst to work to crunch out numbers per country to see how many ppl adjusted from ESTA  or just overstayed and advise some higher entity to initiate the revocation of ESTA privilege of that country. (It is more economically complex than that, but you see why is harder for some nations to visit/immigrate and we can thank to our own people) 

 

They definitely have data on overstays by citizenship.

[SJordanS 342]

15 hours ago, TBoneTX said:

Years ago, I asked "What constitutes a high-fraud country" to an immigration attorney who had been a vice-consul at multiple posts.  He firmly said, "Any poor country."

 

Each consular post will be aware of certain red flags that are specific to the host country or culture.

The Visa Waiver Program countries are probably lowest-fraud.

Among non-VWP countries, Manila hands out K-1 visas like candy, which I've never understood.

On VisaJourney, the lore is to refer to countries as low-fraud, medium-fraud, high-fraud, and Lagos.

Agreed to how they hand Visa to Manila all day everyday like a flyer. 

[Scandi 3,970]

16 hours ago, TBoneTX said:

Years ago, I asked "What constitutes a high-fraud country" to an immigration attorney who had been a vice-consul at multiple posts.  He firmly said, "Any poor country."

 

Each consular post will be aware of certain red flags that are specific to the host country or culture.

The Visa Waiver Program countries are probably lowest-fraud.

Among non-VWP countries, Manila hands out K-1 visas like candy, which I've never understood.

On VisaJourney, the lore is to refer to countries as low-fraud, medium-fraud, high-fraud, and Lagos.

Because.. https://www.state.gov/u-s-relations-with-the-philippines/

[TBoneTX 43,058]

10 hours ago, adil-rafa said:

This is the map of high fraud countries

When they say, "The list below is not a complete list of high fraud countries," it's the understatement of the century.

[SusieQQQ 11,584]

On 6/6/2019 at 5:22 PM, Ben&Zian said:

 

High risk is mainly do to low approval rates, not just with spousal visas or fiances visas, but also tourist visas and such. There is a general knowledge about these but doubt there is a specific list identifying them from any official government source.

If you assume that there is a correlation with tourist visa denial rates, then there is indeed an official list and this is released each year. This is probably the easiest indicator to look at as it is just a list of nationalities and refusal rates. The one caveat is the refusal rates from VWP nationals, as in many cases the fact that they have to apply for B visas means they are ineligible for VWP and therefore may already have some type of  identified risk factor.

 

The latest is for FY2018, so as up to date as it can be: https://travel.state.gov/content/dam/visas/Statistics/Non-Immigrant-Statistics/RefusalRates/FY18.pdf