Help - Seeking info for cousin in Philippines

[gemst0nes1 0]

I want to help my cousin in the Philippines who will be applying for a tourist visa. I want her to come visit me in Hawaii so I have a few questions.

 

1. Would an Invitation letter from me help with her application?

 

2. If I do provide her with an invitation letter, would any responsibility for my cousin be placed on me if her visa gets approved?

 

3. Are Tourist visa interviews being held in Cebu branch? 

 

4. What advice can you give me regarding this matter?

[Loren Y 2,732]

1- Invitation letter will not even be looked at.

 

2- see answer to question 1 above, but nothing would be placed on you as they will qualify on their own merits.

 

3- I am not sure on this one, I would think they are held at the embassy in Manila.

 

4- The problem is a lot of people have ruined the tourist visa from the Philippines long before now, and that makes it harder for are the actual legit people that just truely wanting to visit and leave. They will have to qualify based on their own merits. Such as income, owning property, having family there, having traveled before to other countries requiring a Visa and returning. Also having a job to return to. Gather as much evidence showing they will definitely return to the Philippines as you can and try for the Visa. There is no magic formula of things to get an approval, you just have to apply with the strongest case you can. 

Edited June 17, 2019 by Loren Y

[Falcon Cara 378]

21 minutes ago, Loren Y said:

1- Invitation letter will not even be looked at.

 

2- see answer to question 1 above, but nothing would be placed on you as they will qualify on their own merits.

 

3- I am not sure on this one, I would think they are held at the embassy in Manila.

 

4- The problem is a lot of people have ruined the tourist visa from the Philippines long before now, and that makes it harder for are the actual legit people that just truely wanting to visit and leave. They will have to qualify based on their own merits. Such as income, owning property, having family there, having traveled before to other countries requiring a Visa and returning. Also having a job to return to. Gather as much evidence showing they will definitely return to the Philippines as you can and try for the Visa. There is no magic formula of things to get an approval, you just have to apply with the strongest case you can. 

Invitation will not be looked at?  How many times have you or your relatives done a tourist visa application at US embassy in Manila?

 

 

[debbiedoo 2,339]

Tourist visas are granted based on the applicant, not the hosting person. they alone can get it. from everything i understand, they are hard to get from PH.

[Falcon Cara 378]

42 minutes ago, gemst0nes1 said:

I want to help my cousin in the Philippines who will be applying for a tourist visa. I want her to come visit me in Hawaii so I have a few questions.

 

1. Would an Invitation letter from me help with her application?

 

2. If I do provide her with an invitation letter, would any responsibility for my cousin be placed on me if her visa gets approved?

 

3. Are Tourist visa interviews being held in Cebu branch? 

 

4. What advice can you give me regarding this matter?

No interviews in Cebu

 

We have had about 12 of my wife relatives mostly cousins apply for tourist visas to the USA, the ones that were younger around age 25 ish and single most got approved and they had invitation letters and someone stating they would take care of any expenses that were US citizens.

 

My wife sister applied and was shot down and she has traveled to Thailand about 6 times, Malaysia and Hong Kong and Singapore she was declined.

 

So from my personal experience it does make a difference in the US Embassy in Manila with supporting document like invitation/support letters.  At one time I was under the impression it was a waste of time, but now I have seen too many people who got approved with it and it seems to make a difference

[Loren Y 2,732]

2 minutes ago, Falcon Cara said:

Invitation will not be looked at?  How many times have you or your relatives done a tourist visa application at US embassy in Manila?

 

 

Abosolutely none, never, not even once. But what I do have is years of seeing posts on these forums of hundreds of people trying to get a tourist visa from the Philippines, and in probably 95% of them there is the phrase " They didn't even look at the evidence I brought with me, they didn't even look at the letter from my cousin, sister, friend that said she was a millionaire and would pay for everything and give me a place to stay, etc. Etc."  

The CO is not required to look at any of the evidence, and at least 90% of the time the decision is made off the 160 application or form before you even show up to interview. Maybe things have changed, but I doubt it. We will see what other people have to say.

[Loren Y 2,732]

As of last month the B Visa denial rate for the Philippines was just shy of 30%. So going by those odds it's a 1 in 3 chance roughly. Better odds than the top 13 countries that are at 50% or higher, but then the bottom of the list has 3-6 % denial rate, so while not too bad overall, looks like the Philippines is sitting in the middle as far as odds go. For 160 dollars, you can find out. The stats also said 800-1000 B Visas are interviewed each month, I had no idea that many were processed there.

[Unlockable 7,306]

2 hours ago, Falcon Cara said:

Invitation will not be looked at?  How many times have you or your relatives done a tourist visa application at US embassy in Manila?

 

 

Doesn't matter. Invitation letters, and other documents, for tourist visas that don't even get  looked at are frequently mention on here and other forums. Here are a few examples...

 

https://www.visajourney.com/forums/topic/702634-applying-for-a-b2tourist-visa-will-this-letter-help/

https://www.visajourney.com/forums/topic/705535-parent-visa-rejected-april-2019/?tab=comments#comment-9688798

https://www.visajourney.com/forums/topic/700954-visa-denied/?tab=comments#comment-9619292

https://www.visajourney.com/forums/topic/700180-visa-refusal-kindly-explain-where-i-went-wrong/#comments

https://www.visajourney.com/forums/topic/684706-i-was-refused-section-214b/#comments

https://www.visajourney.com/forums/topic/681561-tourist-visa-for-wedding-party/?tab=comments#comment-9333709

https://www.visajourney.com/forums/topic/704325-b2-visa-bulgarian-girlfriend-unique-situation/?tab=comments#comment-9669537

https://www.visajourney.com/forums/topic/690506-b2-visa-denied-for-parents-for-my-wedding-on-k1/?tab=comments#comment-9470565

 

...each one of those threads have someone speaking about their experience with a CO not even looking at the invitation letter. Even from Manilla.

 

Even on other forums like Reddit...

https://www.reddit.com/r/immigration/comments/bc4wo9/advice_for_my_wifes_brazilian_family_seeking/

https://www.reddit.com/r/immigration/comments/9h22v4/b2_visa_denied_after_stating_she_has_family_a_job/

https://www.reddit.com/r/immigration/comments/b17jil/b2_denial_your_take_on_the_experience/

 

As you can see, there is plenty of evidence that such documents are not viewed. A person who has read these stories about these tourist visa denials does not have to personally experience it to comment that it happens often.

[MacUK 983]

For all the people who continually come on threads to tell about the thousands of people they know who walked into an embassy waving an invitation letter and got an immediate approval, a bottle of champagne and free Disneyworld tickets...

 

What exactly do you think an invitation letter does?

The US doesn't care why you want to visit, only that you'll leave. 214(b) is all about not overcoming presumption of immigrant intent, there's nothing in there about not having a valid reason to vist.

A line in it about someone covering expenses? Totally worthless as it can't be legally enforced. You can say anything in a letter, nothing will come back at you if you don't go through with it.

 

I can print off hundreds of invite letters promising all kinds of things, doesn't make it true

[Boiler 43,543]

I am happy to provide invitation letters.

 

For a small fee.

 

I take PayPal.

[SusieQQQ 11,584]

44 minutes ago, MacUK said:

For all the people who continually come on threads to tell about the thousands of people they know who walked into an embassy waving an invitation letter and got an immediate approval, a bottle of champagne and free Disneyworld tickets...

 

What exactly do you think an invitation letter does?

The US doesn't care why you want to visit, only that you'll leave. 214(b) is all about not overcoming presumption of immigrant intent, there's nothing in there about not having a valid reason to vist.

A line in it about someone covering expenses? Totally worthless as it can't be legally enforced. You can say anything in a letter, nothing will come back at you if you don't go through with it.

 

I can print off hundreds of invite letters promising all kinds of things, doesn't make it true

You can say “correlation is not causation” until you’re blue in the face, but...

[Falcon Cara 378]

On ‎6‎/‎17‎/‎2019 at 6:06 AM, Loren Y said:

Abosolutely none, never, not even once. But what I do have is years of seeing posts on these forums of hundreds of people trying to get a tourist visa from the Philippines, and in probably 95% of them there is the phrase " They didn't even look at the evidence I brought with me, they didn't even look at the letter from my cousin, sister, friend that said she was a millionaire and would pay for everything and give me a place to stay, etc. Etc."  

The CO is not required to look at any of the evidence, and at least 90% of the time the decision is made off the 160 application or form before you even show up to interview. Maybe things have changed, but I doubt it. We will see what other people have to say.

Per CO at USEM: Bring what you think will support your case:

Start at 3:10 :

 

 

 

[gemst0nes1 0]

On 6/17/2019 at 12:58 AM, Falcon Cara said:

Invitation will not be looked at?  How many times have you or your relatives done a tourist visa application at US embassy in Manila?

 

 

Never. The only thing I've ever processed was my (now) husband's i-129F so I have no idea about tourist visas.

[gemst0nes1 0]

On 6/17/2019 at 1:06 AM, Loren Y said:

Abosolutely none, never, not even once. But what I do have is years of seeing posts on these forums of hundreds of people trying to get a tourist visa from the Philippines, and in probably 95% of them there is the phrase " They didn't even look at the evidence I brought with me, they didn't even look at the letter from my cousin, sister, friend that said she was a millionaire and would pay for everything and give me a place to stay, etc. Etc."  

The CO is not required to look at any of the evidence, and at least 90% of the time the decision is made off the 160 application or form before you even show up to interview. Maybe things have changed, but I doubt it. We will see what other people have to say.

Thanks. I didn't think an invitation letter was needed, but my cousin really wants to come visit since I moved to Hawaii recently.

 

She wants us to do a cross country road trip ever since I told her about the one I did 2 years ago.

 

 

[gemst0nes1 0]

On 6/17/2019 at 3:51 AM, Unlockable said:

Doesn't matter. Invitation letters, and other documents, for tourist visas that don't even get  looked at are frequently mention on here and other forums. Here are a few examples...

 

https://www.visajourney.com/forums/topic/702634-applying-for-a-b2tourist-visa-will-this-letter-help/

https://www.visajourney.com/forums/topic/705535-parent-visa-rejected-april-2019/?tab=comments#comment-9688798

https://www.visajourney.com/forums/topic/700954-visa-denied/?tab=comments#comment-9619292

https://www.visajourney.com/forums/topic/700180-visa-refusal-kindly-explain-where-i-went-wrong/#comments

https://www.visajourney.com/forums/topic/684706-i-was-refused-section-214b/#comments

https://www.visajourney.com/forums/topic/681561-tourist-visa-for-wedding-party/?tab=comments#comment-9333709

https://www.visajourney.com/forums/topic/704325-b2-visa-bulgarian-girlfriend-unique-situation/?tab=comments#comment-9669537

https://www.visajourney.com/forums/topic/690506-b2-visa-denied-for-parents-for-my-wedding-on-k1/?tab=comments#comment-9470565

 

...each one of those threads have someone speaking about their experience with a CO not even looking at the invitation letter. Even from Manilla.

 

Even on other forums like Reddit...

https://www.reddit.com/r/immigration/comments/bc4wo9/advice_for_my_wifes_brazilian_family_seeking/

https://www.reddit.com/r/immigration/comments/9h22v4/b2_visa_denied_after_stating_she_has_family_a_job/

https://www.reddit.com/r/immigration/comments/b17jil/b2_denial_your_take_on_the_experience/

 

As you can see, there is plenty of evidence that such documents are not viewed. A person who has read these stories about these tourist visa denials does not have to personally experience it to comment that it happens often.

thank you

 

that is a lot of reading material lol... i'll read through them.

 

i'm only familiar with the k1 visa my husband did when i petitioned him 5 years ago. that one was so much easier since  I knew for sure it would be approved on the spot.