B2 to visit girlfriend

[culprit 0]

Hey guys. I'm just kind of overwhelmed right now after reading so many stories about B2's being rejected for non-engaged couples and any advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

I'm planning on visiting my girlfriend for the first time around December so we can spend Christmas together. We've been in a long distance relationship for a few months now. My country (Uruguay) has a low refusal rate (around ~3% I believe?) but I know that mentioning a girlfriend while applying for a tourist visa might be considered a red flag (which is funny, because I don't think it's logical to apply for a K1 without meeting in person first), and they might want to be completely certain about my ties here so I don't overstay. Being an 18 year old student I don't have a stable career, I'll enroll in college here soon and I'm going to visit before classes start, so maybe that could be interpreted as an obligation to come back? My family owns property here which, I think I'll inherit some eventually, so maybe that can also be considered a strong tie?

 

She's financially stable (she's 21) and lives by herself, but my family is also doing fine (my grandparents are paying for the trip and expenses) so I don't have any logical reasons to overstay given the fact that we might pursue a K1/CR-1 in the near future (once I return) and my quality of life here is good. I'd appreciate any advice or tips

[geowrian 22,335]

Apply and find out. That's all there really is to it. I wish you the best of luck!

 

Being so young is probably going to be a negative factor. Don't be surprised if they ask about a girlfriend in the US. They may not, but you may be surprised how often this set of events happen. haha

 

32 minutes ago, culprit said:

which is funny, because I don't think it's logical to apply for a K1 without meeting in person first

1) You must meet in person first in order to file for a K-1 (the waiver for this requirement is extremely, extremely difficult to get...I've seen less than a handful in years and years, and they involved specific circumstances).

2) Just because you may not qualify for a tourist visa due to insufficient ties, doesn't mean they want to see you apply for a K-1 immediately either. A K-1 isn't for visiting. If you want to visit, the proper visa is a tourist visa, so you're doing the right thing by applying for that.

 

While many people do not drop everything they have/know and decide to stay in the US during a first visit with a girlfriend, it does happen quite often too. There are plenty of cases on this website where that has happened. Anyway, the law (INA) requires that the CO makes the presumption that you do intend to immigrate, and the burden falls on the applicant to demonstrate that they intend to return home.

 

So don't take anything personally....it's honestly not an easy bar for many people to show, especially those who do not have well-established roots in their home country yet. The CO is just doing their job under the law as written.

At the same time, there is "only" around a 6% refusal rate for B visas for Uruguay (https://travel.state.gov/content/dam/visas/Statistics/Non-Immigrant-Statistics/RefusalRates/FY19.pdf), so your passport is likely the strongest piece of evidence that you won't decide to stay.

Again, good luck!

[culprit 0]

31 minutes ago, geowrian said:

The CO makes the presumption that you do intend to immigrate, and the burden falls on the applicant to demonstrate that they intend to return home.

Thanks! I guess I'll have to make sure they have no doubts I'm coming back and wish for the best.

[SusieQQQ 11,584]

37 minutes ago, geowrian said:

your passport is likely the strongest piece of evidence that you won't decide to stay.

I think there’s a lot of truth in this. I got my first b visa with basically zero ties (I’d just graduated college and was traveling for a gap year after). I guess my honest face  but probably more importantly my low-rejection rate country helped. They only gave me a one year visa at that stage, but it was more than enough for what I needed. So yes it won’t be easy necessarily, but it’s not impossible.

[Sweety sweety 4]

1 hour ago, culprit said:

Hey guys. I'm just kind of overwhelmed right now after reading so many stories about B2's being rejected for non-engaged couples and any advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

I'm planning on visiting my girlfriend for the first time around December so we can spend Christmas together. We've been in a long distance relationship for a few months now. My country (Uruguay) has a low refusal rate (around ~3% I believe?) but I know that mentioning a girlfriend while applying for a tourist visa might be considered a red flag (which is funny, because I don't think it's logical to apply for a K1 without meeting in person first), and they might want to be completely certain about my ties here so I don't overstay. Being an 18 year old student I don't have a stable career, I'll enroll in college here soon and I'm going to visit before classes start, so maybe that could be interpreted as an obligation to come back? My family owns property here which, I think I'll inherit some eventually, so maybe that can also be considered a strong tie?

 

She's financially stable (she's 21) and lives by herself, but my family is also doing fine (my grandparents are paying for the trip and expenses) so I don't have any logical reasons to overstay given the fact that we might pursue a K1/CR-1 in the near future (once I return) and my quality of life here is good. I'd appreciate any advice or tips

Sorry to say but it’s most likely they will reject it as they want to see your more than 6 months good income in your bank account ..with a letter from your work place ..so better not take risk and get a black mark of rejection as everything gets recorded in Embassy ..it will be a good idea if she comes to see you and then you can show her travel doc for approval of K1 visa .

[geowrian 22,335]

4 minutes ago, Sweety sweety said:

Sorry to say but it’s most likely they will reject it as they want to see your more than 6 months good income in your bank account ..with a letter from your work place ..so better not take risk and get a black mark of rejection as everything gets recorded in Embassy ..it will be a good idea if she comes to see you and then you can show her travel doc for approval of K1 visa .

What "black mark of rejection"? There is no issue with a refused visa (unless somebody were to lie as well).

Edit: Also, they very rarely look at any documents (there is no way to verify their authenticity on the spot).

Edited June 21, 2020 by geowrian

[Sweety sweety 4]

5 minutes ago, geowrian said:

What "black mark of rejection"? There is no issue with a refused visa (unless somebdy were to lie as well).

Every time you apply they have a question in the visa form ..have your visa been rejected !! And they go And look at your previous attempt ..why it got rejected ..and look for the remarks which had been written ..and they emphasis more and more in that issue ..like remark abt your not enough working years etc 

Edited June 21, 2020 by Sweety sweety

[SusieQQQ 11,584]

6 minutes ago, Sweety sweety said:

Sorry to say but it’s most likely they will reject it as they want to see your more than 6 months good income in your bank account ..with a letter from your work place ..so better not take risk and get a black mark of rejection as everything gets recorded in Embassy ..it will be a good idea if she comes to see you and then you can show her travel doc for approval of K1 visa .

A kid of college age from a property owning family can quite easily show the equivalent of 6 months “good income”. Whether or not that means anything is beside the point. Getting a visa is not some kind of tick the boxes thing - purposefully. We regularly see people in good jobs earning decent income being denied, seemingly mainly due to coming from higher risk countries.

 

 

[SusieQQQ 11,584]

4 minutes ago, Sweety sweety said:

Every time you apply they have a question in the visa form ..have your visa been rejected !! And they look go to you previous attempt and look for the remarks which had been written ..and they emphasis more and more in that issue ..like remark abt your not enough working years etc 

Guess what - every time you apply for a visa they look at your previous application anyway, whether approved or denied. Someone being rejected for not having a job/tie at age 18 is not necessarily going to be rejected (example) at age 22 with a good job and property - because it’s not a “black mark” hanging over you, it’s determination based on current circumstances. We’ve had plenty people on here granted visas after previous denials, in some cases even with basically no change in circumstances. 
 

It’s one thing to point out a potentially risky application. It’s another entirely to come up with some magical checklist for approval or warnings of eternal doom if denied.

Edited June 21, 2020 by SusieQQQ

[Sweety sweety 4]

2 minutes ago, SusieQQQ said:

A kid of college age from a property owning family can quite easily show the equivalent of 6 months “good income”. Whether or not that means anything is beside the point. Getting a visa is not some kind of tick the boxes thing - purposefully. We regularly see people in good jobs earning decent income being denied, seemingly mainly due to coming from higher risk countries.

 

 

Well I advised you ..because it’s a requirement to bring with you your bank balance and employee letter at the time of interview .

[geowrian 22,335]

10 minutes ago, Sweety sweety said:

Every time you apply they have a question in the visa form ..have your visa been rejected !! And they go And look at you previous attempt and look for the remarks which had been written ..and they emphasis more and more in that issue ..like remark abt your not enough working years etc 

If one were to keep applying for a tourist visa, then yes, recent refusals tend to predict another refusal. It would be like asking them to override the other CO's decision, and there would need to be some good reason to do so.

But if the tourist visa attempts are spread out over time, I would not expect the previous refusal to be an issue (unless nothing changed since that refusal...then the same result would be the likely conclusion again).

 

And if they wanted to get a K-1 later (or other types of visas), the past tourist visa refusals would have no impact at all.

 

The only issues with refusals are 1) misrepresentation (so don't lie), and 2) if it looks like they are visa shopping by applying for a bunch of different visas to see what sticks.

 

6 minutes ago, Sweety sweety said:

Well I advised you ..because it’s a requirement to bring with you your bank balance and employee letter at the time of interview .

Can you show me this requirement?

It's not a bad idea to bring evidence of ties to return home in the event they ask, but the vast majority of time they will not ask for it.

Edited June 21, 2020 by geowrian

[SusieQQQ 11,584]

7 minutes ago, Sweety sweety said:

Well I advised you ..because it’s a requirement to bring with you your bank balance and employee letter at the time of interview .

Maybe in Qatar it is, some countries have their own requirements, it is certainly not the case as a general rule. If it is required for Qatar then that is probably because of the huge number of non-nationals working there.

 

 

Edited June 21, 2020 by SusieQQQ

[JFH 12,189]

The thing is, everything you’ve mentioned as a reason to return home is something you will be giving up if things go well and you end up taking the K-1/CR-1 route. I had a house, well-paid job, 4 siblings, my mother, friends, financial commitments, government-provided healthcare (when you have epilepsy as I do this counts for a lot), etc in the UK. All of that was given up when I applied for my CR-1. And the same applies to everyone who has moved here. People have even left children behind. 
 

Just mentioning this because everything you consider a “strong tie” or reason to return home, the embassy has seen countless people leave behind. 

Edited June 21, 2020 by JFH

[Sweety sweety 4]

1 hour ago, Sweety sweety said:

Sorry to say but it’s most likely they will reject it as they want to see your more than 6 months good income in your bank account ..with a letter from your work place ..so better not take risk and get a black mark of rejection as everything gets recorded in Embassy ..it will be a good idea if she comes to see you and then you can show her travel doc for approval of K1 visa .

 

1 hour ago, geowrian said:

What "black mark of rejection"? There is no issue with a refused visa (unless somebody were to lie as well).

Edit: Also, they very rarely look at any documents (there is no way to verify their authenticity on the spot).

I meant a negative remark 

[Sparkle Sparkle 913]

No one can really tell you if you will get the visa or not... Are you qualified to apply? If you well yes you are. I Best thing you can do is apply, and at the interview have all your reasonable answers at the tip of your fingers... Good luck