Apply for a Tourist with my husband and newborn

[kojai 2]

Hello everyone!

 

I (F37) have had my Tourist Visa for 15 years, always travel for holidays, I think 10 times in those 15 years always staying 20 or 25 days. My visa will expire jan 2023,

 

I got married in my country (Venezuela) and I'm pregnant now. I will be traveling to the US (to buy things for the baby and send it back to Venezuela).

 

My husband (M42) has never had visa, and he hasn't travel much abroad. I want to apply for a tourist visa with him and my newborn as a family. Me and my husband work together in Venezuela, we have a company of Video Production and we are doing very well, leaving my country is not on our mind at all. We don't own a home yet but we lease our current house. 

 

I really like going to the US on my holidays because it is near and it is a developed country.

 

I don't have any family there either. 

 

Do you think I have a chance? I'm questioning everything because we are a new family and many people from my country have stayed there in the latest couple of years. 

 

Thanks!

[Dashinka 24,973]

There is always a chance.  Your husband would need to apply on his own merits, does he have any travel history, does he have any relatives in the US.  I am not sure about your future child.

 

Good Luck?

[beloved_dingo 1,997]

Each person applying for a tourist visa must apply separately and will be approved or denied on their own merits. Your travel history works in your favor to get another tourist visa once yours expires, but no one can tell you for sure if the applications for your husband and baby will be approved. Has your husband ever been to the US or traveled to another country before that required a visa? Has he ever been denied entry to a country? Does he have any U.S. relatives?

 

The only way to know for sure is to apply. If I were your husband, I would go ahead any apply for the tourist visa and see how it goes. 

[African Zealot 1,456]

You are allowed to apply for a visa renewal some months before your current valid visa expires. Based on what you have provided here, your personal (not including your husband) chances of approval personally are very good. The overall adjusted refusal rate for Venezuela is about 52% and the situation in the country has been a negative factor.

Personally because of that I would not recommend you apply together as a family because a consular officer could say “there’s nothing keeping you from returning” if you’re all traveling. In effect my strategy would be for you to apply for yourself and the baby separately from your husband.

 

Edited July 7, 2022 by African Zealot

[kojai 2]

1 hour ago, Dashinka said:

There is always a chance.  Your husband would need to apply on his own merits, does he have any travel history, does he have any relatives in the US.  I am not sure about your future child.

 

Good Luck?

Oh I see. No, he hasn't been out of Venezuela never. He doesn't have anyone in the US either.

[kojai 2]

1 hour ago, beloved_dingo said:

Each person applying for a tourist visa must apply separately and will be approved or denied on their own merits. Your travel history works in your favor to get another tourist visa once yours expires, but no one can tell you for sure if the applications for your husband and baby will be approved. Has your husband ever been to the US or traveled to another country before that required a visa? Has he ever been denied entry to a country? Does he have any U.S. relatives?

 

The only way to know for sure is to apply. If I were your husband, I would go ahead any apply for the tourist visa and see how it goes. 

Thanks for your response!

 

No, he hasn't been denied entry anywhere. He hasn't been out of Venezuela never. He doesn't have any relatives in the US either. 

[kojai 2]

1 hour ago, African Zealot said:

You are allowed to apply for a visa renewal some months before your current valid visa expires. Based on what you have provided here, your personal (not including your husband) chances of approval personally are very good. The overall adjusted refusal rate for Venezuela is about 52% and the situation in the country has been a negative factor.

Personally because of that I would not recommend you apply together as a family because a consular officer could say “there’s nothing keeping you from returning” if you’re all traveling. In effect my strategy would be for you to apply for yourself and the baby separately from your husband.

 

Thanks for your response. 

 

And yes, I thought about that strategy as well. it would be sad that we couldn't go together as a family  

 

Actually I found out that Venezuela refusal rate has dropped to 27% in 2021. https://travel.state.gov/content/dam/visas/Statistics/Non-Immigrant-Statistics/RefusalRates/FY21.pdf

 

That is why I'm thinking to go with him as well. But yes, showing ties to your home country is something very ambiguous and subjective. 

[Cathi 5,795]

The only way to find out for sure is to apply. No one here can even begin to speculate what the outcome would be.

[jan22 3,070]

12 hours ago, kojai said:

Thanks for your response. 

 

And yes, I thought about that strategy as well. it would be sad that we couldn't go together as a family  

 

Actually I found out that Venezuela refusal rate has dropped to 27% in 2021. https://travel.state.gov/content/dam/visas/Statistics/Non-Immigrant-Statistics/RefusalRates/FY21.pdf

 

That is why I'm thinking to go with him as well. But yes, showing ties to your home country is something very ambiguous and subjective. 

I suspect the primary reason for the drop in the refusal rate is because they are processing primarily visa renewals that qualify for the interview waiver.  That would not be your husband's case. 

 

There are a few issues in your plan that you may want to consider.

 

Has Venezuela overcome the issues it was having with issuing/renewing passports?  There have been some problems in the past few years.  I don't know if those issues continue or would effect a new baby's first time passport application, but it is something you need to consider, especially if your husband also needs to apply for a passport.

 

You are aware, I hope, that there are no US visa services in Venezuela.  Bogota is the designated Embassy for processing visa for Venezuelan citizens, so your husband would have to travel outside Venezuela to even apply for a US visa.  

 

And, lastly, there is a huge backlog for appointments for tourists visas in most countries.  Bogota, for example, has a visa appointment wait time of 738 days.  You can check other Embassies' wait time at https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/us-visas/visa-information-resources/wait-times.html.

Edited July 8, 2022 by jan22

[arken 4,197]

31 minutes ago, jan22 said:

I suspect the primary reason for the drop in the refusal rate is because they are processing primarily visa renewals that qualify for the interview waiver.  That would not be your husband's case. 

Absolutely agree. 2021 B visas refusal rate for my birth country Nepal is 19%, a sharp drop from 50% average all along. Limited appointments for first time visa applicants and majority renewals through dropbox with interview waiver. 
 

[kojai 2]

40 minutes ago, jan22 said:

I suspect the primary reason for the drop in the refusal rate is because they are processing primarily visa renewals that qualify for the interview waiver.  That would not be your husband's case. 

Thanks for the info. Yes, I am aware of everything. We both have passports valid until 2032.

 

And no, no one who lives in Venezuela qualify for the interview waiver. All venezuelans that lives in Venezuela need to go the interview. 

[kojai 2]

6 hours ago, Cathi said:

The only way to find out for sure is to apply. No one here can even begin to speculate what the outcome would be.

Yes, you're right! Thanks for your response!

[African Zealot 1,456]

2 hours ago, jan22 said:

You are aware, I hope, that there are no US visa services in Venezuela. 

Yes isn’t that ironic? And yet when oil prices jumped after the Russia debacle the same USA sent a delegation to Venezuela to negotiate lifting of sanctions. What changed, doesn’t Venezuela still have the same government USA condemns? The hypocrisy is nauseating but that’s a different issue.

[mam521 2,290]

1 hour ago, kojai said:

Thanks for the info. Yes, I am aware of everything. We both have passports valid until 2032.

 

And no, no one who lives in Venezuela qualify for the interview waiver. All venezuelans that lives in Venezuela need to go the interview. 

How challenging is it going to be for you to get baby's passport once baby arrives?  

[kojai 2]

27 minutes ago, mam521 said:

How challenging is it going to be for you to get baby's passport once baby arrives?  

I got mine and my husband's in 20 days in jan 2022. But everything can change, that is true.