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I'd like to go sightseeing in California or New York during my university holiday season this year or next year. I identify as a "gay" student (22) and was wondering if telling the visa officer my true reason for traveling is a good idea. If he/she turns out homophobic, will he/she automatically deny me a B2 tourist visa on the spot? Or do they adhere to some strict moral code that prevents them from discriminating against marginalized people? The areas I mentioned are liberal, diverse, friendly, accepting, and inspiring. For years, I've wanted to visit their gay towns, the Golden Gate Bridge, Hollywood, and the Statue of Liberty. I want to make him/her feel somewhat emotional so that he/she believes I have a valid reason for traveling. Should I remain silent on LGBTQ issues in general? Is it a plus or a minus to reveal my sexual orientation?

Hello, I'm a 22-year-old gay Mongolian international student living in Japan. I'm having LDR with a 37-year-old American guy. I'll be graduating from university in 1.5 years. So I'll be liberated. We hadn't seen each other in over 2 years. As a result, I'm concerned that form I-129F will fail because we haven't met in a long time because of Covid. We're more than just friends. We discussed marriage and other topics. What should we do if we decide to get married? Traveling is difficult for me because I have a Mongolian passport. Developed countries don't issue visas to a citizen of 3rd world countries easily. I'd like to hear from anyone who has had an international same-sex marriage. How did the procedure go? How much time did it take? Do we have the same rights/benefits as conventional hetero couples? Thank you very much.

Hello everyone, My bf (US citizen) and I (Saudi Arabian) are about to send in our I-129f petition and have some questions first that we’d appreciate getting pointers on. Bear with me a little because I’d like to explain the whole situation to better inform your answers. We are in a gay relationship, we met our second year of college in 2017 (I was on an F-1 visa) and have been together since. I returned to Saudi during the pandemic in 2020 after graduating and started working there. A few months later I decided to apply for a tourist visa to be able to visit my boyfriend. It got accepted but I never used it since I got accepted into some master’s programs in california and thought it might be best to pursue that path. We never talked about marriage or where our relationship was going (we both assumed it was going to end when I had to return to Saudi but we still talked to each other everyday). So it seemed like a good idea for me to come back for my master’s and we can pick up where we left off, hitting two birds with one stone. The trouble though is when I did my interview for the F-1 visa, the consul officer didn’t think I had strong ties to Saudi, and in hindsight she was right. She asked me who my bf is (I listed him as my US contact point under “friend”) and I told her he’s just a friend. That visa got denied, and we were crushed to think we weren’t gonna see each other soon. A month later we met in Mexico and decided to apply for a K-1 as we realized we really want to be together and are ready to get married. And we have lots of evidence proving a bona fide relationship from our time in college. Now I reazlied that in my tourist visa application I also listed him as a friend. So I’m worried it’s gonna look like I lied about my relationship with him for immigration benefits. The reason I never disclosed my relationship with him was 1) i never really understood the significance from an immigration point of view and 2) both my interviews were in Saudi and I didnt want them to know my sexuality for fear of safety, and it is second nature to me to tell all strangers that he’s just my friend and hide my sexuality. TLDR: i listed my boyfriend as a “friend” in two different non-immigrant visa applications and worried that will affect K-1 visa chances. So I would like your advice on the following: 1) Will the 214(b) F-1 denial arouse suspicions of misrepresentation if we file the I-129F shortly after? Does it matter if we wait longer? 2) Will the officers be understanding of why I lied about the relationship due to fear of safety or use that against us in the K-1 application? 3) Any information on the US embassy in Saudi would also be appreciated. How tough are they and how likely is denial/acceptance? Thank you.