B-1 App; Please Help

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Hello All,

Can anyone who has actual experience with getting a B-1 / dealing with American Embassy please describe the documentation needed and interview questions.

Also the wait times involved?

Here's my situation:

My girlfriend in Ukraine recently (w/i the last 3 mos) applied for, and was denied, a Visitor's Tourist Visa to America.

She has a passport and travels for business to Russia, Czech, Spain, and France.

Now she would like to apply for a B-1 Visa to attend a business conference in the U.S.

My attorney says I should not be the one to write the letter of invitation.

I fear she is applying for too many Visas too soon, and when we apply for the marriage visa she may have a red flag on her name?

I wonder what documentation is required from the Inviting Party (the American company) as far as the nature of the business

relationship between the US company and her company in Ukraine? (How did the 2 companies meet / do they do business together /

Why is the US Company asking for her specifically to attend the seminar, etc etc)

Does the embassy call to interview the representative from the inviting company in the US?

These all seem like normal, common sense questions the embassy would ask.

Her line of work (marketing) would be very conducive to attending a marketing conference in the US and so the Visa would

be entirely legit. However, the business associates I have asked to supply the letter of invitation worry about all the items

I have mentioned above, plus they wonder if they would be entirely responsible for documenting her lodging and travel etc?

I GREATLY APPRECIATE any advice and experience you can share with me.

Thank You!

Dave

[canadian_wife 1,829]

So, it seems to me that you are asking an associate to invite your girlfriend to the US under the terms of visiting a conference. Not that she NEEDS to go but that you are asking someone to ask her to come. I'd be more comfortable advising if you were not involved in this in any way.

Honestly, yes. It is not uncommon for a US embassy/consulate to investigate the reasons behind one wanting to go to the US - IE for business. Especially after a denied tourist visa.

A denial of a B visa will not have any impact on your future immigrant visas if you decide to pursue one

Good luck

[Gary and Alla 3,694]

Hello All,

Can anyone who has actual experience with getting a B-1 / dealing with American Embassy please describe the documentation needed and interview questions.

Also the wait times involved?

Here's my situation:

My girlfriend in Ukraine recently (w/i the last 3 mos) applied for, and was denied, a Visitor's Tourist Visa to America.

She has a passport and travels for business to Russia, Czech, Spain, and France.

Now she would like to apply for a B-1 Visa to attend a business conference in the U.S.

My attorney says I should not be the one to write the letter of invitation.

I fear she is applying for too many Visas too soon, and when we apply for the marriage visa she may have a red flag on her name?

I wonder what documentation is required from the Inviting Party (the American company) as far as the nature of the business

relationship between the US company and her company in Ukraine? (How did the 2 companies meet / do they do business together /

Why is the US Company asking for her specifically to attend the seminar, etc etc)

Does the embassy call to interview the representative from the inviting company in the US?

These all seem like normal, common sense questions the embassy would ask.

Her line of work (marketing) would be very conducive to attending a marketing conference in the US and so the Visa would

be entirely legit. However, the business associates I have asked to supply the letter of invitation worry about all the items

I have mentioned above, plus they wonder if they would be entirely responsible for documenting her lodging and travel etc?

I GREATLY APPRECIATE any advice and experience you can share with me.

Thank You!

Dave

Alla also traveled for business and was flatly denied a business visa. The problem is not who invites her, Alla was a representative being brought to translate/interpret for an international business exposition. The problem is she has to show TIES to Ukraine. That means she needs a compelling reason to return. Something that tells the consulate that "this woman would be completely crazy NOT to return" Alla had two children, property, a mother and a good job and was flatly denied. Not only denied but denied and "treated like a reptile". The time frame for interviews varies on the workload. The answer is given the same day. Usually an immediate denial.

Applying for business visas will not affect your K visa. Having applied for a K visa may well affect the chances of getting a business visa.

Best bet, by far, for visiting is for you to go there or to meet someowhere that she does not need a visa.

[Gary and Alla 3,694]

In Alla's case they DID call the company that was sponsoring her which was in Italy. The company confirmed that they needed her to translate. They were told on the ohone that "there are plenty of translators in the US" and then they came out and denied her visa.

[Armenia 18]

Hello All,

Can anyone who has actual experience with getting a B-1 / dealing with American Embassy please describe the documentation needed and interview questions.

Also the wait times involved? . . .

When I appied for a B1 visa, it was for attending/presenting a paper at a conference (professional scientific conference). I brought with me the letter of invitation from the organizing committee, a copy of the programme (that shows the date and time of my presentation), proof of my membership in one of the organizing organizations, letter from my funding organization stating why I am attending the conference and that they will cover all expenses, my trip itinerary (can't remember the others). I also brought every proof of residential tie I could think of (FIlipino citizen living in Canada) - bank statements, apartment lease, employer letter (stating my position, what date I am expected to get back to work).

During the interview at the consulate, the consulate officer did not ask me to show him even a single paper from all the papers I brought with me. The CO became fixated on the fact that my emergency contact on my passport was a man who lives in the USA and who happened to be my boyfriend at that time. He was also fixated on the possibility of me seeking out employers during the conference because he said that's what graduate students do during a conference. Anyway, after a lot of arguing his final words were "but you are not planning to get married while you're there." He approved my visa application and I got a 10-yr B1/B2 visa.

If it's a marketing conference that she's attending, it would be the same documents that she'll have to bring:

- letter of invitation from organizing committee

- conference schedule/program showing the date and time of her seminar

- Why was she invited? - proof of her expertise in her field (previous seminars presented)

- Who's going to fund her travel expenses?

- trip itinerary

- ties to home country

..... - letter from employer (position, how long she's been employed, salary, when she's due back)

..... - property titles, leases, car registration

..... - bank accounts, etc.

..... - family ties (if she has kids)

- others I can't remember right now

Don't worry about her applying for a B1 visa. I too got denied when I applied before (before I got my B1/B2 visa) for a B2 (tourist) visa. The CO then told me that I had no ties. When I asked what those ties are, he said "kids, property." There was a black graduate student who applied for a B2 visa at about the same time that I did. He also did not have ties - no kids, no house, no car - yet he got his B2 visa. I felt that COs do discrimate based on nationality and gender. I was a single Filipina graduate student then and probably got classified under "single Filipina desperately looking for white man in shining armor to save her from her wretched poverty."

Getting a B1 visa is way easier and you get both (B1/B2) in the end. I applied for my B1 visa at the Vancouver US Consulate. I had to give the CO a prepaid mailing envelope and I received my passport + visa in less than a week (visa info showed visa was issued on the date of my interview).

[Noel194 53]

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Edited August 1, 2010 by Noel194

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Trying to explain why an Italian company would want a Ukrainian to translate at a US conference, well that would be a hard sell.

And would probably need a work visa rather than a B1.

All the conferences I have attended are organised years in advance and have comprehensive information on line. Usually not cheap either.

[Armenia 18]

At the POE she'll stilll be asked who's paying her. It's very important that she proves that she is not going to receive any "income/salary" during her visit. In my case, I said that my Canadian funding org is covering expenses for air fare, hotel, food, transportation, conference fees and that the USA conference organizers is not paying me anything to attend/present a paper except for a small travel award (specified how much and showed proof of award/grant).

Here's a list of travel purposes that a B1 visa is valid for - http://travel.state.gov/pdf/BusinessVisa.pdf

Edited August 2, 2010 by Armenia

[Gary and Alla 3,694]

Trying to explain why an Italian company would want a Ukrainian to translate at a US conference, well that would be a hard sell.

And would probably need a work visa rather than a B1.

All the conferences I have attended are organised years in advance and have comprehensive information on line. Usually not cheap either.

She represented 13 Italian companies in Russia and Ukraine. Alla speaks Italian as well as English, Russian and Ukrainan. All the Italians speak English, but none speak Russian. Alla was, and still is, their representative, translator and interpreter. She still translates and processes orders, contracts, correspondence from right here in the USA.

It was not a hard sell to list her need at the conference, it was a hard sell to show she would not illegally immigrate. Kiev is notoriously difficult to get business/tourist visas from.