Uzbekistan to USA on B1?

[censu 0]

I'd like to try and apply for my girlfriend to come here (USA) from Uzbekistan on a tourist visa, I believe a B1 is most likely what I want. Here are my questions regarding this.

Before I ask them. She is 28, no children, owns her own apartment and car. She has mother, father and sister in same city. She lived/worked in Geneva for 4 years. She later applied for a tourist visa to go back and was denied. Last year we both went to Istanbul and she returned to Uzbekistan as scheduled.

1, She tells me the US is very aggressive with visas to her country and there is an 80% denial rate, is this true?

2, does her previous denial to Geneva affect her? (she does have a new passport since then that does not have the denial in it)

3, if we apply for the B1 and it gets denied, does this affect our chances at a K1 later?

4, she believes she needs an invitation letter, I've told her this is not true, who is correct?

5, does she have to stay at a hotel? Or do we just need a reservation.

6, can she say she's visiting and or staying with me?

7, how long can she stay?

8, is there anything I can do to help increase her chances of getting the application approved?

Thank you

C

[TimeTravel 78]

1, She tells me the US is very aggressive with visas to her country and there is an 80% denial rate, is this true?

Yes, it can be true. In India, B1/B2 category has high denial rate.

2, does her previous denial to Geneva affect her? (she does have a new passport since then that does not have the denial in it)

Somewhat it may, but it depend up when she tried last time. It is more important if her situation has been changed.

3, if we apply for the B1 and it gets denied, does this affect our chances at a K1 later?

It may or may not, and she can be questioned for that.

4, she believes she needs an invitation letter, I've told her this is not true, who is correct?

I believe, invitation letter are almost dead for B1/B2. CO won't even care for invitation letter if she can't show the strong ties with her home country.

5, does she have to stay at a hotel? Or do we just need a reservation.

She can stay with you.

6, can she say she's visiting and or staying with me?

She must be honest, but CO may think that she may not try to come back, but rather she may try to play with AOS there. It can give possible rejection for B1/B2. But ultimately I would say - BE HONEST with Co.

7, how long can she stay?

Whatever she commit the time at POE, then they should keep that in mind to avoid the problem in future.

8, is there anything I can do to help increase her chances of getting the application approved?

Nothing extra can be done for B1/B2 category. CO generally would ask 4-5 questions for this.

Hope it helps.

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What is CO and AOS?

Thanks

[Dakine10 5,452]

-Denial rate for tourist visa's from Uzbekistan is 46.8% (2010 data) which is among the highest. Only a handful of countries have a denial rate over 50%.

-Previous denial only hurts if the reason for the denial was not corrected (ie. insuficient ties to home country).

-B1 denial should not affect K1. Depends on the reason, but generally B1 denials are without prejudice.

-Invitation letter would not help in her case. The only reason would be if the embassy/consulate requires it. It's possible there may be some that still require this.

[Harpa Timsah 13,258]

You want a B2 visa. Refusal rate, as stated above, is 50%. See here: http://www.travel.state.gov/pdf/FY11.pdf

No invitation letter. This makes is seem like she has more ties to the US than to her country. You want ties to her country.

Here is the US Embassy in Uzbekistan webpage for non-immigrant visas. http://uzbekistan.usembassy.gov/non-immigrant_visas.html