Tourist Visa to the States

[actob99 156]

I have seen that a few people have said it is impossible to get a tourist visa to the states while being married to a U.S. citizen. I have not seen any evidence of such from these people, just opinions. Two of my friends living in the Phils have both got Tourist Visa's for their wives to come visit in the States. It is not impossible. First filipina had a 4 year degree, they had a nice house, they owned a good chunk of land, they had 1 child together at that time and she had a decent job. The second filipina was going to college, they rented an apartment, he had a good chunk of money in the bank, no children, no land, no house..

Now a third friend had his wife try 3 times and she has been denied all 3 times. Long story short, we sure in the H^&* don't want that one coming here so it appears that the government is doing a decent job based on 3 actual cases that are factual...

[Harpa Timsah 13,258]

Yes, it is clear from some people's posts that they will abuse the visa and therefore are not eligible for it. But how do you tell people that to their face? That's why people tend to say "it is hard to get a tourist visa." The interesting thing is when people give advice based on their own story, "trust me my wife tried and never got a visa." It makes you wonder...

Each case is dealt with on its own merits.

[LSnBigBear 61]

Can you share more of the 3rd friend's experience as to maybe causes for being denied. LIke others mentioned, each case is on it's own merit. Money in the bank in both countries help a lot. Or businesses back in RP. Kinda rule of thumb when they look at the petitioner is "do they have probable cause to over stay or not go back" Homes, businesses, great paying job and money in an RP bank is good as a % of approval. While I was employed as an ex pat in Cebu I brought my EX GF to USA for visit. She had not assets in RP. She did however have two ex BF's from UK that she visited and never over stayed. I also tried to sponsor one of my MAnagers to Attend Corporate Training in the USA and he was rejected. We had a 300 million USD company.

Interesting.

[YammySS 1]

hi, just want to add some experience why they denied tourist visa in most cases, my sister is married to US Citizen in Philippines, and tried to get a tourist visa a couple of times and denied, she showed money from the bank, nice house, good job, but according to her, the IO asked her why you should get a tourist visa instead of spousal visa?and theres a big chance to get a spousal visa than a tourist...i just dont really understand why some cases they approved to get a tourist visa and some are not...

[Joshuaching 11]

hi, just want to add some experience why they denied tourist visa in most cases, my sister is married to US Citizen in Philippines, and tried to get a tourist visa a couple of times and denied, she showed money from the bank, nice house, good job, but according to her, the IO asked her why you should get a tourist visa instead of spousal visa?and theres a big chance to get a spousal visa than a tourist...i just dont really understand why some cases they approved to get a tourist visa and some are not...

If you're familiar with "profiling" employed by the police and other investigative agencies, then you know what the US Embassy employs. They base their decisions mostly on this' that certain people fit the descriptions of tourist who wouldn't come back and stay in the US indefinitely. It's always on a case by case basis, and we'll never know when an applicant would be rejected. It doesn't matter if the applicant is ugly, good looking, poor or rich, educated and uneducated, etc. In the end it boils down to "he/she didn't like your face". What hurts is when you're still talking and the CO turns his back on you or close the window. All for $134 for the chance (it's either up or down now). They must be making a killing at the embassy. What I've heard is that a good 70% is turned down, but then this is only hearsay. I've heard also that a good 70% of those approved either overstay or violate their tourist visa conditions.

[ca_babe 129]

I applied for a tourist visa after my husband then fiance filed for a K-1. First question to me was, what's your purpose for going to US. I told the consul to visit my boyfriend to see whether I'd like US or not. He asked me if there's already a petition for me. Although my family advised me to lie because there's a good chance that I'd be deny if the consul find out that I have a petition pending, I didn't feel comfortable lying so I told the truth that there was a petition already filed for me. The consul told me he'll have to deny me because the fiancee visa is only a few months away. I thought he was kidding because at the time we thought it would take at least a year to finish the process but it turned out it was very quick. I got my fiancee visa 2 months later. The whole process took about 4 months from filing the K-1 in US to receiving the visa at home. They didn't ask about my college education, my job nor my assets. I'd still advise people to try to do the tourist visa though because you'll never know if you're going to be approved or not until you try.

[smithmm 1]

Last year my wife applied for a Canadian tourist visa ($75) as I'm 3 hours from the border. Had money in the bank, deeds to property, owned business, no college, 2 kids, offer from a friends's family for housing in Canada. The suspected reason for denial was she'd never traveled on her passport. So it's not easy even getting close to the US!