supporting documents for B2 visa? help!

[ThinkerBelle 5]

there really is no set of documents aside from the DS-160, passport, appointment confirmation and pictures that was stated in the US embassy website. in my previous blog ( that i shared here a couple of days i made a list of documents for my mom and younger brother. they used this as reference in preparation of their interview. When they got to the US embassy for their interview they were asked 4 questions & the CO didn't ask for any supporting documents. they were granted a tourist visa.

My brother & his wife who works in SG used the same list, they too were not asked for any documents and was granted a tourist visa.

What I am trying to convey is that each applicant is different and the only way to find out if the documents you have will suffice is for you to go ahead and apply for a tourist visa.

I have my interview schedule already. I will check ur blog to get ideas for SUPPORTING DOCUMENTS as thats what basically i have been asking on my post, supporting documents specific for my case since i have red flags which i have been fully aware of.

[Cyberfx1024 7,980]

Supporting documents such as a letter from your work, from your bf. You can show bank account records if you want and it certainly won't hurt at all.

[HFM181818 750]

If you read the embassy's website, what you will not find is any list of documents, that when presented, will guarantee visa issuance...the COs interview people, not papers.

Your demographic is what is the weak spot, which cannot be instantly overcome with any piece of paper....ask yourself this question: which piece of paper, when held in your hand, will force you to get on an airplane and return home? Answer: none...as papers have no ability to control anyone's actions.

You may certainly bring anything you wish, but there is no 'magic' document.

I referred to the famous streets not too far from our embassy in Manila, in which one can buy passports, work papers, bank documents, etc, and thus, the COs there are more than skeptical about papers.....

Whatever it is that your BF is doing is moot...his choice of actions are his and his alone. What is being evaluated by a CO is not your pile of notarized documents, but your credibility, against a backdrop of countless thousands of single Filipinas, from all walks of life (but including a considerable percentage of nurses) who have just not gone back to wherever...a CO with 3 weeks on the job will have learned about the incredible support system that exists in the Filipino community in the US, with jobs offered, shelter, etc, just about anything to help their fellow countrymen stay....that is just the way it is...while understandable, that does not mean that a CO should just cave....they need to be 100% convinced that a person will do what they say...if not, then by law, the visa application is to be denied....period.

Try to imagine what piece of paper can:

a- change your age

b- your marital status

c- your occupation

d- your gender

As you can see, the only piece of paper that could change your marital status would be a marriage certificate, but if you had that, why would you wish to visit an American BF?

the other three items cannot be alter those elements about you that are not changeable.

Your credibility cannot be proved by a piece of paper. Your BF's 'promise' that you will return is not even something that receives even a nano-second of attention - he cannot control your actions once you are in the US.

If you barely have enough $$ for the trip, and according to what you wrote, your BF appears to be between jobs, then the CO will ask him/herself, 'why would a person wish to spend their entire life savings for a 3 week trip to the US?'....answer: to look for a better life. That's the issue.

With the current published nursing shortage in the US, you could find a job (possibly through the Filipino support system) in minutes, that would pay twice what you are making now, maybe even more....that is just the way it is...and thanks to thousands of your predecessors, you will likely find it difficult to persuade a CO that your case is different....in any event, it will be up to you, not documents, to make your case.

In general, documents rarely play a positive role in a B2 interview...they might be crosschecked to see if something on them coincides with some answers give, but mostly not.

Someone writing on a piece of paper that you 'must do this' or 'must do that' doesn't have an 'or else' has only proven that someone wrote something on a piece of paper.....those things written are not legally enforceable, there is no downside (in terms of jail time or a huge fine) if the applicant doesn't do whatever was claimed in such a letter...that's why, at the end of the day, all that matters to the CO is your credibility...period.

Edited September 17, 2015 by HFM181818

[HFM181818 750]

I noticed that you included, as evidence of your reasons to return, the mortgage....yet, you are already paying that mortgage from thousands of miles away...thus, a mortgage is not considered as a reason to return...as far as claiming it is your home, well, right now...it is not. And it can remain that way indefinitely.....credit card statements are not ties to one's home country, nor are bank accounts, as money can be withdrawn anytime. Your total savings of $3000 would disappear in seconds after buying an airline ticket and after spending maybe 3 weeks in the US.

So, the CO will wonder about the logic of spending all of your money on a trip to see your American BF....once your money is gone, then what?

In general the trip being planned must make sense, and from our perspective (American), it makes no sense to empty one's bank account for tourism.

[ThinkerBelle 5]

I noticed that you included, as evidence of your reasons to return, the mortgage....yet, you are already paying that mortgage from thousands of miles away...thus, a mortgage is not considered as a reason to return...as far as claiming it is your home, well, right now...it is not. And it can remain that way indefinitely.....credit card statements are not ties to one's home country, nor are bank accounts, as money can be withdrawn anytime. Your total savings of $3000 would disappear in seconds after buying an airline ticket and after spending maybe 3 weeks in the US.

So, the CO will wonder about the logic of spending all of your money on a trip to see your American BF....once your money is gone, then what?

In general the trip being planned must make sense, and from our perspective (American), it makes no sense to empty one's bank account for tourism.

I am not in the Philippines right now, so i dont see how u say my papers are fake and u refer to the situation back in the Philippines. I say I have not enought savings hence bf says he wants to pay for the trip so i am not emptying my bank account on a short trip. You wrote a long reply yet by no means answered my question. I am goin to visit him just because he wanted me to, if my visa is denied it really wont bother me, i guess we are both going to spend on p

Ane tickets to spend holidays together somewhere else. I came here for guidance, instead im thrown with answers that basically say there is nothing i can do. Thank you anyway!

[HFM181818 750]

I referred to fake papers being purchased in Manila, not where you are. Your BF cannot be forced to pay for anything. Bottom line: there are NO documents one could offer that will convince a CO to give you a visa....it is the interview that matters. The B2 process is NOT document-driven. The CO does not care why you want to GO to the US; you must convince them that you will LEAVE the US after a visa, and there is no paper on the planet that can convince a CO that the applicant will comply with the terms of the visa. If there were such a paper, every applicant around the world would try to get that document, by whatever means.

Your ability to pay for the trip is critical because your BF has no legal obligation to do so...., thus the CO may wonder how you would survive in the US without his assistance. His written promise, whether on a sheet of paper or the form I-134 is not legally enforceable. The CO will be looking at a lot of things with which to make his or her decision...documents are at the bottom of that list.

I don't understand why so many people believe that papers rule the day during a B2 interview - they do not. They usually do more harm than good. If an applicant convinces a CO that they are a bona fide tourist, it will not be because the applicant handed over a blue piece of paper with some magic words or numbers on it. However, sometimes people decided to be 'creative' with documents, and either buy or make some fake documents to offer...well, when that not-so-clever ploy fails, the applicant will have damaged their credibility and no piece of paper can fix that.

Documents are window dressing....nothing more.

BTW, I've never suggested that your papers are fake...I said that it's a well known fact that there is a street not too far from our embassy in Manila in which any kind of document is for sale.

so in Manila, any documents presented by an applicant are not viewed with much more than suspicion. Sorry if I implied you had (or will) bought any....that is not what I meant. I was only informing you (if you were applying in Manila, which apparently you are not) that 99% of all documents presented by B2 applicants are tossed in the trash.

[MacUK 983]

You are getting guidance, what you're being told is that there's no point concentrating on what documents you can take to the interview as they'll do very little to help.

You're being told that it's down to you and how you answer the interviewing officers questions.

Just because the answers you're getting aren't what you want to hear doesn't make the guidance given any less true or helpful.

[HFM181818 750]

Simple answer to the question asked about what documents will improve 'my chances' to get the visa: none.

All I did was explain why documents will not and cannot by themselves overcome the presumption of immigrant intent.

Once again, read the embassy's website and check closely to see if they suggest bringing any specific document that will guarantee visa issuance, or even improve one's chances of getting a tourist visa. (there won't be any such document listed; therefore, if the embassy cannot list any, why would anyone else be able to name that paper that will do the job?

Most everyone else who claims that this paper or that paper will get you a visa knows absolutely nothing about the entire process.

If the process was so easy that all an applicant had to do to get a visa was to bring a document, no one would ever be denied.

Thus far, no one responding to your inquiry has said, 'oh, yes, take this paper and you will get a visa!'...there have been suggestions as to what you might choose to bring...and I have explained in thorough detail why papers won't do much at all, that it's you who has to do the convincing, not document X or X, a mortgage, a credit card statement, some letter from the hospital claiming you must return, etc....it's what the CO makes of your responses to his or her questions....nothing else matters. Your BF and his mother could write 1000 letters claiming this or that, and they wouldn't even be read, probably not even touched or glanced at....the CO might ask to see a piece of paper, perhaps to verify something you said (that could be verified by said piece of paper)....but at the end of the day, if you (not the papers) have not convinced the CO that you will leave the US when it's time. nor take up unauthorized employment while in the US as a tourist, then under current US law, your application must be denied.

Remember, our laws (214b) presume that you are going to the United States to remain there permanently, and therefore EVERY applicant seeking a tourist visa is INELIGIBLE for that visa until such time as they convince the consular officer that they will depart the US after a visit of appropriate duration.

In other words, you are presumed guilty of doing something you have not yet done. The interview does not begin in a neutral condition.

That's the basic hurdle you have to get over. The law does not state that if the applicant brings the blue paper or the pink paper that he or she will get a visa.

[KierenHby 899]

HFM18cubed.. Very informative set of posts here. I seem to have learned a few new things. Thanks!

[ThinkerBelle 5]

My visa was approved. I only showed my bank and credit card statements from my Bank account in bahrain, my contract, and salary certificate. I was honest in answering questions and CO ended up being more interested on my nursing field of specialization..

Thanks for the replies.

[I love San Diego 18]

My visa was approved. I only showed my bank and credit card statements from my Bank account in bahrain, my contract, and salary certificate. I was honest in answering questions and CO ended up being more interested on my nursing field of specialization..

Thanks for the replies.

Hooray!! Congratulations!