Approved for 1-month unpaid internship at an American med school, 214(b) rejection at interview?

[KHas 0]

Asking on behalf of a friend. She's Syrian, but she lives and studies medicine in Turkey, and is due to graduate this summer. We've been pen-pals for two years.

I helped her get approved for a one-month internship at a school over here, three months prior to graduation (she sent me her paperwork, and I delivered it to the university for her). This internship provides a great opportunity for her to speak to residency coordinators and get a realistic idea of her career prospects in the US after graduating. Germany and Turkey are easier options for her (she would have to complete the US Medical License Exam and get ECFMG certification to be eligible to apply through ERAS, an investment of another year of her time and several thousand dollars), but she still wanted to try.

The international student coordinator at the university here recommended she apply for a B-1 visa. She went into her interview with the approval letter from both this school and her own, a letter showing that an on-campus apartment was reserved for her, her financial statement, proof of insurance, her passport, an invitation letter from me (she had previously been approved for an internship at a German school and a (female) friend had written her one, so we thought I ought to do the same), and a few other things which escape my mind at the moment (she showed me everything she had prepared via video chat the night before).

The interview lasted less than five minutes before she received a 214(b) rejection. I think they mistook my invitation as a front for a green-card marraige or something (she told them I was a friend she knew over the Internet, and that was the end of the interview - I have no doubt she faces harder scrutiny owing to her nationality, but I think this rejection may have been my fault; trying to make amends).

Again, she's three months shy of graduating medical school. Unless she wants to give up any chance of ever becoming a doctor, anywhere, in favor of seeing how long she could last here on one month's savings with no job prospects before being deported and probably banned from ever coming back, it seems a given she'll go home at the end of this internship.

Long story short, she wanted to try applying again. This time she says she's bringing a copy of her grades and a letter from the dean of her school stating that she would have to come back at the end of the internship in order to graduate. What else might she want to bring? Is there any way I might help her prepare? Mock interview? Is B-1 even the right kind of visa for this?

Edited March 5, 2016 by KHas

[Anh map 2,098]

There is nothing that you can do. The interviewing CO must believe that she has stronger reasons to leave the US than to stay. The first interview is there in the system. So that will continue to be something that is considered at subsequent interviews.

Every visa applicant is assumed to have immigrant intent. Your invitation letter did not help anything. Realistically, she should accept the German internship.

She should work with the international student coordinator to try again. You should not be in the mix. However she will have a difficult time proving that you two are not an item. And it will come up.

[KHas 0]

Great. I assume any attempt by me to explain the situation would just dig a deeper hole for her? I think the time when she could have done the German one has come and gone, she could only do one and chose this - hoping she'll still be able to graduate if she can't do either. By her account the CO had a dismissive demeanor from the start and cut things off seconds after the subject of my letter came up.

All I wanted was to help. I certainly don't want this to come back to bite her when she tries to match for residency.

[Boiler 45,872]

5 minutes seems excessive.

Perhaps a new Consular Officer?

[KHas 0]

Yeah, she's thinking of going to Istanbul instead to avoid running into that CO again.

Incidentally, the student coordinator provided her with a new acceptance letter (the one she had was seven months old), but said that was all the school over here could do. Her idea was the letter from her dean explaining her graduation status, but if anyone could recommend anything else it would be appreciated.

Would it help to tell them she has family in Turkey (notably, a younger brother whom she has been in charge of looking after), or would the CO assume she wants to bring them here too? She didn't mention family because she was afraid they'd make that assumption.

Edited March 5, 2016 by KHas

[Anh map 2,098]

Correct, you can't make it better. Residency is a much different thing than a short internship.

[Anh map 2,098]

The more she brings to the interview, the more desperate to reach the US she appears. If she's lacking "typical" credentials then her internship reason seems less important than the "penpal."

The CO's talk to hundreds of people and hear lots of stories. They are not given a large chunk of time to talk with each applicant. If they spot "trouble" the application is denied.

You are just trying to help, but your help raised a red flag.

[KHas 0]

The more she brings to the interview, the more desperate to reach the US she appears. If she's lacking "typical" credentials then her internship reason seems less important than the "penpal."

The CO's talk to hundreds of people and hear lots of stories. They are not given a large chunk of time to talk with each applicant. If they spot "trouble" the application is denied.

You are just trying to help, but your help raised a red flag.

I get that, OK? All I did was deliver some paperwork to a school for her, she has around eight months (and upwards of $500 so far) invested in this. My letter screwed things up, I want to try to fix this even if it just means advice for her next interview.

I listed off what she brought, seemed like minimal requirements.

Passport

Proof of insurance

Financial statement

Acceptance letter from school here

Acceptance letter from her school

Apartment reservation letter

Invite from dumbass friend

Leaving out the invite this time, all she planned to add was this:

Grades (proof she's serious about her education)

Dean's letter (proof she needs to come back to graduate)

Would that come across as desperation on her part, adding those two things? If they're just going to take her application fee again and not give her a fair hearing I'd rather tell her now and save her the money.

[Boiler 45,872]

What would you expect a CO with a new B application to review frst?

[KHas 0]

What would you expect a CO with a new B application to review frst?

Running out of posts for a new account, but to hell with it, I'll write here what I said in the PM.

I'd expect them to look at whatever records they took at the first interview. Which is exactly the problem. They didn't bother to talk to her last time, they just made their assumption and showed her the door. I worry she'd be treated no better the next time around. I'm painfully aware this is my fault. Hence why I'm on here looking for answers.

The truth of the matter is that for many years after 9/11 I was one racist m*f*kr. Had a bit of a personal transformation these last few years. I was appalled by what I saw happening in Iraq after we pulled out, left asking what it was all for. My city is home to a sizeable population of Yazidi immigrants and I got involved with a charity they started for displaced persons. Call it penance for blindly supporting the war that led to their situation, call it whatever you want. I started following english-language news sources from the region and commenting on Facebook, she saw and must have liked what I was saying because she dropped me a friend invite - one of several people to do so - and we kept in touch.

Talking to people from that part of the world - actually talking to them - made them human in my eyes. She wants to be a doctor, she's a good person, and I still want to believe that in spite of all the ####### happening over there that good things can happen for good people. It didn't cost me anything to deliver her paperwork and her being accepted was a minor miracle in itself, but this mistake I made with this letter may end up costing her more than I'd ever want. I have to try to set things right.

[Anh map 2,098]

Your intentions are good. But all visa applicants are subject to the same assumption (having immigrant intent). The 1 month internship happens and then she "suddenly decides" to marry a US citizen and adjust status. That is what the CO sees. It's not racism because it happens at embassies all over the world every day.

The chances for the internship are slim. When she's qualified for medical residency that will be a different set of circumstances and judged accordingly.

[KHas 0]

Your intentions are good. But all visa applicants are subject to the same assumption (having immigrant intent). The 1 month internship happens and then she "suddenly decides" to marry a US citizen and adjust status. That is what the CO sees. It's not racism because it happens at embassies all over the world every day.

The chances for the internship are slim. When she's qualified for medical residency that will be a different set of circumstances and judged accordingly.

She spent hundreds of dollars because I did this for her, now with nothing to show for it. Internship application fee, visa application fee, now a second visa application fee. Spent eight months saving more than she'd have needed to go to Germany and lost the opportunity to do so in favor of this one. Not doing this could delay her graduation. This was her chance to find out if residency in the US is truly a viable career path before spending thousands of dollars and committing the next year of her life after graduating to taking the USMLE in order to apply.

Whether to go ahead and do that is a life-altering decision for her and my carelessness and lack of familiarity with the process blew her chance.

We are not getting married. My family's attitudes are not dissimilar to what mine were before all this happened - they're appalled I'm talking to this "unclean heathen" in the first place. The most we'd talked about was me possibly visiting Turkey sometime this coming summer. If I thought I could achieve something positive by saying that to the embassy, I would, but you understand the situation I've landed her in? I really don't want to be a pain in anyone's ### here but I've badly hurt someone I was trying to help. I can't in good conscience let this go.

If there's anything she could do differently, any advice I could pass along, it would help.

[TBoneTX 45,825]

*** Unanswered duplicate thread in other forum has been removed -- decision was to leave this thread here, for better answers. ***

[Moderator hat off]

Avoid beating yourself up. In nonimmigrant-visa (NIV) interviews, the CO's mindset is geared toward saying No, because of presumed immigrant intent. (Conversely, in immigrant-visa [iV] interviews, the CO's mindset is supposed to be neutral.)

The member HFM181818 is a retired CO. He's away for a bit, but in the meantime, search for his content, and read every post that he's made -- each can be an education in itself (warning: nothing is sugarcoated, so avoid letting "delivery style" interfere with the message).

Edited to add: A good travel history can be a plus. Have your friend travel to other countries and return on a timely schedule.

Edited March 5, 2016 by TBoneTX

[MacUK 983]

You need to stop beating yourself up over this.

While the letter you sent probably did nothing to help her application, that doesn't mean that it was the sole cause of the denial.

214(b) is, in my opinion, a very sneaky bit of law. Essentially everyone is guilty until proven innocent. And that is all based on the opinion of one person.

But that's the rules, so that's what we have to deal with.

Remember that, by law, EVERYONE is presumed to have immigrant intent under 214(b).

You're friend is probably reasonably young and single, she is from an area of the world that is very turbulent right now. These are facts that go against her.

The CO, rightly or wrongly, probably assumed that if she was approved then the second she got through her US POE then she would start hunting for a US spouse or claim asylum.

Even the suspicion of this could cause the denial, you yourself have said that she wanted to intern in the US to see how it was for her future dream of living and working in the States. There's your immigrant intent.

I have no idea of actual figures but I wouldn't imagine there are all that many non-immigrant visas being approved in Syria right now.

When there's people risking their lives crossing the Med in inflatables to get away from Syria then the CO has to wonder what would compel an intelligent young woman to return there.

[Loki_Go 126]

You may feel badly but there's nothing you can do, and ultimately the decisions she made are hers. There's nothing quick about immigration and I can only guess she'll have other opportunities along the way to immigrate.

I find your offer of residency odd and it makes me wonder about your true intent and your actual feelings for each other. In addition, you don't truly know this person (and I know you've said you've been a pen-pal for 2 years) but she could very well get here and claim asylum, etc. You just don't know. There are so many stories here of people arriving on visas and things going terribly wrong.

Edited March 5, 2016 by Loki_Go