How do you prove ties to your home country when the CO doesn't ask questions?

[JE57 239]

I think it is interesting that the OP made a point that the entire decision appears to have been based on two questions without a chance to present any compelling evidence to the contrary making the decision appear arbitrary. The prevailing wisdom on Visa interviews is usually don't volunteer more than is asked but I think with a tourist visa since there is no opportunity to 'front load' the application that you have to make best use of the few words you do get to say need to be well thought out... Why do you want to go to the USA? 'Because my girlfriend invited me to go with her on her vacation' If you are lucky this leads to additional questions. Never lie of course but do think how to best present the facts. Often times here it is said that the tourist visa requires compelling reasons to return to your home country but it seems seldom is anyone ever asked by a CO about that compelling reason.

[Teddy B 17,252]

Hi, My boyfriend of 4 years was applying for a tourist visa and he actually does have ties to his home country- a job, land, cars and motorcycles, a child from a previous relationship, visa to travel to a neighboring country, bank account with a couple thousand $US, etc.

The only 2 questions the CO asked were:

Why do you want to go to the US?

response was: to accompany his girlfriend who is a USC who has been living abroad for 5 years to give birth.

Do you have any children?

response was: yes- I have one.

I'm guessing his reason for wanting to travel to the US was not a good one?? But it was the truth...

We are actually about to get married but it sounds like this could make the situation even worse? Any advice?

We don't plan on living in the US anytime soon so are just looking for a tourist visa.

Were you able to obtain health insurance in the US? As you probably know, having a baby in the US is pretty expensive.

[Boiler 46,094]

Medicaid?

[arken 4,197]

Hi, My boyfriend of 4 years was applying for a tourist visa and he actually does have ties to his home country- a job, land, cars and motorcycles, a child from a previous relationship, visa to travel to a neighboring country, bank account with a couple thousand $US, etc.

The only 2 questions the CO asked were:

Why do you want to go to the US?

response was: to accompany his girlfriend who is a USC who has been living abroad for 5 years to give birth.

Do you have any children?

response was: yes- I have one.

I'm guessing his reason for wanting to travel to the US was not a good one?? But it was the truth...

We are actually about to get married but it sounds like this could make the situation even worse? Any advice?

We don't plan on living in the US anytime soon so are just looking for a tourist visa.

I don't see the CO's fault here. The CO knows everyone will say they will return back and will give lots of reasons so questioning whether he will return back or not has no meaning. But these COs are well experienced in making the self judgement that a person who is visiting a USC to accompany her during birth will likely stay in the US and not return back. That too because of so many people who have used tourist visas as a path to permanent immigration.

[Je.Se 0]

No offense but my first thought is they assume you want to give birth in USA with dad for "anchor baby" advantage. I'm not saying this is your reason just throwing it out there.

[Teddy B 17,252]

Medicaid?

So the taxpayer foots the bill? That's kinda what I was getting at.

[JFH 12,191]

No offense but my first thought is they assume you want to give birth in USA with dad for "anchor baby" advantage. I'm not saying this is your reason just throwing it out there.

Actually in this case that's unlikely. The mother is the USC and although she currently lives in Haiti the baby will automatically have US citizenship assuming the mother has spent the required time in the USA (which appears to be the case). Being the father of a US baby will not give the boyfriend any path to a green card until the child is an adult. So there is nothing to be gained for the boyfriend by having the baby in the USA.

[pollywog 1]

The girlfriend (myself) is a US citizen, paying US taxes (for all those roads, schools, and government services I'm not benefitting from by living abroad, which I'm not complaining about because I chose to live here), and I've been paying premiums for US health insurance my entire life. "Anchor baby" and "taxpayers footing the bill" do not apply here...

As someone who has lived in Haiti for 5 years I've heard plenty of visa denial stories and knew going into this that chances of a 26 y/o, Haitian male getting a tourist visa are pretty slim... What I am surprised and disappointed by from this experience is.

1) The CO didn't even bother to make the appearance of caring about ties to the home country.

2) The idea that having some sort of relationship with a USC is such a negative thing. Think about it like this- 2 people really want to buy an expensive TV. Person A has a good job and can save up for 3 months to buy the TV so they aren't that likely to steal it. Person B has no job and no income. Person B seems more likely to steal the TV because they have no legal way of ever obtaining it. If person A has a legal option for getting a marriage/fiance visa and moving to the US it doesn't seem logical that they are more likely to overstay a tourist visa than person B who has no relation to a USC and therefore no foreseeable legal way of moving to the US.

[Cathi 5,784]

The girlfriend (myself) is a US citizen, paying US taxes (for all those roads, schools, and government services I'm not benefitting from by living abroad, which I'm not complaining about because I chose to live here), and I've been paying premiums for US health insurance my entire life. "Anchor baby" and "taxpayers footing the bill" do not apply here...

As someone who has lived in Haiti for 5 years I've heard plenty of visa denial stories and knew going into this that chances of a 26 y/o, Haitian male getting a tourist visa are pretty slim... What I am surprised and disappointed by from this experience is.

1) The CO didn't even bother to make the appearance of caring about ties to the home country.

2) The idea that having some sort of relationship with a USC is such a negative thing. Think about it like this- 2 people really want to buy an expensive TV. Person A has a good job and can save up for 3 months to buy the TV so they aren't that likely to steal it. Person B has no job and no income. Person B seems more likely to steal the TV because they have no legal way of ever obtaining it. If person A has a legal option for getting a marriage/fiance visa and moving to the US it doesn't seem logical that they are more likely to overstay a tourist visa than person B who has no relation to a USC and therefore no foreseeable legal way of moving to the US.

you still haven't made clear the part about never having had applied for a visa before. In the first post you said he has a visa to travel to other countries, then you went on to say in another post that he has never applied for a visa in his entire life until now. It is a contradiction.

[pollywog 1]

Sorry- I meant to say he has never applied for a visa from the US embassy before. Like no fiance visas pending or previous attempts at tourist or study visas.

[JFH 12,191]

2) The idea that having some sort of relationship with a USC is such a negative thing. Think about it like this- 2 people really want to buy an expensive TV. Person A has a good job and can save up for 3 months to buy the TV so they aren't that likely to steal it. Person B has no job and no income. Person B seems more likely to steal the TV because they have no legal way of ever obtaining it. If person A has a legal option for getting a marriage/fiance visa and moving to the US it doesn't seem logical that they are more likely to overstay a tourist visa than person B who has no relation to a USC and therefore no foreseeable legal way of moving to the US.

But we are not talking about a TV here. We are talking about a girlfriend and son/daughter. People will go to greater lengths and take greater risks for their family than they would for a television.

Despite the fact that people have legal routes to green cards (K-1 or CR-1), every year countless love interests overstay on tourist visas and some never return home. We have a whole section of this forum dedicated to those tourists who overstayed and are adjusting. I have my own views on that but it is a fact that many who adjust this way (not necessarily our forum members but overstayers in general) lied when applying for visas or at the port of entry. You have those to thank (I can personally name three that I have come into contact with not on this forum but through my work) for making it so difficult for genuine cases to get visit visas. It is unfortunate for us genuine visitors and bona fide spouses that the USA is the most desired country for many to get into to and some resort to fraud or illegal measures to get there. Hence the tough approval process.

And rich people do steal. Look at Enron and many others. But that's another discussion.

[Caykay1 71]

Haiti, which I know is difficult for getting visas... It was his first time applying for any type of visa.

I understand the part about needing more compelling reasons to return to Haiti than staying abroad but my annoyance comes from the CO not asking any questions to even be able to judge that. The written application is so basic- what do they glean from that other than married/single?

Is the child to be born his baby ?