Denied Tourist Visa in the Philippines

[David & Diana R 1,005]

1 hour ago, froyo said:

Should she change the title? She really does work for the company so it's kind of odd to claim that she is unemployed when she gets paid by our family business. 

 

Her title may not matter.  What matters is she receiving paychecks and paying taxes on her income?  Does she have documented proof of this?  I know the Philippines is notorious for people working and not reporting any income what-so-ever so if that is her situation I doubt she can ever visit the USA. "Helping" the family does not assure anyone that she will return to the Philippines once she lands on US soil.  She needs to have ties to the Philippines...strong ties.

[geowrian 22,337]

38 minutes ago, froyo said:

Okay thank you for the insight. The situation is tricky because they did not really say why she got denied. She got asked if she's married, has a child, abd why she has a shenzhen visa.

It is a bit tricky, but I think it's fairly safe to assume it's because of insufficient ties to return home. By law, COs must assume that anybody applying for a visa is an intending immigrant until shown otherwise. You primarily show that you're not an intending immigrant by having sufficient ties compelling you to return home. PH is a fairly difficult embassy to obtain a tourist visa (~27% refusal rate last year).

 

As others noted, she is free to apply again, but I wouldn't expect a different result until her underlying situation changes (i.e. if/once she has more ties to PH).

[Boiler 45,510]

4 hours ago, froyo said:

Should she change the title? She really does work for the company so it's kind of odd to claim that she is unemployed when she gets paid by our family business. 

 

Guess it depends on what the Family Business is, would I have heard of it?

[JFH 12,190]

If she's working in any capacity then she cannot say she's unemployed. Rule number 1. Never, ever lie on a visa application or to a consular officer. 

 

So so your mother is planning to come back again at Christmas too? If you want to be together for Christmas you might need to start looking for tickets for you and your child to go to the Philippines in December. 

[Boiler 45,510]

So what is the plan now?

[Amy_and_Victor 159]

18 hours ago, froyo said:

Okay thank you for the insight. The situation is tricky because they did not really say why she got denied. She got asked if she's married, has a child, abd why she has a shenzhen visa.

They almost never tell, you have to guess. But I agree with geowrian opinion.

Young single woman from Philippines with no kids who works with her Dad in family business (and everyone knows in many cases this kind of job is on paper only) has very little ties to the home country and likely will eventually violate tourist visa rules and stay in the US (even if it's not her real intent).

Unless there're more red flags you didn't mention, I see this is the problem. I think CO didn't believe strong enough that she has serious enough reasons to come back to Philippines and will not e.g. try to marry someone in the US and file for AOS. In this case unless she has plans to get married in Philippines any soon I would start working on ties to the home country. It's not going to be fast and may be will not be accomplished by Christmas 2017 but I believe in the current situation your sister has very low chances to be approved for the US tourist visa because she falls under one of the most common categories of applicants who violate tourist visa rules and stay in the US.

 

- Victor from Russia

[froyo 2]

23 hours ago, David & Zoila said:

Her title may not matter.  What matters is she receiving paychecks and paying taxes on her income?  Does she have documented proof of this?  I know the Philippines is notorious for people working and not reporting any income what-so-ever so if that is her situation I doubt she can ever visit the USA. "Helping" the family does not assure anyone that she will return to the Philippines once she lands on US soil.  She needs to have ties to the Philippines...strong ties.

Right. Thank you! I will ask her to gather all of her paychecks and tax documents so she can bring them with her the next time she tries again. She might have to reevaluate the stuff that she brought with her when she went to her interview because she might have missed something to make her case stronger.

[froyo 2]

21 hours ago, Boiler said:

Guess it depends on what the Family Business is, would I have heard of it?

Heavy equipment company. One of our major clients is the most successful airline in the Philippines. Been in the business for 2 decades now.

[froyo 2]

17 hours ago, JFH said:

If she's working in any capacity then she cannot say she's unemployed. Rule number 1. Never, ever lie on a visa application or to a consular officer. 

 

So so your mother is planning to come back again at Christmas too? If you want to be together for Christmas you might need to start looking for tickets for you and your child to go to the Philippines in December. 

Well she did not lie. And why would we? We know very well not to do that and we are not going to jeopardize her application with just one lie. Lying has way too many risks so why do that. 

 

Not worried about our travel itinerary at all. The situation here is my sister's visa. 

[froyo 2]

6 hours ago, Amy_and_Victor said:

They almost never tell, you have to guess. But I agree with geowrian opinion.

Young single woman from Philippines with no kids who works with her Dad in family business (and everyone knows in many cases this kind of job is on paper only) has very little ties to the home country and likely will eventually violate tourist visa rules and stay in the US (even if it's not her real intent).

Unless there're more red flags you didn't mention, I see this is the problem. I think CO didn't believe strong enough that she has serious enough reasons to come back to Philippines and will not e.g. try to marry someone in the US and file for AOS. In this case unless she has plans to get married in Philippines any soon I would start working on ties to the home country. It's not going to be fast and may be will not be accomplished by Christmas 2017 but I believe in the current situation your sister has very low chances to be approved for the US tourist visa because she falls under one of the most common categories of applicants who violate tourist visa rules and stay in the US.

 

- Victor from Russia

True. I mentioned everything that i know of unless I forgot something but basically single, no kids, not married, and was a J1 visa holder. Lots of red flags we know but we just have to take our chances I guess because her status is not going to change anytime soon we know that. So yeah, thanks! 

[Boiler 45,510]

It is unusual for documentation brought to be looked at, the information needed is on the application.

[froyo 2]

 

It is unusual for documentation brought to be looked at, the information needed is on the application.

Ooooh right! Thanks for the reminder.