Bringing mother and sister in law in on tourist visa

[brazilhelp 3]

So, I am not sure where to post this but this section seems most relevant.

 

I am US citizen and my wife was naturalized over 7 years ago, thanks in great part to this websites help :) My wife had overstayed her visa and we eventually adjusted her status to greencard, before requesting citizenship.

 

Now, we want to help her mother and sister come here as tourists. They have no interest in a green card and have good lives where they live in Brazil. When we got married, they both tried to come for the wedding, and were not treated well at the consulate, accused of having ulterior motives, etc. That put them off for a long time. We assumed it was because my wife had overstayed her visa. We have not seen their application to know what they had put down.

 

About 4 years ago, her sister tried to get a visa again, with some of her children as part of a group trip to another state a good distance away from us, with no intention to travel to see us. She omitted putting down that she had family in US (even after we told her that she could not) after the idiot travel agent told her to. She was not able to get her visa, even though her children did. We also assumed that they thought it suspicious that she was traveling to another destination and not coming to see family.

 

Now, they are both going to try again. But separately. We want to write letters 'to whom it may concern' officially invite them to stay with us. We thought it might help. Any thoughts?

[gregcrs2 1,778]

They have to apply for a tourist visa based on their own merits.  An invitational letter will not even be considered.  So seems sister in law was denied twice and mother denied once.  What has changed since then that would convince the Consular Officer they would return home?  It's unlikely either of them will get a tourist visa but they can always try.

[CEE53147 559]

Look at Noah Lott's posts on another immigration forum about visitor visas.

[p-ana 933]

You can send the letter but they won’t hold much weight to their applications since the consulate will look into their own circumstances and ties to their country.

A close relative overstaying and adjusting status can count against them. Having a usc relative that can petition for them can count against them.

having lied on forms is very serious and most likely will get the sister a new denial. 

Brazilians are known for overstaying but it’s worth a try. The denial rate for visitors visas there it not high at all

[SusieQQQ 11,587]

Agree the sister is highly likely to have a problem, they will compare her past forms and clearly see she deliberately lied on the last application. This is never, ever a good idea.

[Roel 7,193]

I wonder how many of "bring mother in law on tourist visa" topics we can get on this forum. I think we should have about a hundred by now. And the answers are all the same..

[brazilhelp 3]

Her mom does not even want to come. we are trying to convince her as she is getting up there in age. She owns her own home, and has all her family and friends there. She does not have much else and lives very modestly. We thought of trying to get greencard, but since she has no intention of moving here, it seems pointless. She might stay a few weeks to a month at most.

 

Her sister recently divorced, now owns her own home, and is able to show more independence than when she tried last time. She work and has good paying job, and travels. All her children are there. Two of her kids have visas I think, the third wants to travel here and is trying to get visa too. We know the lie was a problem, but there, travel agents fill out the USCIS forms. She told the agent that she had sister here and agent told her not to put that down. It was pretty dumb.

[Boiler 46,621]

She applies, a simple process.

 

She is the one who signed the form confirming the truthfulness of the answers.

[Unlockable 7,318]

*** Moved from Bringing Family Members of US Citizens to America to "Tourist Visa" section of the forum. The OP's family is trying to visit, not immigrate ***

Edited September 18, 2018 by NuestraUnion

[WeGuyGal 1,052]

Cant force the mom if she doesn't want to.  A hassle trying to get the visa, biometrics and interview. 

 

But basically they apply and find out, straightforward process. If they link your wife's overstay and AOS, there could be issues for a b2. 

 

You/wife can send letters, but 99.9% odds letters unlikely to be looked at. 

[Ben&Zian 4,398]

Their experience of "not being treated well" and being accused of "other motives" are kind of justified since your wife did it already way back when by overstaying a visa... so the whole family kind of gets looked at in that way. Seems reasonable honestly.

[geowrian 22,338]

What can be in an invitation letter showing a CO that they intend to return home?

An invitation letter won't be considered. They qualify or not on her own merits. You cannot bring anybody as a tourist.

Having a close family member that overstayed then did AOS is a huge negative...they will presume that other family members will do the same.

Having past refusals without a significant change of circumstances implies they will receive the same result.

[ameribrazil 37]

There seems to be several factors that is potentially negatively impacting your MIL and SIL in obtaining a tourist visa. One thing is certain is don't lie on the application as it can render an automatic denial.

 

Having said that, my wife's mother and sister applied for a tourist visa 3 years ago and they were both denied. I believe the reason was that the CO wasn't convinced their intent to return back home. It was very disappointing to hear the news as they had full documentation of their ties in Brazil. 

 

About a year later, my wife was told by someone to send her mom an invitation letter and try again. I had told my wife that this doesn't work based on the topics I've read on this forum.  We even had an argument about it because she taught that I didn't want her mom to come and visit us, which wasn't true. Then I decided to do some more research on this topic "Invitation Letter" on this forum. Yes, there's a lot of discussion regarding this topic and it appears majority of the people here have out right said not to bother as it doesn't work and that the CO don't even read them. There was one thread that I was reading where a VJ member mentioned that the invitation letter worked for them. I connected with them and corresponded back and fort and she provided me a copy of the letter she sent to their family member. I leveraged her letter and wrote an invitation letter that is more personal and relating to her mother. I did mention on the letter that we were paying for everything from visa cost, to transportation, lodging, etc. Along with this letter, I sent a copy of my banking statement and 2 years of tax return as supporting documents for financing the trip. We then proceeded to assist her in applying for the B2 visa ensuring she answered everything correctly and we paid her visa. Her status has not changed as she still had the same asset and the documentation to prove her ties to Brazil was the same. We weren't at the interview but MIL went with her grand daughter to accompany her at the interview. During the interview, the grand daughter told us that the MIL handed the interview letter and pictures of us and our kids to the CO. The CO did read the letter, looked at the pictures, reviewed MIL supporting documents to show ties to Brazil. The CO then asked several questions about our family and the status of my wife in the US. I believe after 20 mins of interview, MIL was approved for a tourist visa. MIL spent 40 days here last Thanksgiving/Christmas holiday and spent another 60 days during this summer. She will be returning again next next summer as she doesn't enjoy the winter here. 

 

In summation, while others may be right that an invitation letter alone does not guarantee or assist in getting an approval for a tourist visa but in our experience it did help my MIL obtain a tourist visa. There are others on this forum that will share their same experience as well. I believe it's a case by case basis and a country by country basis. In a country where fraud is high an invitation letter may not likely work. I will give a credit to @GabiMatch as I was sure and certain that invitation letter would not work. But she proved me wrong and because of her, my wife is now happy. As they say, happy wife, happy life

 

DISCLAIMER: While others may have the same or different results. What I wrote here is based on our experience on the invitation letter.

Edited September 18, 2018 by ameribrazil

[geowrian 22,338]

From the DOS directly (https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/us-visas/tourism-visit/visitor.html😞

"Note: Visa applicants must qualify on the basis of the applicant's residence and ties abroad, rather than assurances from U.S. family and friends. A letter of invitation or Affidavit of Support is not needed to apply for a visitor visa. If you choose to bring a letter of invitation or Affidavit of Support to your interview, please remember it is not one of the factors used in determining whether to issue or deny the visa."

Edited September 18, 2018 by geowrian

[Unlockable 7,318]

10 minutes ago, ameribrazil said:

There seems to be several factors that is potentially negatively impacting your MIL and SIL in obtaining a tourist visa. One thing is certain is don't lie on the application as it can render an automatic denial.

 

Having said that, my wife's mother and sister applied for a tourist visa 3 years ago and they were both denied. I believe the reason was that the CO wasn't convinced their intent to return back home. It was very disappointing to hear the news as they had full documentation of their ties in Brazil. 

 

About a year later, my wife was told by someone to send her mom an invitation letter and try again. I had told my wife that this doesn't work based on the topics I've read on this forum.  We even had an argument about it because she taught that I didn't want her mom to come and visit us, which wasn't true. Then I decided to do some more research on this topic "Invitation Letter" on this forum. Yes, there's a lot of discussion regarding this topic and it appears majority of the people here have out right said not to bother as it doesn't work and that the CO don't even read them. There was one thread that I was reading where a VJ member mentioned that the invitation letter worked for them. I connected with them and corresponded back and fort and she provided me a copy of the letter she sent to their family member. I leveraged her letter and wrote an invitation letter that is more personal and relating to her mother. I did mention on the letter that we were paying for everything from visa cost, to transportation, lodging, etc. Along with this letter, I sent a copy of my banking statement and 2 years of tax return as supporting documents for financing the trip. We then proceeded to assist her in applying for the B2 visa ensuring she answered everything correctly and we paid her visa. Her status has not changed as she still had the same asset and the documentation to prove her ties to Brazil was the same. We weren't at the interview but MIL went with her grand daughter to accompany her at the interview. During the interview, the grand daughter told us that the MIL handed the interview letter and pictures of us and our kids to the CO. The CO did read the letter, looked at the pictures, reviewed MIL supporting documents to show ties to Brazil. The CO then asked several questions about our family and the status of my wife in the US. I believe after 20 mins of interview, MIL was approved for a tourist visa. MIL spent 40 days here last Thanksgiving/Christmas holiday and spent another 60 days during this summer. She will be returning again next next summer as she doesn't enjoy the winter here. 

 

In summation, while others may be right that an invitation letter alone does not guarantee or assist in getting an approval for a tourist visa but in our experience it did help my MIL obtain a tourist visa. There are others on this forum that will share their same experience as well. I believe it's a case by case basis and a country by country basis. In a country where fraud is high an invitation letter may not likely work. I will give a credit to @GabiMatch as I was sure and certain that invitation letter would not work. But she proved me wrong and because of her, my wife is now happy. As they say, happy wife, happy life

 

DISCLAIMER: While others may have the same or different results. What I wrote here is based on our experience on the invitation letter.

Appreciate the contribution. But this is one of the reasons how the whole invitation letter helps got started. Because of cases where it is a success does not mean it is a norm. I have said it before, it is like saying I got approved because I wore a blue tie. Of course there will be people who get approved that wore a blue tie also.

 

I can't think of anyone here who have said that "nobody ever got approved with an invitation letter". We are stating that it is not a legal requirement and too many people put too much weight on invitation letters and financial documents of a US person when there is no official requirement to do so.

 

Also, I remember a visa review of someone who had been denied multiple times when they provided such documents. Then the last attempt they got approved without even having an invitation letter nor other financial documents they previously. It can happen either way.