Graduation invitation letter for the parents-in-law

[busyybeee 0]

I will be graduating with my Masters this May and I wanted to invite my parents in law for the graduation ceremony. My husband just joined me last year in the US so he doesn't have much income to show.. What are the chances that their tourist visa will be approved since they are not immediately related to me?

Some questions I have-

1. Do I need to send 2 invitation letters separately or one letter with both their names is fine?

2. Do I need to get my graduation verification letter from the college notarized?

3. Do I need to get the invitation letter notarized?

4. Better chances if I write in the invitation letter that I will be paying for all of their expenses or if they are paying for it?  I have a pretty good income. So, providing a job letter isn’t a problem.

 

As always, thank you VJ fam!

 

[Allaboutwaiting 2,503]

It has nothing to do with you; it is all about them and their circumstances. 

 

They need to prove they have the financial means to travel to the US and stay for whatever amount of time and they need to demonstrate they have strong ties to their home country. 

 

Where are they from?

 

 

Edited April 1, 2023 by Allaboutwaiting

[mytruelove18 608]

49 minutes ago, busyybeee said:

I will be graduating with my Masters this May and I wanted to invite my parents in law for the graduation ceremony. My husband just joined me last year in the US so he doesn't have much income to show.. What are the chances that their tourist visa will be approved since they are not immediately related to me?

Some questions I have-

1. Do I need to send 2 invitation letters separately or one letter with both their names is fine?

2. Do I need to get my graduation verification letter from the college notarized?

3. Do I need to get the invitation letter notarized?

4. Better chances if I write in the invitation letter that I will be paying for all of their expenses or if they are paying for it?  I have a pretty good income. So, providing a job letter isn’t a problem.

 

As always, thank you VJ fam!

 

As the prior answer nothing to do with you.

You can write the letter but at the interview the officer even dont look at it, because they take the decission base on their own ties to their country. Strong ties: good jbs , house, cars, banks account etc etc. Ties that show to the officer that they dont go overstay their visa and work here iligally.

Only if they are very old like 80 they hav better chance, because a 80 old person wont come to work here.

Also depends from what country they are.

Poor country harder to get a visa with low income

 

Edited April 1, 2023 by mytruelove18

[powerpuff 6,744]

Back in the student days, my parents applied for a tourist visa to come see me at the graduation. No invitation letters involved, I didn’t write anything nor provide any proof of studies.They applied on their own merits like was mentioned above. They did and still do have very strong ties to the country of origin. 

Edited April 1, 2023 by powerpuff

[JeanneAdil 6,583]

5 hours ago, Allaboutwaiting said:

It has nothing to do with you; it is all about them and their circumstances. 

 

They need to prove they have the financial means to travel to the US and stay for whatever amount of time and they need to demonstrate they have strong ties to their home country. 

Where are they from?

India  from past post

 

 

[Boiler 45,743]

No

No

No

No

Do they have an appointment?

[Sammy_2496 116]

The only thing they need to prove, is that they have sufficient funds to support their trip and that they have strong ties to their home country. Good luck to them, i hope they get the visa! And congratulations on your degree ☺️

[SalishSea 17,970]

10 hours ago, busyybeee said:

I will be graduating with my Masters this May and I wanted to invite my parents in law for the graduation ceremony. My husband just joined me last year in the US so he doesn't have much income to show.. What are the chances that their tourist visa will be approved since they are not immediately related to me?

Some questions I have-

1. Do I need to send 2 invitation letters separately or one letter with both their names is fine?

2. Do I need to get my graduation verification letter from the college notarized?

3. Do I need to get the invitation letter notarized?

4. Better chances if I write in the invitation letter that I will be paying for all of their expenses or if they are paying for it?  I have a pretty good income. So, providing a job letter isn’t a problem.

 

As always, thank you VJ fam!

 

Where did you get the idea that invitation letters are a thing for US B visas?   They are not.   Nor is there any type of financial sponsorship.

 

The consulate does not care why they want to come to the US.   They want to know why they will return to India.   Your in-laws will have to demonstrate strong ties via the content of their online application.   Any documents brought to the interview are generally not considered.

[Sukie 1,464]

Dear OP,

 

I understand why you ask the question about invitation letters.  In India, one must have an official invitation to apply for a tourist visa.  This does not apply in the US.  Your parents will have to apply for a visitor's visa strictly on their own merits.  Your graduation (wedding, baby, whatever) is wonderful, but it is not part of the visa process for entry into the US.

 

Good luck to your parents, and congratulations to you.

 

Other Visa Journey people, please do not assume people are stupid or clueless when they ask questions like this that are common in their own countries.  Some gentle guidance is all that is needed in this case.

 

Sukie in NY

Edited April 1, 2023 by Sukie
typo

[Boiler 45,743]

11 minutes ago, Sukie said:

Dear OP,

 

I understand why you ask the question about invitation letters.  In India, one must have an official invitation to apply for a tourist visa.  This does not apply in the US.  Your parents will have to apply for a visitor's visa strictly on their own merits.  Your graduation (wedding, baby, whatever) is wonderful, but it is not part of the visa process for entry into the US.

 

Good luck to your parents, and congratulations to you.

 

Other Visa Journey people, please do not assume people are stupid or clueless when they ask questions like this that are common in their own countries.  Some gentle guidance is all that is needed in this case.

 

Sukie in NY

I think it is the in laws 

[MMDG 106]

I met a person inside the US embassy who was also going to her son in law graduation in USA and she has no assets or any strong ties to her country.she only had the invitation letter from her son in law and how HE WILL sponsor her stay in USA.she was approved right away.

 

my mother was approved for a tourist visa based only on her relationship with my US citizen husband and he is listed as her sponsor,all papers she showed for “ties” was just proof that my husband can sponsor her trip.she was also approved. Same for my sisters.

 

It all depends on your situation.

[Unlockable 7,315]

42 minutes ago, MMDG said:

I met a person inside the US embassy who was also going to her son in law graduation in USA and she has no assets or any strong ties to her country.she only had the invitation letter from her son in law and how HE WILL sponsor her stay in USA.she was approved right away.

 

my mother was approved for a tourist visa based only on her relationship with my US citizen husband and he is listed as her sponsor,all papers she showed for “ties” was just proof that my husband can sponsor her trip.she was also approved. Same for my sisters.

 

It all depends on your situation.

Did the officers actually read the invitations? Because I have heard these claims before.

I have heard claims of having an invitation being the reason for approval but when asked if the officer actually accepted or read the invitation, the person can not confirm the officer did. So those claims were moot.
 

I have been on this forum for a while and I have only seen 2 cases of where the interviewing officer actually took the letter and read it. All of the other cases are of officers not even wanting to see other evidence. In fact, if you do a search of the tourist visa section of the forum you will find the words "didn't even want to see the documents we brought" are the most common feedback from people who went to a tourist visa interview. 
 

 

[MMDG 106]

9 minutes ago, Unlockable said:

Did the officers actually read the invitations? Because I have heard these claims before.

I have heard claims of having an invitation being the reason for approval but when asked if the officer actually accepted or read the invitation, the person can not confirm the officer did. So those claims were moot.
 

I have been on this forum for a while and I have only seen 2 cases of where the interviewing officer actually took the letter and read it. All of the other cases are of officers not even wanting to see other evidence. In fact, if you do a search of the tourist visa section of the forum you will find the words "didn't even want to see the documents we brought" are the most common feedback from people who went to a tourist visa interview. 
 

 

In my mothers case yes the officer did ask her for proof of my husbands assets but she only handed him his work contract because that’s all she had.

the officer also asked her for a marriage certificate of me (her daughter) and a copy of my valid US visa since she said she was travelling with me and my American husband.

 

In the other woman’s case,I’m not sure all I know she was approved less than 1 min interview 

Edited April 2, 2023 by MMDG

[powerpuff 6,744]

54 minutes ago, MMDG said:

I met a person inside the US embassy who was also going to her son in law graduation in USA and she has no assets or any strong ties to her country.she only had the invitation letter from her son in law and how HE WILL sponsor her stay in USA.she was approved right away.

 

my mother was approved for a tourist visa based only on her relationship with my US citizen husband and he is listed as her sponsor,all papers she showed for “ties” was just proof that my husband can sponsor her trip.she was also approved. Same for my sisters.

 

It all depends on your situation.

A lot of that has to do with the overall immigration trends for Kuwaiti citizens who are not known to use a B2 to come to the US and overstay. 
 

This is also demonstrated by visa refusal statistics for B visas posted by the US department of state. Kuwait had only 16% refusal rate, you can compare to my home country Kazakhstan which had a 44% refusal rate. 
https://travel.state.gov/content/dam/visas/Statistics/Non-Immigrant-Statistics/RefusalRates/FY22.pdf

that explains why for your relatives strong ties weren’t AS central to their approval as it was to my parents or other relatives and friends I have. And this goes beyond just my country, but majority as you can see from statistics.
 

This has to do with more that personal circumstances as you mentioned. 

[Unlockable 7,315]

29 minutes ago, MMDG said:

In my mothers case yes the officer did ask her for proof of my husbands assets but she only handed him his work contract because that’s all she had.

the officer also asked her for a marriage certificate of me (her daughter) and a copy of my valid US visa since she said she was travelling with me and my American husband.

 

Thanks for sharing. It sounds like since you mother noted that your husband would be paying for the trip (there is no official sponsorship for a US tourist visa), the officer probably wanted to confirm.

 

Quote

In the other woman’s case,I’m not sure all I know she was approved less than 1 min interview 

This sounds about the norm. And because of the short duration of the interview, I am sure a letter of invitation was not asked for. This kind of goes with what I was saying before that people who had a letter of invitation as part of their evidence, but was not actually looked at, are claiming it was the reason for approval. But that is kind of like a person claiming they got approved because they wore a blue shirt to the interview. There is no direct evidence to confirm nor deny it. 
 

Regardless, in both the examples you gave, it did not prove that an invitation letter, which is what the OP is asking about, actually helped. For your mother, it was your husband financial documents that was the key. Not an invitation letter.

 

Again, thanks for sharing.