Does the interviewing Consular Officer Coming From the same Cultural background and speaking same language as interviewee increase chance of Approval for Tourist Visa?

[CMJuilland 485]

Like others have stated, K1 and B1/B2 are different, and the key difference here is that the K1 is a so-called “dual intent” nonimmigrant visa, so you don’t have to overcome the presumption of immigrant intent (as that’s the whole point of the visa if everything works out). For a B visa, immigration intent is automatically assumed, and it’s on the applicant to overcome that. 

Also, cultural background and language skills do not factor in and COs have to be U.S. citizens. I used to be a language instructor for foreign service officers for a few years, and we often talked about the differences in visa categories and how you would interview as they needed to acquire the skills necessary. So, yes, the official language(s) of any country will be covered, but not necessarily by a native speaker. The reason we often find native speaker COs in some countries is that when a CO already has language skills, especially in “hard” languages (the State Dept has a scale of difficulty for languages), it makes sense to send them to a country where that language is spoken as you don’t have to train them in that language from scratch. COs complete a number of region-specific classes beyond their language training as well, and in their training they also learn the ins and outs in terms of how you interview and decide for what visa. 

[carmel34 3,620]

14 hours ago, yuruioh said:

Now I wonder if the outcome would be different if she was interviewed by an officer who is of the same ethnic/cultural background and speaks the same language. It just seems wildly unfair when things like language barriers aren't well taken into account.

Officers review the application before the interview and already form an opinion about approval or denial before conducting the interview.  Everything they need to know is on the tourist visa application form.  The interview is an opportunity to ask clarifying questions before a final decision is made.  The ethnic background, culture, and language are not primary factors, the facts on the application itself are most important. 

[davidvs 337]

14 hours ago, yuruioh said:

I'm aware of that but just to stay focused on the topic. Do you think there's a lot of prejudice and bias involved in the decision-making for visas? 

I think you are looking for an issue where one does not exist.

[JeanneAdil 6,488]

Adil was interviewed for K1 by Moroccan and denied

she did say she didn't foreigners taking away their men

approved when interviewed for IR1 by an American

 

His mom 1st B1/B2 denied

2nd one approved 

both times native speakers 

 

its more common for tourist visa interview to be allowed in native language speakers (naitve or American)  as parents like to visit sons and daughters and the older generation often do not know English

 

When interviewing for a fiancee or spouse visa,  its always good to show u have a working knowledge of English as u intend to live here

but its not even necessary as i know 2 women who were approved without knowing/ both times the man was from the same country

 

If the criteria for the petition is met,  it should be approved  

[Beth & Achraf 328]

16 hours ago, yuruioh said:

Just curious if this has an impact. I noticed a trend. My (at the time ) fiance went to interview for a tourist visa twice on different occasions a few years ago, and the officers who interviewed her were white Americans who didn't speak the native language of the country at least during the interview, but once she went for the interview for the fiance visa, she had a guy interview her who came from the same cultural background and spoke the native language with her during the interview and she was approved. I do understand that most US consular officers who work in a particular country likely would speak the local language as it's typically a requirement for the job, but oftentimes their language proficiency may not be to the same level as native speakers who may also work as US consular officers at the same place. So it's easy to be a little biased or even prejudiced and discriminatory due to cultural differences or language barriers that may occur during the interview. Now fast forward almost 2 years and my (now wife's) mother goes to interview for a visitor visa (once again her mother is not a native English speaker but is interviewed by a white American woman and the interview is totally in English) and her mother is denied a tourist visa. Now I wonder if the outcome would be different if she was interviewed by an officer who is of the same ethnic/cultural background and speaks the same language. It just seems wildly unfair when things like language barriers aren't well taken into account. I understand translators and interpreters are available, but evidently, they don't really do enough to solve that problem.

A visitor's visa is granted totally on the petitioner, if they have shown enough evidence to return back to their country. PERIOD.   No language barrier involved. 

 

The interviews with K1 visas and visitor's visa are totally different. 

 

[yuruioh 4]

1 hour ago, Beth & Achraf said:

A visitor's visa is granted totally on the petitioner, if they have shown enough evidence to return back to their country. PERIOD.   No language barrier involved. 

 

The interviews with K1 visas and visitor's visa are totally different. 

 

How do they show the evidence they have if the officer only asks a couple of questions and then decides without even asking for any other supporting evidence the petitioner has?

[Boiler 45,438]

12 minutes ago, yuruioh said:

How do they show the evidence they have if the officer only asks a couple of questions and then decides without even asking for any other supporting evidence the petitioner has?

The information they need is on the application, I can see that there may be additional documents relevant in very specific circumstances but that is very unusual 

[yuruioh 4]

58 minutes ago, Boiler said:

The information they need is on the application, I can see that there may be additional documents relevant in very specific circumstances but that is very unusual 

But what I'm saying is --- sometimes there's supporting documents that would help prove certain things such as proving that you have strong enough ties to your home country. They don't ask questions about that on the application. These things can get more complicated than what the answers to questions on the application can provide, and I'm just wondering why the interviewer doesn't allow enough time for petitioner to show any of the supporting documents (assuming they have strong enough evidence to show ties to the home country) before they give their decision.

[Boiler 45,438]

Obviously this is not the first time this has come up

 

What documents

How are they supposed to check their validity in a couple of minutes 

[chrissandra 59]

A tourist visa has completely different requirements and criteria. 
neither has anything to do with the officer conducting an interview.

 

I had quite a few tourists visa interviews and all required documentation - letter from the company I worked for, salary, number of vacation days, financial statements, proof of ownership (I provided car, home)… i uploaded everything ahead of time and brought the originals to the interview. I had my planned vacation agenda as well. 

 

every time before the interview started I was asked if I preferred the interview in English or my native language. In case assistance is needed, they have native speakers working and assisting the officer. Assistance was always offered. 
 

I witnessed a few instances where a brother got approved and sister wasn’t even though they provided the same documents, travelled together too. Tourist visa is issued on individual circumstances and documents provided. There are also countries that made that process more difficult because of visa abuse. 

 

you are grasping at straws. 
your MIL should not be helping your wife with the baby. That’s considered working. 
 

 

[SalishSea 17,791]

2 hours ago, yuruioh said:

How do they show the evidence they have if the officer only asks a couple of questions and then decides without even asking for any other supporting evidence the petitioner has?

Because for B visas, the evidence is ENTIRELY contained within the DS-160.   That’s it.   It is designed to be a free-standing application form, and COs are NOT obligated to look at anything brought to the interview.

[yuruioh 4]

2 hours ago, SalishSea said:

Because for B visas, the evidence is ENTIRELY contained within the DS-160.   That’s it.   It is designed to be a free-standing application form, and COs are NOT obligated to look at anything brought to the interview.

How can the evidence be "entirely" contained within the DS160? If that were true, wouldn't all it take to get approval for a B visa be to just answer all the questions accurately and in such a way that you're showing (on the application) you're obviously not going to be a security risk for the US? And we all know that's not all there is to it. 

[yuruioh 4]

3 hours ago, Boiler said:

Obviously this is not the first time this has come up

 

What documents

How are they supposed to check their validity in a couple of minutes 

that's exactly my point

[Boiler 45,438]

Just now, yuruioh said:

that's exactly my point

We seem to be going around in circles, the process is what it is 

[Boiler 45,438]

7 minutes ago, yuruioh said:

How can the evidence be "entirely" contained within the DS160? If that were true, wouldn't all it take to get approval for a B visa be to just answer all the questions accurately and in such a way that you're showing (on the application) you're obviously not going to be a security risk for the US? And we all know that's not all there is to it. 

Obviously people lie and some are caught amd some are not.

 

Quite a few cases on here where people have lied and comes back to bite them later