andaluza

Well, assuming there is nothing else to the situation, your denial does seem a bit out of place....(not that my opinion matters!)

That's what I thing as well. My family couldn't believe it when I told them.

That's why I am asking if there is anything I can do about it. It says on the letter I was given that I cannot appeal it, so what can I do?

I would have applied again however they have no more appointment availability for December.

Well, it is true that there are a ton of bogus/questionable 'universities' out there, in which foreign students enroll, then after a semester or two, try to get a visa to the US, hoping their so called student status will give them an edge during the interview...however, in this day and age of rapid information gathering (via the internet), it takes but moments to determine the overall 'stature' of many fly by night, study at home, buy a diploma universities, and then be better prepared when the 'students' of said institutes of 'lower learning' show up to make their way to the US....in your case, however, you said were attending a reputable one, and had a resident's card from an EU country...is that not true?

Sorry I meant to say that either at Bogus universities or just at university to have that status to be able to leave. (This is what I was told when I called, and it's somebody who has not seen my papers, just commented on what I've told him).

Yes, it's true I have residence card from a EU country and I am attending a reputable university too.

I must say, I am a bit surprised that you were not approved, if you are a resident of an EU country...that status would a lot to throw away just to get to the US. Many other applicants have far less to encourage their return, yet many are granted visas. Good luck to you next time.

I called and asked and they said that there are a lot of students at bogus universities who's only aim is to go the US. Which is irrelevant to my cause in my opinion because if that was my aim I could have gone directly for the same price to the US as F1 to study. I had the grades and I had the money. I just didn't want an american undergraduate education.

It sad to spend the holidays alone, and my sister alone just because "I didn't convince them" .

I have a major depressive disorder and I see a psychologist on a weekly basis. They wanted to put me on SSRI and I am scared. Seeing my sister meant a lot to me! After the visa rejection I got proper sick to the extent I couldn't get up from bed for 36h. It really had a toll on me. Now whenever I hear about the US, 'visa' or travelling it really hurts me and I even tear. I honestly just wanted to spend some days with my sister . She can't come, I can't go... i feel soooo sad.

Sorry, I thought the moderator somehow knew you were from the PI, since she mentioned it.

Do you have an actual resident card from the country in which you are studying or a student visa-type status? The former should be strong indicator that you have little to gain by abandoning that status just to wash dishes or cars in the US....if you do have the resident's card (like a green card for a European country), that should be very strong evidence in your favor.

Yes, I do have a residence card at the country I am studying. This is exactly the point I was making. I have a life here, EU residence, my university, my home (on an annual rental agreement), everything I need. And there is no reason for me to leave all of this to go to live illegally in a country where I myself chose not to go to for my degree because it just doesn't suit me, I am just not an Americanophile .

I thing there is nothing more to add. Thanks for everyone for your words. I just was infuriated, I was hoping to spend some good time with my sister and had so many things planned out for this Christmas holidays in NY . Now that I have had time to process it all I feel more calm and will just try applying again in few months time before giving up.

Thank you for answering my messages and good luck to all of you

The number of American citizens who overstay in the PI is virtually nonexistent compared to the number of Filipinos who enter the US with visas and forget to return, which is why American citizens have much more free access to your country than mine.

While your viewpoint of your interview was unfair, what no one knows is how you answered the COs questions during same. Perhaps you gave off the wrong vibes...in any event, a piece of paper (enrollment papers, for ex) will not overcome 214b...as you found out, there are no specific bright line requirements for obtaining a US tourist visa..if there such requirements, every visa applicant would find a way to get them.

At this point, your options are 1..reapply or 2...travel within the EU...no one on this site has the optimal solution...lastly, our laws state that every tourist visa applicant is presumed to be going to the US to stay permanently,so the applicant must convince the CO otherwise.

Thanks for your response .

Also I'm not Filipino, and there is a low number of citizens from my country 'forgetting to return' from the US.

I do think that during my interview with the CO I was very brief and didn't get into details. When asked why I didn't want to study in the US I didn't give a convincing answers (because I didn't think I had to 'win her over' ), I just said I preferred a European degree, maybe If i expanded more on why I went though the trouble of taking further qualifications to get into a EU university rather than going the easier way and studying in the US (I have a accredited US High School + other UK qualifications that I had to take to be able to study in the EU, meaning I took a gap year just so I could have those and go EU rather than US) .

I think I will try one more time in few months with more documents and really be more confident and expand further on why I'm here and not there and why I wont stay there. Also bring with me my end of term exam results so they see I take my studies seriously. I thought my visa was going to be 'very easy' to get so was rather brief with my answers (and definitely not elitist / overconfident / 'self entitled' like some people unkindly said )

What do you mean by EU resident, I though you had a Student Visa?

It is a Residence for a student. Meaning that I have all the same advantages of a resident, even free healthcare. After 5 years I will have the same exact right as a citizen such as student grants, government grants etc and can apply for citizenship. Also once I start working here (if so I wish) I won't have to pay taxes for few years exactly like a citizen. This is not like some standard visa that require you to leave the country at end of study and to start the process all over again to work such as UK. Also I can currently travel through all Schaengen countries ( Spain, Portugal, France, Italy, Greece, Iceland, Switzerland, Luxembourg, Belgium, Netherlands, Germany, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Poland, Austria, Czech Republic, Austria etc ) and stay as long as I want (obv I won't because I have class but in summer I can).

I attended through my entire life private schools, lived in the best areas and eaten the best food. But when time comes to ask for a visa im seen the same as those people who put their life at sake to get into those dinghy .

Seems like people went crazy over this comment. What I meant was that many of those people who illegally come to live in Europe via those boats don't care risking their life, leaving everything behind just to get into EU. Those people have nothing other than themselves, they come from poverty and they have no other opportunity where they are.

You come off as very being very self entitled and elitist. Just because you go to one of the so called top 50 schools in the world and you claim to be one of the top 15 students in the world(who cares)doesn't make you special. Good schooling does not equal getting in the country over someone who is less educated, it makes you just like anyone else in the world who wants to visit. You must show strong ties to your home country in order to get a visitor visa, just like EVERYONE else. Plain and simple. Seeing that you haven't even lived in your home country for 12 years, and you applied from the country you study in, gives you a zero to no chance at being approved in your current situation.

Hi Mimolicious

Well I didn't say I was a top 15 students nor did I say that I feel self entitled. All I meant was that I go to a highly ranked university, therefore why would I leave my current resident country where I am studying at a top university to go to the USA where I have nothing/nobody there for me?

I didn't say that I was better that anyone else, all I said is I am enrolled at a great university with a very low acceptance rate (-10%), not some of those who accept anybody . I also rent a flat where obv I have a rental agreement and I have paid a high deposit and months in advance.

So wouldn't this mean that I have STRONG reasons to come back?

Also this " Seeing that you haven't even lived in your home country for 12 years, and you applied from the country you study in, gives you a zero to no chance at being approved in your current situation. " is wrong because I have tons of friends who study abroad and they DO get USA visas. Also previously I was living in another country and I did get all of the visas I applied for.

I came here looking for advice and answer to my questions, not to fight with people.

A number of inappropriate comments containing judgmental personal attacks have been removed. If you have nothing constructive to add to the discussion, then please do not participate.

Moderator's hat off . . .

I can understand your frustration about being denied a visitor's visa to visit your sister whom you haven't seen in two years. You know yourself to be an honest, hardworking deserving individual who has a lot of reasons to return to where you are after your visit and can't understand why this wasn't obvious to the interviewing officer.

I don't know if it will help but in many ways this denial doesn't really have very much to do with 'you' in specifics but with the nature of visitor visas in general. You list your country of origin as the Philippines which you left 12 years ago and are studying abroad. You are single, have a relative in the US, appear to be from a country from which many people choose to immigrate to the US, have no property, no income or job, no close family connections (spouse and children), etc.

US immigration has the mindset that coming to the US 'trumps' any sort of possible benefit that is available outside of the US. They won't recognize that enrollment in a top University is actually a very good incentive to return from the US because of this insulated perspective. They believe that the lure of staying in the US once a visitor arrives will overwhelm any intention of leaving, and view every individual who presents themselves at the border for admission or at a Consulate for a visa as someone who secretly harbours the intent of immigrating to the US.

One has to provide cumulative and overwhelming documented evidence of the absolute 'need' for the individual to return to their country of citizenship or residence - that they will suffer some sort of serious economic, financial or personal loss if they remain in the US - before they will issue some visas - and even then it may not be enough. For a young single person studying at University with weak ties to their own country, with no job or property or financial resources that necessitate their return (University enrollment by itself will not be enough), it is unlikely they will grant a visitor's visa.

Is this fair? Nope - but they are not interested in fair. They write the rules and they decide who is allowed and not allowed to enter the US. They set the yardstick extremely high and view with suspicion - and possibly even fear - anyone who does not meet that yardstick.

I'm sorry for your circumstances, but perhaps there is the possibility you can both get visas to a third country and have a visit there, possibly Canada or Mexico?

Thank you for your words.

So you think there is no way I can actually prove my intention of returning as long as I am a student? Because Im not just enrolled, I am attending and have paid for the entire year's tuition fees, I also rent my flat and have a one year rental agreement. Is there any list of what would qualify as 'strong roots' ? I am also a legal EU resident.

I mean from my side it seems that if US was really my final destination the money I spent getting to my current university I could have used it to get a 5 years F1 visa, so I did have alternatives in terms of getting to the US if that was my aim. Heck even now if I wanted to stay in the US I have enough money (and obv the grades) to enroll into the 2nd semester at a university and go there next month legally and with a long term permit.

So it doesn't make sense to me that they believe that I might wanna stay there illegally when there are many legal ways for me to do so legally if that was my intent.

That is why it seems unfair to me, because when I reason it out I don't see why I'm seen as somebody who won't come back and I don't feel like I fit that profile.

The visa officer said 'well your sister can come here to you, it will be easier' , so I think why can she 'easily' come to EU while not me USA when we have the same profile ? I thought EU was on par with USA . Many of my familiar have 10 years long tourist US visa, even my parents had. I never thought it would be this difficult for me.

Well anyways what is done is done. We will just have to stick to visa-free places.

Since you obviously think very little of our laws and rules, it's best if you remain outside the US of A.

who said? I do think well of the US and nowhere have I shown the opposite. !? I don't get why people in forums tend to make weird uncalled for comments.

Well I don't wanna GO to the US, i just want temporary access. Americans have free access to my country and come and go on their free will, yet when I request for access and I have good intentions (short term visit) yet I do get rejected ? It extremely infuriating.

Anyways I wanted some advice or so, not this pointless comments.

My sister is at a private university in the US. She lives in campus so she only has 'a room', not a flat/house where I could crash at. So the hypothesis of the sister is just plain dumb, it's not like I had a familiar I could possibly stay with. Even meeting my sister was going to be at a hotel.

Well I have lived abroad many years but always in the right immigration type, never overstayed any visa or any of that. Also if my intention was to go to the USA the money I spent in enrolling in my current university I could have spent it and enrolled at a uni there which btw would have been MUCH cheaper for me.

It was hard for me to come to EU as I actually have a USA high school and most university dont accept it.

I hate this, they make me feel like some 'poor African kid' that just wants to have some piece of their BS. All I wanted is to visit my sister. I didn't want to stay in the USA, study in the USA nor live in the US. I hate this, all embassies treat me like some worthless piece of who is a treat to their country. OMG.

I attended through my entire life private schools, lived in the best areas and eaten the best food. But when time comes to ask for a visa im seen the same as those people who put their life at sake to get into those dinghy .

There is nothing you can do except reapply, which the CO indicated is not likely to be successful.

Unfortunately you are at that age where it can be difficult to demonstrate ties necessary to overcome the presupposition of immigrant intent.

The fact that you are studying outside your home country probably didn't help you any, either.

I left my country 12 years ago, and was living in another country before coming to EU to study for my degree.

Is it possible for me to have somebody else look at my case? Can I request to see the General Consul? Please advice me.

Sadly, school students, and I assume that you are young, have a difficult time getting tourist visas.

What school are you attending? What country are you originally from?

You can certainly reapply, I'd get a letter from your school stating that you are enrolled for the upcoming semester with tuition balance paid

good luck

I am a university student studying at a World Top 50 university, my university is even generally ranked among the 15 best in the world. So why would I leave my perfect degree to go to the US where I have nothing!! ?

It just makes no sense to me. I showed a document from university how all of this years fees have been paid.

It just is UNFAIR .

Hello

I want to visit my sister in the USA and I was refused a B2 visa. I am currently studying abroad from my residential country on my own.

I was denied a Visa because of 214(b) :

What does a visa denial under INA section 214(b) mean?

This law applies only to nonimmigrant visa categories. If you are refused a visa under section 214(b), it means that you:

• Did not sufficiently demonstrate to the consular officer that you qualify for the nonimmigrant visa category you applied for; and/or
• Did not overcome the presumption of immigrant intent, required by law, by sufficiently demonstrating that you have strong ties to your home country that will compel you to leave the United States at the end of your temporary stay. (H-1B and L visa applicants, along with their spouse and any minor children, are excluded from this requirement.)

I was refused because as she said I am studying abroad and don't have strong ties to where I am residing. Well I am studying in a World Top 50 university, very tough to get in and I paid a LOT of money to be here, also I'm an EU resident. If I wanted to go to the US instead of spending $30k in coming to this country I could have done the same and enrolled in a school in the US . I paid ALL of this years tuition fees, and a have a yearly rental agreement.

I don't think her judgmenet was fair and she said that as long as I am a foreign student here my visa will get refused because that does not show strong ties.

It also said that "there is no appeal process" .

Is there anything I can do ? I don't think her judgment was fair. All I want is to see my sister which I haven't seen in 2 years and I don't understand why I am not allowed to. She even said 'well she can come and visit you here' . So why is she able to do so and I cant if we have the same status - foreign students ?

Is it possible for me to have somebody else look at my case? Can I request to see the General Consul? Please advice me.