Visitor Visa - B2

My brother applied for a tourist visa and was interviewed last week. My husband and I sponsored him for a tour of the US and to see me, my child (a few months old), and spend quality time with our family. We used ImmiHelp quite extensively for our preparation - thank you to all of you who posted here.

We prepared as much as humanly possible - we took many potential sample questions from ImmiHelp and he practised for over a week. We made sure he was confident, made eye contact, spoke clearly, and knew all of the questions and answers backwards and forwards without having to think. He wore professional clothing on the big day - pressed shirt, tie, dress pants, black shoes.

We quizzed him relentlessly! We asked him every question we could think of (thanks again ImmiHelp) 10 or 15 times each. He answered confidently, looked us in the eye (Skype), was friendly, did not stammer or stutter, and spoke fluently and clearly.

His circumstances - married / 1 small kid (also less than a year old), middle class job, our family has a business too, own their own house, have savings.

The whole experience went something like this >>

Arrived at embassy by 5.00am. There was already a long line.

Security check began at 7.00am. Then he entered the embassy.

Then they fingerprinted him and he sat down for an available window.

The interview then came. It all happened in Bengali.

Questions asked:

Brother: Good morning!
(No response)

VO: Passport please.
Brother: (Passed through window)

VO: Where are you going?
Brother: I would like to visit my sister and her family in California for a month.

VO: (Typing a lot - maybe for a minute)

VO: How much do you earn?
Brother: <Replied - "ZZZ Taka per month">

VO: (Typing, Typing, Typing for maybe 2 or 3 minutes)

VO: Sorry, we cannot issue a visa.

Then she handed him a 214(b) rejection slip. And that was it - he was promptly escorted out.

He did EVERYTHING BY THE BOOK. As we had practiced. BUT IT DID NOT MATTER in the end. It seemed like they were prepared to reject him even before he entered the room! And we soon found out that he was the rule rather than the exception.

Once he exited the embassy, it turns out that out of the hundreds of people in line, only perhaps 3 or 4 were granted a visa to the point where he exited. The only people who received approval were people who had already visited the US on a previous visa and needed to renew to go back.

My family is not poor - they own a business that runs okay and my brother has an above average job as a manager, earns enough money to support himself and his family, they have savings, and they own their own house. However, my family met DOZENS of people who went before and after my brother who have far better positions as directors of large companies, professorships, and so on who were also rejected. Single people, married people, people with families, people with relatives - no one received a visa! They were even rejecting student visas for people who had already received permission from their intended colleges and had paid substantial sums.

The bottom line seems to be that the Dhaka embassy for the USA is not accepting *anyone* who is newly trying to get a tourist visa. It appears to my family that this is just a money-making scheme for the embassy.

I hate to be discouraging to people on this forum, and I congratulate everyone who made it past the barrage of VOs. But to us at least, applying to the US for even a tourist visa is NEXT TO IMPOSSIBLE from Dhaka.

Even as a US Citizen, I am ashamed of this country's behavior to outsiders! Don't waste your time and money trying to come to the US to study or visit. Try Australia, Canada, UK, etc - go where they actually want us.