Issue with parent's visitor visa

[lemonis]

Hi,

Please help me with my situation here. I am presently on OPT status. My parents had applied for visitors visa for my graduation ceremony last year and were rejected twice in a gap of 15 days. Our first mistake was, we applied visitor visa for my sister (we are 3 siblings) in the first attempt along with my parents but for the second attempt we didnot apply for her. Finally we have two rejections now.

My second sister is now doing her masters in USA. Now my question is can my parents apply visitor visa again for my sister's grad ceremony? Or is it wise to wait for my H1-b which i will apply one month before my sister's grad ceremony?

Thank you so much!!

[peace999]

please post your parents' income status. Are they retired , if not what is their income roughly annually?
What did they write to the question " who is paying" the last time they applied? What is the income they wrote on the form?

[lemonis]

please post your parents' income status. Are they retired , if not what is their income roughly annually?
What did they write to the question " who is paying" the last time they applied? What is the income they wrote on the form?

My dad was retired but had a small household business. But he didnot mention in the form that he was retired and just showed his business. My mom is a government employee. They together showed their income around 8 to 9 lacs per year. My mom was shown as a sponsor for the trip last time.

[peace999]

a reason for denial could be the income. If their combined income is 8-9 lacs ; in each of their forms it must have been about half of that.

They will need you to sponsor. I suggest they wait till you have a job on H-1b and have worked for a few months.Then you can send them
the I-134 etc.

That said, sometimes the denials can be irrational. So the best you can do is try like I said.

[lemonis]

I am sorry for my wrong information. I checked with my parents and they said they showed my mom's income as 8.5 lacs/year and my dad's as 3 lacs/year and also showed income on house rent and other properties.

Because they applied on me for the first two cases, can they not apply third time on my sister's name??

[peace999]

that won't make any difference. I am still trying to figure out the reason for denial. Maybe it was dad's low income.
Could you post the interview whatever they can recall.

[lemonis]

From what i heard from my parents, first time when they asked my middle sister about her studies she got confused with the year of her recent higher education. And the second time(when only my parents attended), interviewer asked many questions and was satisfied with answers but finally when she asked about my status here my parents were confused in giving answers.

Interviewer: Is your daughter applying for OPT after studies?
My Parents: No
Interviewer: Then is she returning to INDIA after her studies?
My Parents: Haven't decided yet

I feel these answers gave a bad impression to the interviewer. My parents were not aware of what is OPT and all and the consultancy agent guided them to answer "Haven't decided yet" for the last question.

Now, if they apply for my sister's grad ceremony and give all true answers, will it help?? But my dad has stopped the business now and again went back to his old job for some minimum pay.

[peace999]

Ok. they can ask again about your status as it will be in their records( they type down the salient features of the interview).
Some officers take a negative view of people changing status from student to H-1.

So let them go ahead and apply for your sister's grad. In my opinion, they do not apply the criteria uniformly in every case.
So there will be an element of luck anyway.

[lemonis]

Thanks a lot for all your replies!!!

Now even if they say all truth about me that i'm working on OPT and applied for H1 and my sisters position as finishing studies and applied for OPT if there is a rejection, will it effect their chances of getting visa next time?