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hey
I (Klaus from Germany, 32yrs old) visited the US in 2002 and ended up overstaying my vwp for a few days. This situation led to a ban of one year.
Well the ban has ended in 2003 but I wasnt interested in visiting the US in the years to come. Until last year. I am a businessman, my job involves a lot of traveling. Every 2 or 3 weeks I am flying to South America. Its always been quite a bother to find flights without stopovers in the US. So I got myself an apointment at the embassy in order to apply for a visa, actually only a transit visa...
So at the apointment the guy asked me why I had overstayed. My answer, I was young, didnt think too much about it, thought a few days wouldnt be a big deal.
Next question was how I could assure not to overstay again. My answer, I'm running a bussines, have been living in a steady relationship for years, have a university degree, have no criminal record, enough money blablabla. I wanted to show him bank statement, tax declaration and some other stuff but he wouldnt even look at is and said this wouldnt be any evidence which would show I am not intending to overstay again.
So I said look at my passport, it shows stamps of dozends of various countries (including Canada, Australia, China, South Africa...). If I wouldnt be happy with my life here in Germany, wouldnt I have stayed or moved in/to one of them? He said thats no proof either.
I said my fiance is waiting outside. She can also tell you that I dont have any intention to stay in the US for more than necessary. He said that she wouldnt be allowed in and after all its only up to me to convince him about my intentions.
Well of course I ended up not getting the visa. He handed me a paper instead that said I could apply again at any time (including paying a bunch of money every time) but there wouldnt be any point unless my personal situation changes and I have more evidence to convince them about my intentions. He eventually ended the conversation with the message that it would be really difficult to get a tourist visa after an overstay.
I was quite shocked about this outcome, also because I went to to appointment without any doubt in getting the visa.
A few years back I signed up for the greencard lottery, mostly out of curiosity. And yet I got selected. But I didnt proceed with this because I had no plans to move to the US at any time soon. I actually wanted to mention this at the meeting in order to say something like "hey, If I really wanted to move to the US wouldnt I have taken this chance?". But then again I decided not to mention it because the guy might take the application itself as proof that I actually do want to move to the US...
I was hoping you guys here could give me some tips about what I could do in my situation.
thx for reading anyway,
br Klaus
I (Klaus from Germany, 32yrs old) visited the US in 2002 and ended up overstaying my vwp for a few days. This situation led to a ban of one year.
Well the ban has ended in 2003 but I wasnt interested in visiting the US in the years to come. Until last year. I am a businessman, my job involves a lot of traveling. Every 2 or 3 weeks I am flying to South America. Its always been quite a bother to find flights without stopovers in the US. So I got myself an apointment at the embassy in order to apply for a visa, actually only a transit visa...
So at the apointment the guy asked me why I had overstayed. My answer, I was young, didnt think too much about it, thought a few days wouldnt be a big deal.
Next question was how I could assure not to overstay again. My answer, I'm running a bussines, have been living in a steady relationship for years, have a university degree, have no criminal record, enough money blablabla. I wanted to show him bank statement, tax declaration and some other stuff but he wouldnt even look at is and said this wouldnt be any evidence which would show I am not intending to overstay again.
So I said look at my passport, it shows stamps of dozends of various countries (including Canada, Australia, China, South Africa...). If I wouldnt be happy with my life here in Germany, wouldnt I have stayed or moved in/to one of them? He said thats no proof either.
I said my fiance is waiting outside. She can also tell you that I dont have any intention to stay in the US for more than necessary. He said that she wouldnt be allowed in and after all its only up to me to convince him about my intentions.
Well of course I ended up not getting the visa. He handed me a paper instead that said I could apply again at any time (including paying a bunch of money every time) but there wouldnt be any point unless my personal situation changes and I have more evidence to convince them about my intentions. He eventually ended the conversation with the message that it would be really difficult to get a tourist visa after an overstay.
I was quite shocked about this outcome, also because I went to to appointment without any doubt in getting the visa.
A few years back I signed up for the greencard lottery, mostly out of curiosity. And yet I got selected. But I didnt proceed with this because I had no plans to move to the US at any time soon. I actually wanted to mention this at the meeting in order to say something like "hey, If I really wanted to move to the US wouldnt I have taken this chance?". But then again I decided not to mention it because the guy might take the application itself as proof that I actually do want to move to the US...
I was hoping you guys here could give me some tips about what I could do in my situation.
thx for reading anyway,
br Klaus
