mother's visa rejected

[vjay]

Hello,

My mother (widow) had applied for the visitor's visa for the first time in March. Her application was rejected under section 214(b).

I am her only son. My sister is married and in India. Sister has a 5 months old. My mother owns an apartment and some finance to take care of herself. She also maintains an active social life.

I believe her visa was rejected because the visa officer at Mumbai consulate did not think she has any reason to go back to India. Some people told me that her request for 6 months visa was to blame. They say it should be 3 or 4 months. Some said that she should not have put 'Retired' as her status on the visa application. Retired would mean she does not have anything to do in India.

Now, I am thinking of taking the second chance with her application. Any suggestions?

[vjay]

mother's visa rejected

Additonal details....

My mom was not asked very many questions. The officer at Mumbai consulate asked where I was, whether I am a permanent resident or on working visa, where is my sister, is she married, and why 6 months? She answered these simple questions with simple answers. The officer did not look at any documents, though she was well prepared with documentation...thanks to immihelp.com.

[kita]

VIsa rejected

My moms visa rejected twice. She is wodow too. I think at bombay consulate they just reject it if she is wodow. They don't even look at the document. This is really rediculous.

[rkkr]

re: visa rejection

My mom's visa was also rejected in Chennai consulate because she is a widow. From what I gathered reading the posts here is that, they are rejecting widows unconditionally.

[vjay]

mother's visa rejected

Seems like there is no way out! What if you do not have any change in your situations to make a case for reapplying? You are pretty much like a fish out of water.

Well, thanks for your responses. More guidance and/or expereinces will be aprpecaited.

I am going to go ahead and take a second chance. This time I am writing a detailed letter listing reasons for her return to India. I am also getting a letter from my boss. I work for the Office of Inspector General, so me and my boss are hanging our hats on the integrity, honesty, law complaince etc. that is part of our profession. Let's see what happens. I will let you know if it worked.

[MCutlery]

Could you plese post this letter from your employer too..

Vijay:

I would appreciate it if you could post this letter from your employer vouching for your moral character, integrity, etc...

I am in a kind of similar situation with my parents and was also thinking on the same lines as getting a letter showing trust and moral faith in me from my employer.

Thanks

[njagadee]

mother's visa rejected

My mother who is a widow just got her visa approved for 6 months on June 9 after 2 rejections at Chennai consulate. We are only 2 daughters for her and we both are in the U.S.
My mother has been to the U.S. twice before. Here is what we did...We listed out all the reasons that she would need to go back in India, including the property she needs to manage, etc. Since she cannot read/speak English, we had translated all the information to tamil and attached with the English version. This way the consular knows that she had read and is aware of all the information in that document. Both the English and Tamil versions had to be signed by her in front of a notary.

Also we contacted the Senators and Congressman offices. One of the senators representative sent us a copy of the letter that they were going to send it to the Chennai consulate. Others did not send us anything, but they said they would send the letters to Chennai consulate for sure. I sent the letter that I got from one of the senators office to my mother and told her to give it along with the application at the consulate.
I am sure these letters have helped us in getting the visa.

[vjay]

mother's visa rejected

MCutlery - I am not sure if I can post the letter on this website. Send me an email at [email protected]. I will send you what my boss wrote for me.

njagadee - Thanks for your help. Just to clearify...it seems that you sent the letter to your mother ASKING her to leave the US after her visit is over.

My approach is making a plea to the visa officer that... 'It is not her who wants to come to the US. I am saying that she is afraid of flying and dreads these long flights. After 7 years of stay, I was finally able to convince her to come to the US. She finally agreed.' So, basically the request is from me to the visa officer. I am calling her to come..she is not quite inclined.

On the Senator letter - I thought about it too. But thought that I might backfire because you are using the influence and pressure on the officer who is required to be independent. As you know, he has power to reject a letter from the President if he wishes to. So, I may obtain such letter for the 3rd attempt. Hopefully, it wont come to that.

Thanks you all!

[njagadee]

mother's visa rejected

I did not send a letter asking her to leave the US after her visit. This was a letter from my mother to the consular office that she has so and so reasons that she would need to go back to India and that she can stay in the U.S only for 4 months.

[vjay]

mother's visa rejected

Thanks njagadee. I understand it now.

[bvenkate]

Letter from OIG will certainly help...

After a couple of rejections of my parents' application, I took it as a challenge to get the visa. I decided to take no chance at all.

I took references for myself from the US Fed Agency I work for and mentioned it in the "Sponsorship Letter".

I got a couple of references for my parents in India - one from a retired DGP and other from Indian Justice Department and mentioned them in the same "Sponsorship Letter". (Note : I heard that the letters from Indian Politicians are not entetained).

I also got a certified statement from a Chartered Accountant to specify my parents' financial ties. Attached the rent receipts, property documents, bank statements.

For proving social ties, we also attached a bunch of photographs of my parents with our family members, relatives, friends etc. (some snaps from a wedding album should help).

I briefly outlined all these in the sponsorship letter. After reading this letter, the officer asked a very few and very basic questions and gave them visa for 10 years.

Don't think more references will put pressure on the officer. More references will, in fact, help your case as supplementary docs to substantiate your claim that both you and your parents will not violate the laws of non-immigrant visa.

I wish you good luck...

[bvenkate]

Additonal info

I also blocked round trip tickets for my parents and attached the itinerary along with their application, thus providing their specific dates of travel. (It does not cost anything to do this, but this can be shown as a proof of their return).

One more thing... according to the laws of non-immigrant visa, you (sponsor) can specify (plea) anything in your letter to convince them, but the onus is on the applicants (not the sponsor) to prove their case. So think along these lines....

[vjay]

mother's visa rejected

Thanks bvenkate,

Thanks for sharing your experience and for giving me some good tips. I liked the idea of attachig round trip tickets with the application.

As you said, the onus is on my mom to make her case. My only worry is that the visa officer may not even look at my letter and/or my boss's letter. I am asking my mom to slip these letters through the window along with her passport. I do not want the officer to ask her many questions. Also, the interview system is so buzzard and overwhelming for elderly people. My mom's first experience was not a good exerience at all. She was expecting a face to face interview on the table. It wasn't the case. It was like a prison with she standing outside a glass window and answering through a phone. It was a bit too confusing for her while they were asking her questions one after another. And, in the end, they pretty much shooed her away as if she was a begger...not a right way to treat people when they are charging so much to process the application.

[bvenkate]

Hope for the best

Hello Vijay,
The officer at the consulate certainly reads your sponsorship letter. You can specify the references in your sponsorship letter. It can be at the bottom of your letter like..

References for myself
1. ......., OIG
2. ....

References for my mother
1. ......
2. ......

Attach those reference letters with the sponsorship letter with a paper clip.

About the bad experience at the consulate... I agree. It doesn't feel good. My parents were told by the officer that "you are not eligible to go to US" in a rude way. They were dejected and didn't have any interest to go there again. I convinced them and pushed them for their third attempt and fortunately it turned out to be a good decision. They are happy to be here with me now...

Do not hurry the next attempt. Plan it carefully, present your case well and hope for the best.

[vjay]

mother's visa rejected

Thanks bvenkate, Is it Venkate?

Yours and several other examples on this website have helped me maintaing my hopes for the visa. All that you can do is just keep trying. I will continue this thread once I get the final answer. My mother will be receiving my letter and other documents by the end of this week and then will take the appointment. So, long wait...i figure, atleast a month.