Query for Visitor Visa application for Widowed Mother In Law

[jaskamar]

Hello Admin,

Thank you for maintaining a really useful website as this.

I want to bring my widowed mother in law to the US and I am currently on H1b visa and my wife on H4.

I have been reading a few experiences of people on this website with a similiar situation and I am a bit confused on what grounds the Tourist Visa should be submitted. My confusion mainly lies whether she should apply as a self sponsored tourist or a tourist that is sponsored by me.

Just to give you a background of my mother in law's situation -

1. MIL holds permanent residence in her native town in Kerala.

2. My MIL has other real estate ownership and holds a bank account with fixed deposits in them.

3. MIL also gets a monthly income from renting out one of her houses.

4. My brother in law is currently employed, married and residing in India. He does not live with her as he is employed in a different State of India.

Pls suggest what is better? - to apply as a self sponsored tourist? or as a tourist that is sponsored by me?

Once again thank you for your efforts in maintaining this wonderful website.

Sincerely

[mrcoolbuddy]

It always better if she can take care of her expenses (self sponsor). If their family monthly income is around 1 lac including your BIL, then go for it.

To consider sponsorship from you guys, its better your wife sponsor her mother. Is she working? Is she on a primary work visa?

[peace999]

Yes, self sponsorship is always better but you have to have good income like 10L / yr or large retirement savings. If that is not the case, you should sponsor.

Sponsorship is secondary. In your case, her widow status may make it difficult( though not impossible) for her to get a visitor visa.

[jaskamar]

Yes, self sponsorship is always better but you have to have good income like 10L / yr or large retirement savings. If that is not the case, you should sponsor.

Sponsorship is secondary. In your case, her widow status may make it difficult( though not impossible) for her to get a visitor visa.

@peace999 : Thank you for your response. It does seem feasible for me to ask my MIL to go ahead with self sponsorship. Just to give you a little more detail - My MIL was recently widowed early this year. Till then, my late FIL had a yearly income of 10 L /yr. Also, his demise happened while he was still employed and my MIL has received compensation and his end of service gratuity as well [which is quite a substantial amount as they were NRI's]. Do you think that should suffice?

[peace999]

If they come to the funding part, they will ask her income ; here she must phrase the answer correctly. If she says a small income figure she will get denied. She can say she has xxx lacs of her husband's legacy which she is using.

Once again I wish to stress that funding part is only secondary. Her ties to India are the deciding factor.

[jaskamar]

If they come to the funding part, they will ask her income ; here she must phrase the answer correctly. If she says a small income figure she will get denied. She can say she has xxx lacs of her husband's legacy which she is using.

Once again I wish to stress that funding part is only secondary. Her ties to India are the deciding factor.

Hi again,

Thanks for the prompt response. Yes, I will ask my MIL to reply that she is using my late FIL's gratuity as her source of income. Also, the income that she receives by renting out of one of her houses. God bless my late FIL.

About her ties to India, she has real estate ownership [apart from her permanent residence], a son and daughter in law as well. She lives in her own house in Kerala. My concern is that BIL is employed in a different State and frequently visits my MIL in Kerala. Do you think the fact that my brother doesnt stay with her might be a problem? I am also worried that these ties are not enough. :-(

Pls hold us in your positive thoughts as I really want her to have a change of atmosphere after the sad demise of my FIL.

[peace999]

I wish her all the luck but the reality is that visitor visa process is not very logical.

Your mil is a widow and she is living alone( son's family living away is negative), which means no family ties.

Can she show some vocation or membership in an organization which she attends regularly. That way, she can ask for a stay of say 2 months saying that she must return to her commitments with the organization.

[BdGirl]

My mother is pretty much on same boat as yours. But fortunately she got hers in her second attempt. So, from my understanding, it is absolutely ridiculous illogical process. Good luck and prepare your MIL thoroughly for the interview process.

[jaskamar]

My mother is pretty much on same boat as yours. But fortunately she got hers in her second attempt. So, from my understanding, it is absolutely ridiculous illogical process. Good luck and prepare your MIL thoroughly for the interview process.

Hi,

Could you please give me a background of how you prepared for the second interview? What went wrong the first time and what you did the second time?

Sincerely,

[BdGirl]

Well, I lost my father last year. My mother was issued a Canadian visa on May 2011 and she was denied for US visa on July 2011. She had every possible document in her hand at the time of interview but nothing was seen by the VO. We have a family own company and she is one of the directors, we have multiple apartments and land properties, and also significant amount of cash deposit in her account. The VO never asked for any documents, she asked the followings:

1) Why do you wanna go?
- Visit different places in America with my daughter and son in law.
2) How many children do you have?
-two
3) Who lives in Canada?
-Son
4) What does your son do?
-answered
5)What does your daughter do?
-answered
6) Do they have kinds?
-answered
7) What do you do?
-answered

Then she said "I don't like you for visa - in Bengali" and was given 214B.

This time I drafted my invitation letter well I believe: which is as follows:

I, S, would like to invite my mother, Mrs. M, Passport # ABC , to visit us in United States for a month. Currently, I am residing at XYZ with my husband Mr. Y. I am a legal United States Permanent Resident Alien since YYYY (with A#ZZZ and passport No. CZZZ, copy attached with this letter).

As I am taking care of my newborn and will not be able to travel to Bangladesh with the baby any time soon, it is more practical for my mom to come and visit my family, as well as we also intend to travel and see the major attractions in New York, Chicago, California and Texas. I had my parents-in-law visit for the same reason in November, 2011 and they returned back well before their visa expiration date. My mother has strong reasons to return to Bangladesh before her visa expires. They are:
1. My mother is in charge of six of our apartments in Dhaka City currently worth approximately US$ YYYY YYYY along with other agricultural properties in Comilla and Patuakhali. Since my father passed away, my mother is endowed with the great responsibilities of managing all these rental properties.
2. She has stock investments in Dhaka Stock Exchange (initially invested $ YYYY ZZZ).
3. She has cash in deposits worth of US $ YYYY ZZZ(appx.).
4. She is one of the Directors of our family owned company.
5. She has been a frequent flyer to Canada (to see my brother and his family). She has always returned within 4-6 weeks.
6. Being a 53+ old lady, she must have constant medical attention, which is only possible in Bangladesh.
7. She has all her family - 1 brother, 5 sisters, 1 brother-in-law and 2 sisters-in-law, number of nephews and nieces, numerous friends and neighbors in Dhaka, Bangladesh and she is very closely attached to them, and undoubted she has a better life in Bangladesh with 3 maids and 2 cars with chauffeurs, proving that she has no intention to settle in USA.

All the necessary documents will be carried by Mrs. M at the time of interview.

During her stay in the United States, she will stay with us at our home (address stated above). Even though she is fully capable of supporting herself financially for her entire trip, it would be our pleasure to entertain her with all of her accommodation expenses while she is in the United States.I will personally make sure that she leaves United States before the expiration of her authorized period of stay.

I would really appreciate if you could kindly scrutinize her case and grant her the visitor visa. Thank you for your consideration and time. Should you have any questions, please contact me.
Yours Truly,
-S


Apart from that I filled out her DS 230 form. There is a place where you can explain why your visa was rejected. That is where I put "The last visa application was refused due to lack of strong ties to Bangladesh because: a. my children lives in US & Canada, b. my husband passed away. I now have compelling evidence of strong ties: a. I own 6 apartments & other investment properties and monies. b. Total worth of my properties in Bangladesh is $ YYYY ,000 (apprx.) c. I visited my son multiple times ( YYYY , 2011) and have returned, d. I have employees and tenants that I am leaving behind and must come back. e. I am in charge of company taxes, property taxes and bill payments many of which requires my presence in Bangladesh."

Many people says that VOs don't look into your documents most of the time, but they read through the form for the initial judgement. So logically I wanted them to know my mom's strongest point and weak points (that she does not have kids in BD and she is a widow). And for them the missing part was the wealth she has in her country.

Inspite of all the paper work, we mocked the interview quite a few times so that my mom is confident enough and don't get nervous.

The second interview was pretty smooth. She was asked very logical questions and VO sounded pretty friendly. Interview questions are as follows:

1)Why do you want to go to USA?
- Since I love visiting places, I am planning to visit different places in USA with my daughter and son in law. I also have invitation letter from my daughter, do you want to see(VO took Invitation letter and read the whole).
2)How many kids do you have and where are they?
-answered
3)Who is going to pay for your trip?
- I will pay for my trip, I have a lot of money (I know it sounds mean, but that's how it works).
4) What kind of business do you have?
-Answered and also given a business card
5) What is a freet (that is a question from the business card)?
- Kind of Chemical....lol....

Then VO said, I will give you visa.
My mom collected her passport with 5 years visa stamped in it today.

Let me know if you need anymore details. I am so excited to share my journey, I tried to share every detail possible.

Thanks
-S

[jaskamar]

@ BdGirl,

Appreciate the time you took out to explain in detail about your experience. Both yours and Peace999's views have helped me gain a lot of clarity on how to proceed with my MIL's visa application.

Pls hold us in your positive thoughts.


Sincerely,

[sonaindallas]

Visitor visa for my Mother in law

Hi,
Can any body help me amswering my question?
I am in H1B visa and my husband is in F1 visa. We want to get his mother here in US. Should I sponsor her being in H1 or she should sponsor herself? She is an housewife. What are the criteria we need to keep in mind if she is sponsoring herself?
Thanks,

[peace999]

sonaindallas

If you are posting a brand new question, please start a new thread. Do not mix your post with
an old thread.

Answer to your question;

Since she is a housewife, she can self sponsor only if her husband's income is strong like 1L /month . Or she has other sources of income ( rents) amounting to the same.
If not, you should sponsor.

[science7776]

Hi all,

I have a similar dausituation. My father passed away last year and I was in India just few weeks before his death. After few months my mother applied for US visa but got denied.

the interview was like this:

VO: why are you going to US?
Mother: to attend my daughter's graduation ceremony (I graduated in Dec 2011)
VO: why is your husband not with you?
Mother:He passed away few months ago.
VO: what does you son-in-law do?
MOther: post-doc in University.
VO: who lives with you?
Mother: I live by myself.

Then he gave her passport and 214 back.
So there was no point where VO asked about financial situation or family ties. I know she could have elaborated the last answer by saying that I have another daughter, grand kids, friends etc. It was my fault to tell her to be very specific and not saying anything extra.
He just found her case very weak becoz of losing husband.

We are now thinking of reapplying. Here is our whole situation:
My husband and I post-docs on F-1 OPT period. we have a daughter.
My parental house is in a small town and some bank deposits ( altogether worth ~$100,000). She is getting dad's pension ( less than Rs. 20,000/ mo). That's all.
At present she is living with my sister.

I know there is no major change in the circumstances since her last interview except she is living with my sister. Do you think we should mention it this time?
ON the other hand, I feel the VO might view it as if she is now dependent on her kids and looking for an opportunity to go to US. I don't know.
Should she sponsor herself or should I do that?

We really need to be togther since my dad's passing, it's been terrible since then. I can't go back either as my F-1 visa has expired and chances of its renewal are also very thin.

I would really appreciate if any of you can provide some thoughts/ advice on this. any other alternative?

Thanks much

[chini]

Hello Jaskamar ,

I'm trying for my widowed mom's visitor visa & read your post.Did your MIL get visa?Did she self sponsor the visa?

I'm also thinking of opting for self sponsored visa.If possible,can you please share your experience with your MIL's visa here.It would help lot of people like me who're trying for their widowed mom's visas.

Thanks & regards,
Chini