Letters From Afar

A couple of days ago, a friend of mine (lets call him.. Hector) living in the United States told me that his brother was rejected for a US non-immigrant visitor visa. The brother owns a house in his home country, has a permanent job, bank accounts and other evidence of his intent to return home on completion of the visit. Despite providing documentation to establish the validity of his US Visa application, he was rejected.

If I had know that Hector was inviting his brother for a visit to the States, I would have given him an extra piece of advice: write him a letter of invitation. The problem with his application was the lack of resources his brother would have in the US. While he may own a home and have a permanent job in his country, neither of these things provided him with enough money to cover all of his expenses in the US. Without a letter proving that his expenses would be covered, the brother was rejected. A simple mistake and the plans fell through.

What people seem to fail to understand most about any aspect of immigration, whether it be visiting, business or immigrating to a foreign country, is that governments are all too fond of cold, hard proof. You may break down crying, you may beg, plead and barter but no amount of that will help you obtain the authorization you need if you can't prove your case. Its better to be truthful, short in your answers and let your documentation speak for itself - and keep in mind that everything takes time. Government moves very slowly.

Had Hector taken all of this into account, his brother would be with him now instead of having wasted the US Visa application fee only to be turned down. A cryin' shame... but it happens all the time.