United States Tourist Visa For Spouse

[Gary D]

The visa start date will be the day of entry, often there is a use by date which may be 3-6 months.

[earthdome]

9 hours ago, OnMyWay said:

Unfortunately, this is not quite right.

My wife already had a B1/B2 visa from her job and assignment in the U.S., in 2008, before we met, and then she visited me in the U.S. to help me move in 2012.  Her 10 year visa expires this year.

I think earthdome is thinking of the visa we got for my step-daughter, who was 12 at the time.  Her mom already had the visa, so I think that helped.

Thanks for the correction. Glad you stepped in to help answer.

[Marvin Boggs]

Will relay our frustrations last year trying to get the B1.  We are hoping for better luck this year:

 

-We pre-prepared all necessary documents

-Had passport in hand with her proper married name, plus showing business travel stamps to China and Taiwan

-Had her business ownership documents in hand (she has a staff of 4), including bank balance

-Had copies of my ACR card, just to show that I was in the process of becoming a resident

-booked everything online and was very meticulous about our preparations, dressed in business attire for the interview

-I was planning to accompany her to the interview, was not allowed

Her time at Window 12 or whatever amounted to about 2 minutes, she came out in tears as I waited at the coffee shop across the street.  "Why did they deny you?"  "I don't know, they said my papers all looked perfect, but they still denied me".  Now its already getting close to their absurdly early closing time.  So I go back over there to find out what happened.  Waited at least a half-hour at the customer service desk while the guy refused to give me even the chance of talking to the person on duty.  It was 5 minutes after hours, not like we planned this for months and spent 20,000 pesos to come to Manila for this 2 minute appointment.  I calmly kept repeating my concern, that she was not given any reason for the denial.  I was given an email address to contact, and was told to schedule a future appointment.  After I still would not leave, they finally managed to "find someone" for me to talk to, who ended up being a stout Marine security guard in plain clothes.  Yeah I get it.  He was very polite, we were both very polite.  I told him this was really unacceptable treatment, to basically be told nothing for the denial, how were we supposed to fix the problem.  

He had apparently talked to someone, because he was able to tell me the problem was the LENGTH of her requested stay, which was 8 weeks.  HOLY HELL.  Had we known about an invisible 'limit', we would have adjusted the request to 4 weeks.  I pressed further, about why the wife of a spouse should not be given even the slightest consideration, as compared to a normal Filipina traveler.  He intimated that it was not uncommon for the woman to 'disappear' after arriving on US soil...essentially saying what if it was a sham marriage.  Well, he doesn't know us so what am I supposed to say to that.  Random Filipinas can be granted access to go to Disneyland, but my own wife cannot accompany me home for Christmas.  He kept repeating that the official had the sole right to refuse anyone for any reason, and that they don't need to state the reason.  He said no consideration is given at all for our marriage, and they basically treat her as any other Filipina.  WTF.  Now if we were interested in immigration, there is obviously a whole other process to go through, which I understand is pretty successful.  If you are willing to move home for a year while they process your wife's paperwork.  

So I took this setback as a learning experience.  Uncle Sam really does not want poor immigrants, and has no process for even the wives of US citizens.  We will give it another try this year.  The only difference will be we are adding my Resident card to the pile of documentation, plus she will have another year of marriage under her belt and a few more passport stamps.  We will request 4 weeks this time and hope for the best.  I'm told the success rate of first time applicants is only about 10%, but its much higher the second time.  We may opt instead to attempt travel on a Business visa, if we can find a trade show or project meeting to attend that is related to her business.      

[Clermont]

36 minutes ago, Marvin Boggs said:

Will relay our frustrations last year trying to get the B1.  We are hoping for better luck this year:

 

Yes it is frustrating and sometimes you can't see reason for their decision. There are a lot of circumstances that we don't weigh up when making an application, as you indicated, not married long, her work history, many more things that we don't even think of.

Like you said, tourist's get treated better. If she is with you, your legal to do business transactions back home, you do them just until she's been in and out of the country then apply for a business Visa. More than one way to skin a cat. 

[hk blues]

Just as an outsider looking in, I can understand why a tourists poses less risk than a spouse for a short-stay visa.  Tourists probably have less resources to sustain a long and illegal stay whilst a spouse may be more easily able to do so.  Now, there are countless examples that contradict my theory but I still think it holds true.  

[Ram1957]

One of the main problems is those Filipinos that get a visa and end up overstaying their visa. So now everyone get put into that category which shouldn't happen but it does. Hopefully you will have better luck next time.

https://usa.inquirer.net/4339/many-filipinos-overstayed-us-visas-2016

[Marvin Boggs]

Update on this:  Our original appointment was cancelled due to the typhoon, so we had re-booked the date for yesterday (Jan 10).  

Result was the same.  Denied again, with no reason given.  The only question really asked of my wife was "since your husband is a US citizen, why doesn't he just petition you for immigration?"  She showed my Resident card and explained we were planning our life to be here.  Honestly we don't know what kind of hidden criteria they may be looking for.  Is it because she is under 30?  Because she doesn't have 1M in the bank?  Because they already hit their monthly quota limit?  Its a little bit maddening when you are just grasping at straws, and they don't have to reveal anything.  

Based on the other people in line with her getting rejected, she has no real hope of ever getting this visa.  The man in front of her was 45, a city official earning 200K/month, with a mother in the US....DENIED.  Another lady was a 35yo senior manager at one of the telecom companies there in Manila, with plenty of prior travel....DENIED.  My emotional stake in this result was low, because I gave up on expecting govt. satisfaction a long long time ago.  Wife is pretty devastated though, feeling unwanted, feeling guilty that my mother's hopes were crushed that she would get to see us, etc.  My attitude is "Meh, it is what it is".  If they don't want my wife, then f*ck them.  The whole thing just gives me a bad attitude.  

Next most likely option for us will be for a business visa.  Maybe should have tried that first, as we have had some success in the past with it.  We have 2 businesses here, and there are a lot of international trade shows.   

 

[OnMyWay]

3 hours ago, Marvin Boggs said:

Update on this:  Our original appointment was cancelled due to the typhoon, so we had re-booked the date for yesterday (Jan 10).  

Result was the same.  Denied again, with no reason given.  The only question really asked of my wife was "since your husband is a US citizen, why doesn't he just petition you for immigration?"  She showed my Resident card and explained we were planning our life to be here.  Honestly we don't know what kind of hidden criteria they may be looking for.  Is it because she is under 30?  Because she doesn't have 1M in the bank?  Because they already hit their monthly quota limit?  Its a little bit maddening when you are just grasping at straws, and they don't have to reveal anything.  

Based on the other people in line with her getting rejected, she has no real hope of ever getting this visa.  The man in front of her was 45, a city official earning 200K/month, with a mother in the US....DENIED.  Another lady was a 35yo senior manager at one of the telecom companies there in Manila, with plenty of prior travel....DENIED.  My emotional stake in this result was low, because I gave up on expecting govt. satisfaction a long long time ago.  Wife is pretty devastated though, feeling unwanted, feeling guilty that my mother's hopes were crushed that she would get to see us, etc.  My attitude is "Meh, it is what it is".  If they don't want my wife, then f*ck them.  The whole thing just gives me a bad attitude.  

Next most likely option for us will be for a business visa.  Maybe should have tried that first, as we have had some success in the past with it.  We have 2 businesses here, and there are a lot of international trade shows.   

 

That really sucks.  I would be really pissed.  I guess I got lucky in that my wife got her first U.S. visa through work, before she met me.  Now she needs to renew before our next trip but it should not be a problem as she has been to the U.S. 3 times.

Does she have any Int'l travel?  Maybe try again after your Europe trip and / or a few trips to Asia that don't require a visa.

[Marvin Boggs]

Yeah she has stamps from HK, Macau, mainland China, Indonesia, and Taiwan.  Visa still active for mainland China I believe.  The idea that a citizen's spouse would receive no extra consideration just floors me.  But I got over that the first time she was denied.  It would be nice if they could just be up front and say "You know what, we decided to change our criteria to X and Y until further notice."  Its not cheap planning these trips to Manila, family getting their hopes up, etc.  

[earthdome]

9 hours ago, Marvin Boggs said:

Yeah she has stamps from HK, Macau, mainland China, Indonesia, and Taiwan.  Visa still active for mainland China I believe.  The idea that a citizen's spouse would receive no extra consideration just floors me.  But I got over that the first time she was denied.  It would be nice if they could just be up front and say "You know what, we decided to change our criteria to X and Y until further notice."  Its not cheap planning these trips to Manila, family getting their hopes up, etc.  

Perhaps USCIS has become more strict on all visas for filipino's, there was this article a year ago: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/asian-america/philippines-loses-eligibility-some-temporary-work-visas-n962421

Perhaps the attitude of the current US administration regarding immigration has filtered down to the front line bureaucrats.

I do know my wife's oldest sister who works OFW in Saudi as a nurse has decided to not even try for a US  tourist visa.