United States Tourist Visa For Spouse

[Mike J]

I keep reading where almost everyone is denied a tourist visa, but we have several friends who have received them.  I decided to look for actual numbers and I was surprised to see that the refusal rate for the Philippines (in 2018) was 27%, a far cry from the 95% percent cited in an earlier post by Dave.  Maybe I am wired differently than some folks but I have a tendency to look for data when I read or hear about things that kind of don't make sense. 

https://travel.state.gov/content/dam/visas/Statistics/Non-Immigrant-Statistics/RefusalRates/FY18.pdf

 

NATIONALITY ADJUSTED REFUSAL RATE NAURU 21.43% NEPAL 51.53% NETHERLANDS 9.56% NEW ZEALAND 19.97% NICARAGUA 46.75% NIGER 43.33% NIGERIA 57.47% **NON-NATIONALITY BASED ISSUANCES 40.27% NORWAY 12.4% OMAN 4.87% PAKISTAN 47.89% PALESTINIAN AUTHORITY TRAVEL DOCUMENT 53.87% PANAMA 11.71% PAPUA NEW GUINEA 6.84% PARAGUAY 8.02% PERU 28.53% PHILIPPINES 27.07% POLAND 3.99% PORTUGAL 7.28% QATAR 8.34% REPUBLIC OF PALAU 71.43% ROMANIA 10.44% RUSSIA 14.89% RWANDA 44.51% SAMOA 26.26% SAN MARINO 25% SAO TOME AND PRINCIPE 26.09% SAUDI ARABIA 7.47% SENEGAL 59.18% SERBIA 25.93% SEYCHELLES 11.64% SIERRA LEONE 60.56% SINGAPORE 14.29% SLOVAKIA 16.21% SLOVENIA 12.33% SOLOMON ISLANDS 3.57% SOMALIA 90.16% SOUTH AFRICA 7.31% SOUTH SUDAN 41.29% SPAIN 14.04% SRI LANKA 33.61% ST LUCIA 21.9% Page 4 of 5

FY18.pdf

Edited January 11, 2020 by Mike J
Added one page from pdf as text.

[earthdome]

16 hours ago, Mike J said:

I keep reading where almost everyone is denied a tourist visa, but we have several friends who have received them.  I decided to look for actual numbers and I was surprised to see that the refusal rate for the Philippines (in 2018) was 27%, a far cry from the 95% percent cited in an earlier post by Dave.  Maybe I am wired differently than some folks but I have a tendency to look for data when I read or hear about things that kind of don't make sense. 

https://travel.state.gov/content/dam/visas/Statistics/Non-Immigrant-Statistics/RefusalRates/FY18.pdf

 

NATIONALITY ADJUSTED REFUSAL RATE NAURU 21.43% NEPAL 51.53% NETHERLANDS 9.56% NEW ZEALAND 19.97% NICARAGUA 46.75% NIGER 43.33% NIGERIA 57.47% **NON-NATIONALITY BASED ISSUANCES 40.27% NORWAY 12.4% OMAN 4.87% PAKISTAN 47.89% PALESTINIAN AUTHORITY TRAVEL DOCUMENT 53.87% PANAMA 11.71% PAPUA NEW GUINEA 6.84% PARAGUAY 8.02% PERU 28.53% PHILIPPINES 27.07% POLAND 3.99% PORTUGAL 7.28% QATAR 8.34% REPUBLIC OF PALAU 71.43% ROMANIA 10.44% RUSSIA 14.89% RWANDA 44.51% SAMOA 26.26% SAN MARINO 25% SAO TOME AND PRINCIPE 26.09% SAUDI ARABIA 7.47% SENEGAL 59.18% SERBIA 25.93% SEYCHELLES 11.64% SIERRA LEONE 60.56% SINGAPORE 14.29% SLOVAKIA 16.21% SLOVENIA 12.33% SOLOMON ISLANDS 3.57% SOMALIA 90.16% SOUTH AFRICA 7.31% SOUTH SUDAN 41.29% SPAIN 14.04% SRI LANKA 33.61% ST LUCIA 21.9% Page 4 of 5

FY18.pdf 330.31 kB · 0 downloads

I haven't looked at them but perhaps those stats include all visa types. i.e. Spouse visa's are granted at a very high percentage but visitor visa's are granted at a much lower percentage.

[thailen]

No one  gets a tourist  visa to the U.S.period. The only visas they give are K-1 fiance visas and CR-1(marriage) visas. The best site for the latest ino and help is VisaJourney.com. I recently got a CR-1 visa for my wife after 8 months of delay, incompetency,suspicion, mistrust and any other adjective describing our immigration bureaucracy, a process that should have taken 3 months(DCR fast track in the Philippines). Maybe xxxxxxxx people will share a secret recipe to get her in, but I highly doubt it...

[Jollygoodfellow]

2 hours ago, thailen said:

No one  gets a tourist  visa to the U.S.period. The only visas they give are K-1 fiance visas and CR-1(marriage) visas. The best site for the latest ino and help is VisaJourney.com. I recently got a CR-1 visa for my wife after 8 months of delay, incompetency,suspicion, mistrust and any other adjective describing our immigration bureaucracy, a process that should have taken 3 months(DCR fast track in the Philippines). Maybe exxx  people will share a secret recipe to get her in, but I highly doubt it...

Not true that a tourist visa can not be done.

[Joey G]

tourist visa is absolutely possible... I know of several who have gotten them in past few months... there are factors that make it hard(er).... but far from impossible

[Mike J]

6 hours ago, earthdome said:

I haven't looked at them but perhaps those stats include all visa types. i.e. Spouse visa's are granted at a very high percentage but visitor visa's are granted at a much lower percentage.

This is the rejection rate for B1 (visitor as tourist) and B2 (visitor for business) visa only, not for spouse, fiance, etc. 

[Mike J]

6 hours ago, thailen said:

No one  gets a tourist  visa to the U.S.period. The only visas they give are K-1 fiance visas and CR-1(marriage) visas. The best site for the latest ino and help is VisaJourney.com. I recently got a CR-1 visa for my wife after 8 months of delay, incompetency,suspicion, mistrust and any other adjective describing our immigration bureaucracy, a process that should have taken 3 months(DCR fast track in the Philippines). Maybe xxxxxxxx people will share a secret recipe to get her in, but I highly doubt it...

As others have posted you are completely wrong.   I checked the VisaJourney website.  I see that they track visa timelines, etc.  What they DO NOT do is track applications and timelines for TOURIST VISA.   In 2016 the US issued 11 million visa, 95% of which were tourist visa.  It is no wonder that VisaJourney only tracks visa applications other than tourist.  Their absence of reporting does not prove absence of issue. 

Edited January 12, 2020 by Mike J

[Joey G]

If you want to get a B-1/B-2 visa to the USA, and you are using "spouse" as the reason in the application/interview, you're gonna get flagged... because the B-1/B-2 visa has nothing to do with being a spouse.... you'll be viewed as trying to bypass the system. 

[Marvin Boggs]

1 hour ago, Mike J said:

This is the rejection rate for B1 (visitor as tourist) and B2 (visitor for business) visa only, not for spouse, fiance, etc. 

If it's combining B1 and B2 in that statistic, then it could be a simple case of most B2's being granted but very few B1's.  I wonder what the 2019 data shows.  In our case, she has a legitimate business in her name that would be appropriate for a legitimate trip to the US.  I would have explored B2 first if I thought B1 was going to be so difficult. 

 

Edited January 12, 2020 by Marvin Boggs

[Marvin Boggs]

3 hours ago, Joey G said:

tourist visa is absolutely possible... I know of several who have gotten them in past few months... there are factors that make it hard(er).... but far from impossible

If you could add some detail I think we could really benefit from it.  Did these approvals have family members already in the States?  Had they already been to the US before?  Did they have children with US passports?  

This is why the Expat forum has a lot of value, so we can share experiences.  In my case, and others here, our wives are getting denied for no discernible reason.