Best way for US citizen to invite a friend over for a tourist visa?

[jd426]

If you really want to play the "visa lottery", it's only going to cost you $160 to try. Like others have said, if she doesn't have a good job, or have a bank account, or own property - chances are slim, but some Dominicans have been approved with not even a "pot to p*ss in". Others with good jobs have applied 3-4 times before finally getting approved. Go figure.

I have heard the exact same .. cant figure it out.. and nothing changed from the 1st to the 3rd attempt. Same Job, same residence, same family situation, no new babies.
Not sure what they are looking for , or if it truly is a Lottery System, even IF one meets the qualifications ..
imo, i think its an artificial way to jack up the cost of the Application, which of course is NON Refundable .. in other words if on Average people have to TRY at least 2 times , then that is the REAL cost of the Application , in terms of the Total Revenue.. Would not put it past them at all.. diff topic though i guess.

 

[windeguy]

The advice given about owning property, a car, having a job, long term bank account, etc as items that increase the chances of getting a visa have been learned over time to help, just like learning that ties in the US have been learned to hurt the chances.

The real criteria for getting a visitor's visa is not disclosed.

 

[jd426]

The advice given about owning property, a car, having a job, long term bank account, etc as items that increase the chances of getting a visa have been learned over time to help, just like learning that ties in the US have been learned to hurt the chances.

The real criteria for getting a visitor's visa is not disclosed.

Not debating you, or even remotely trying to argue,, but this is most Illogical.
Especially if a persons situation does NOT change at all, and they are approved on the 3rd attempt .
There is no clear pattern, that is the only pattern.. therefore it appears Random,, IF you meet the MIN qualifications .
Saying the criteria is not disclosed does not prove there is a set of Criteria. And why would such things be a guarded Secret ?
And btw, their "system" whatever it is, does not seem to be working anyway , because a huge percentage of people DO overstay the 5 months , and never return to the DR.. so its a fail on their part either way. Just visit Wash Heights NY and you can meet many people who overstayed with no intentions to ever return to the DR >> until of course they MARRY a Citizen, and get their papers in order that way.
just saying..

 

[RDKNIGHT]

Not debating you, or even remotely trying to argue,, but this is most Illogical.
Especially if a persons situation does NOT change at all, and they are approved on the 3rd attempt .
There is no clear pattern, that is the only pattern.. therefore it appears Random,, IF you meet the MIN qualifications .
Saying the criteria is not disclosed does not prove there is a set of Criteria. And why would such things be a guarded Secret ?
And btw, their "system" whatever it is, does not seem to be working anyway , because a huge percentage of people DO overstay the 5 months , and never return to the DR.. so its a fail on their part either way. Just visit Wash Heights NY and you can meet many people who overstayed with no intentions to ever return to the DR >> until of course they MARRY a Citizen, and get their papers in order that way.
just saying..

this is very true.

 

[Aguaita29]

I will say that a B2 visa seems to be easier to obtain right now! House keeper just got one for 10y multi entry. No Property, no bank account all family here in the DR.

True!You don't need to have a car or property. Most people aren't even asked to show their bank statements.

 

[windeguy]

Not debating you, or even remotely trying to argue,, but this is most Illogical.
Especially if a persons situation does NOT change at all, and they are approved on the 3rd attempt .
There is no clear pattern, that is the only pattern.. therefore it appears Random,, IF you meet the MIN qualifications .
Saying the criteria is not disclosed does not prove there is a set of Criteria. And why would such things be a guarded Secret ?
And btw, their "system" whatever it is, does not seem to be working anyway , because a huge percentage of people DO overstay the 5 months , and never return to the DR.. so its a fail on their part either way. Just visit Wash Heights NY and you can meet many people who overstayed with no intentions to ever return to the DR >> until of course they MARRY a Citizen, and get their papers in order that way.
just saying..

I have been to Washington Heights.

There appears to be some randomness to the granting of visitor's visas, but we don't know that because they won't say. The other factors have over time been learned to improve or decrease ones chances. For a spouse of a US citizen, a visitor's visa is very difficult to obtain.

 

[JD Jones]

To expand on this my housekeeper is part time, 1 day a week. she has 3 other employers that I know of so going by what I pay her she is making about 8-10k RD a month. she has no car, no bank account, all family here in the DR, 2 children under the age of 18 and 1 older. She got her visa on the first try, this flies in the face of all the advise given so far.

Another friend of mine's wife has tried twice, turned down both times, married for 4 years, housewife. No desire on the spouses part to go back to the US, just wants to be able to take the wife for a visit.
Getting a visa is about the same a going to Vegas never know if you will win or not.

Boy.... that's scary. I'm gonna try to get one for my wife soon. I hope we get better results.


My previous wife got hers on the first try, and the whole process only took a couple of days.

Just wondering, my ex and I were divorced 7 years ago. (she lives in Chile now) Is that going to cause problems for my new wife?

 

[USA DOC]

.....Talked to a friend of mine in USA, he is a immigration specialist......He said the one thing that is constant is the number of visas given to a certain country on a certain year.......that is the known factor, the unknown is how many will apply, then mix in my governments ability to grant visas in a logical way, and then to think that they have the ability to turn people down several times just to make money......cant think of anything the USA government does that makes money ........Doc..........

 

[Aguaita29]

To expand on this my housekeeper is part time, 1 day a week. she has 3 other employers that I know of so going by what I pay her she is making about 8-10k RD a month. she has no car, no bank account, all family here in the DR, 2 children under the age of 18 and 1 older. She got her visa on the first try, this flies in the face of all the advise given so far.

Another friend of mine's wife has tried twice, turned down both times, married for 4 years, housewife. No desire on the spouses part to go back to the US, just wants to be able to take the wife for a visit.
Getting a visa is about the same a going to Vegas never know if you will win or not.

But, did your housekeeper actually wrote that she was a housekeeper and how much she really earned on her application. I doubt it!

On the second case you mention, it seems that the husband used to live abroad, has ties to the us, etc. so they must have thought about the possibility of her overstaying.

 

[windeguy]

Question for JDJones

Boy.... that's scary. I'm gonna try to get one for my wife soon. I hope we get better results.


My previous wife got hers on the first try, and the whole process only took a couple of days.

Just wondering, my ex and I were divorced 7 years ago. (she lives in Chile now) Is that going to cause problems for my new wife?

JD, you are a US citizen and while you were married to a Dominican woman she got a visitor's visa to the US?
That is a very rare occurrence. I was told they "never" do that, but I am sure there are occasional exceptions.

 

[windeguy]

.....Talked to a friend of mine in USA, he is a immigration specialist......He said the one thing that is constant is the number of visas given to a certain country on a certain year.......that is the known factor, the unknown is how many will apply, then mix in my governments ability to grant visas in a logical way, and then to think that they have the ability to turn people down several times just to make money......cant think of anything the USA government does that makes money ........Doc..........

The constant number of visas per country in a year would explain how some people who otherwise would not qualify "win the visa lottery" by applying at the right time.

 

[bienamor]

But, did your housekeeper actually wrote that she was a housekeeper and how much she really earned on her application. I doubt it!

On the second case you mention, it seems that the husband used to live abroad, has ties to the us, etc. so they must have thought about the possibility of her overstaying.

No Idea what she had put on the request form. Do know I wrote a letter for detailing that she worked for me as a house cleaner.
In the other the case the husband is retired lives here has no thoughts of going back to the US no ties to the US. The wife has family here including children from a former marriage that are not minors.

As I said seems to be a crap shoot

 

[USA DOC]

The constant number of visas per country in a year would explain how some people who otherwise would not qualify "win the visa lottery" by applying at the right time.

.....Bingo.......I think it is like the lottery......I am sure they spend more money than they take in on every application....Soooo is better just to keep those applications coming..........Doc........

 

[JD Jones]

JD, you are a US citizen and while you were married to a Dominican woman she got a visitor's visa to the US?
That is a very rare occurrence. I was told they "never" do that, but I am sure there are occasional exceptions.

Nope, I don't think it was a visitors visa. Don't bet my life on it, but I think it was a K-3 (please don't tell me that's a visitors visa)

 

[windeguy]

Nope, I don't think it was a visitors visa. Don't bet my life on it, but I think it was a K-3 (please don't tell me that's a visitors visa)

Not a visitor's visa:

Nonimmigrant Visa for a Spouse (K-3)
https://travel.state.gov/content/visas/en/immigrate/family/spouse-citizen.html
Because the spouse of a U.S. citizen applying for a nonimmigrant K-3 visa must have a immigrant visa petition filed on his or her behalf by his or her U.S. citizen spouse and pending approval, a K-3 applicant must meet some of the requirements of an immigrant visa.

 

[cavok]

Getting a K-3 visa easily takes 6-8 months, requires a medical, a lot of paperwork, and is not cheap. Very time consuming and expensive way to take your wife to the US for vacation!

 

[cavok]

JD, you are a US citizen and while you were married to a Dominican woman she got a visitor's visa to the US?
That is a very rare occurrence. I was told they "never" do that, but I am sure there are occasional exceptions.

One of the few cases I've heard of, the husband(US citizen)was a Permanent Resident here, owned a house, had been married to his Dominican wife for several years, and had an established business - which apparently was enought to satisfy the immigration officer that he would return with his wife.