Why my U.S. B1 Visa got refused under 214 (b)?

12/2/2014 8:01:01 PM

Interviewer: Have you ever been to U.S. before?
Me: NO
Interviewer: Have you ever been abroad before?
Me: NO

Basically, you do NOT have a record of leaving your country and returning. Your situation is like having “no credit history.”

The first step is to take a trip to another country (hopefully Western, e.g. Canada), and return to your home. That will help establish your “travel history.”

It seems that the problem may not be you, but your “home” country. That is, while an American consul would not suspect, say, a Canadian of wanting to immigrate to the U.S. and not return, s/he may feel this way about people from YOUR country.

What you need to do is to set yourself apart from others of your country. Going to Canada and returning home would be a good start. But, depending on your home country, you might have to do more than that. Buying a home (as opposed to renting), would help. So would marrying and starting a family. Finally, it helps, if you are over, rather than under age 30, all other things being equal.

One recourse you might have is your client company. If it happens to be Apple, Google or IBM, a letter from them saying that they will see you home should do. If it happens to be Podunk Software, that might not be so good, but then again, it might work.

It’s unfair, but that’s the way it is, when people are judged by their country, and not personally.

9/10/2015 11:51:46 PM

That’s unfortunate, and I really hope there was more to it than just that. Did you have any other paperwork he’d seen before? Plane tickets etc?

A 214-b refusal is essentially failure to convince the interviewer than you’re not an alien immigrant.

They start each interview ASSUMING you’re trying to immigrate, and this is frustrating as it means the responsibility is on you to prove you’re not.

This is done by showing STRONG ties to your home country, ideally a return ticket, evidence that perhaps you’ve only booked hotels for a week, emails showing meetings, contact details (business cards?), and a letter from your company indicating your current employment and intention to return after talking to client. Your current living evidence (utility bills and more). This is only a small subset – there are many other documents that MIGHT suit you better, or provide additional evidence – bank accounts, evidence of your family in India that you support, are other possible examples.

Fortunately, there’s no harm in reapplying – refusals are NOT permanent. But you’ll want to make sure you have more information. And next time IF (hopefully not) they reject you citing 214b, ASK why. It’s a huge category, and if you don’t ask it’s very hard to guess at what they might have failed you on.

Definitely have a read of the official 214b refusal page I linked – it goes into a lot more detail and will hopefully give you further insight.

Credit:stackoverflow.com‘

About me

Hello,My name is Aparna Patel,I’m a Travel Blogger and Photographer who travel the world full-time with my hubby.I like to share my travel experience.

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