A 47-year-old relative applied for a US B1/B2 visa in Lima, Peru today and completed the DS-160 form specifying the following relevant information:
- That she was divorced for more than 10 years now.
- That she will travel with her 27-year-old son and that he will be mainly affording the trip costs.
- That her sister is a LPR (Lawful Permanent Resident).
- That her role at work is actually related to business tasks and being in charge of 3 people and also specified her salary (which is way more than the minimum wage for the country).
And, during the interview, the consular officer just asked the following questions (with a terrible attitude, not even saying “hello” and showing at least a bit of respect):
Q: What’s the purpose of the trip?
A: Attend to my sister’s wedding with my son and stay for 5 days in FL.
Q: Who will afford the trip costs?
A: I will, but my son will primarily do it (I have papers to demonstrate his funds and job if you want to take a look).
Q: Does your son have a US visa?
A: Yes, he does.
Then, the consular officer just said “Ah, your son has a US visa" (she took note of something in the system) and told my relative that her application was refused under "Section 214(b) of the US immigration and Nationality Act" and gave her a paper “explaining the reasons” of the decision.
After that, my relative asked the consular officer what was the specific reason of the refusal and she just told her to read the paper - which actually says nothing and we all know it’s just a formalism and contains too abroad information - then my relative replied “but the paper says nothing” and the consular officer just stopped talking.
Being that said, I got the following questions:
1. What could be the criteria, in this particular case, for refusing my relative’s visa application (based on your experience, since I can't really understand) and how is it possible for a consular officer to determine whether or not you are eligible for a visa with such basic questions and without reviewing any document.
2. Based on the previous info, can I assume that my relative got a refusal because of the “attitude” of the consular officer and do you think it’s a good idea to re-apply soon?
Particularly I find all this a bit unfair and totally inaccurate to determine who is eligible for a US visa or not and compared to other embassies but this is just my personal opinion (at the end it feels as if the applicant is playing a roulette game).
