Tourist visa

[solarguard89]

Hello, everyone. I need a little bit of your opinion on the situation please. I will appreciate this.
My girlfriend wants to come to U.S. to visit me. She is studying English in Canada right now and she also has there work authorization. Her program finishes this October. She has 2 J1 visa (Work&Travel) refusals in 2010 and 2011. She wants to apply with her friend, who is going to travel with her farther soon to U.S. Her friend has enough money and very good standing with the university.
Will the fact that she applies for another type of visa and with the friend help to obtain visa (I understand that is not a guarantee)?

Thank you very much.

[calmissile]

Our Canadian friends might be able to assist you better.  It is not clear what you girlfriends status is.  What country is she a citizen of?  More details of her status will make it easier to answer your quesitons.

[BC]

With tourist visas it seems all boils down to two factors..

1. Money to support yourself (not depending on another party like her friend).
2. Bonds to her homeland that present compelling reasons to return, i.e. job, property, children etc.

As such I think chances are pretty slim. The bar is pretty high.

I assume her Canadian work permit and student visa will expire in October.  This might also be frowned upon, but  If she returns to her homeland that would be a plus the next time she applies for a US tourist visa, or better yet maybe a US student visa to continue her studies.

[solarguard89]

BC, She has a paper that says that she needs to finish only 4 months of her school to obtain her Masters in Ukraine. And I think the fact that she is going to US in August for a week and she still has 2.5 months of work in Canada might help. What do you think?

calmissile, She is Ukrainian and her status in Canada is Student. She is on Work&Study program right now. Program says she required to study 3 months and than work 3 months. Total is 6 months.

[timinua]

It's all about the Benjamins!

Pieces of paper that say this or that about university or health can be bought for very small sums. Familial relationships that are not immediate (spouse or child) also count for very little as most of the family will probably be urging the visa applicant to go and never come back. The embassy knows all of this.

They really are only looking for one thing: to see whether or not they'd be financially better off being an illegal in the US than being at home. So employment history, tax returns, bank statements, and ownership deeds (of property and chattel) are gold.

In a related topic, one of my students, the director of a crewing agency, said she is having a slow period because the US embassy is throttling visa applications as a protest over dear Julia. I take Ukrainian conspiracy theories with a pinch of salt, so has anyone else heard of this or experienced a rejection recently?