Former Visa Officers stories from behind the visa window

I'm a former Visa officer and today I want to tell you a story about being a Visa officer about an applicant that I interviewed while I was a Visa officer [Music] I was a Visa officer in Guangzhou China in Bogota Colombia and then also did Visa interviews and other posts while I was sent there on temporary duty this was an interview that I conducted with someone who had been refused four times four times refusal when I opened up their case I see refusal refusal refusal refusal all quite recently when most peace officers will see a situation like that and I would as well you think there's something bad there's something negative about this case that's going to make me refuse this Visa four of my colleagues have already refused this person a Visa so this Visa applicant really came in with low chances of getting their visa issue now I was a little bit different as a Visa officer I I really wanted to make sure that people got a fair shot and wasn't just trying to go fast I was also trying to make sure that people did not get overlooked that people would get their visas if they did qualify for their Visas so instead of just offhandedly refusing this person I did what most of these officers aren't going to do I asked more questions now it wasn't easy this Visa applicant was not really open to talking a lot they gave short answers they didn't really answer what I was asking them I was asking them where are they going to go to school what are they going to study uh how are they going to pay for it they're giving me one word answers I'm going to this University I'm going to study business I'm paying for it with my family these kinds of answers right well lucky for this applicant I asked a few more questions I asked what do your parents do he told me agriculture yeah I'd seen this in the notes I had seen that the other officers said family is uh Farmers going to a school that is not well known and paying for it himself doesn't seem to be the profile of a student coming from an affluent family who's going to go to the U.S and return to their country as their visa dictates that they should so I hear Agriculture and I just decided ask one more question I decided to ask how big is your parents agriculture operation and he said um I don't know I said tell me just give me an idea how big is it and he said they have about 80 employees all of a sudden the situation was completely different this applicant was not very outgoing was not very extroverted was not giving a lot of information in the interview they just showed up handed their documents and just waited for the result they were going to University that I'd heard of but it was not a great University it's a legitimate University but it's not like they're going to Harvard they were studying business which is a middle of the road degree to go and study um you know it's not like they're studying theoretical physics or something like that so the academic credentials were not that strong but what this applicant was doing was giving a simple answer that didn't give the full scope of his family's finances his family's his family's agricultural operation had ADM to what the Visa officer had in their mind those four other Visa officers had in their mind when they got the answer from him agriculture or farming right they're thinking okay your parents are the farm hands working as an employee on a farm right or have a tiny farm for themselves all of a sudden it's completely different now why didn't he know to say that well he didn't know why he was being asked these questions right you need to know why you're being asked these questions why is the Visa officer asking about your parents professions they're trying to figure out where you fit in socioeconomically in that country where you're from to see if you probably are going to come back to a good stable life in your home country after you go to the U.S or if you're going to go to the US and you've got better prospects in the U.S working undocumented and staying past your Visa and not returning to your country all of a sudden knowing that this agricultural operation is a quite a big business venture completely changed the tables on this and this student did get their visa issued by me after I was able to get more information than the previous Visa officers got now don't think that that's going to happen to you that you're just going to roll the dice and you're just going to keep going in and being quiet and then eventually there's going to be some benevolent Visa officer who's going to take the time to get the information that they need from you that you're just going to sit there and passively wait for them to elicit no you need to take the reins if that student had come in further visa interview and from the very beginning they had said my family owns an agricultural operation with over 80 employees and x amount of Revenue per year my family's net worth is x amount of uh x amount of dollars and we own this many properties etc etc knowing that his family's finances were the real highlight of his application he would not have had to suffer through those four refusals that's what you need to do is identify those strengths before you go into your interview and know how to present them that's what I've done for many clients I had a client now talking as a consultant after I left the government with Argo Visa we had a client come to us who had been refused his Visa nine times nine refusals and the situation was very similar going to a middle of the road school without a great reputation not having excelled academically beforehand in fact also having a gap between his previous studies and his master's degree non-traditional student without great academic credentials these are red flags for the Visa officers he had gone into the Visa interviews in the exact same way very prepared with lots of documents and then just giving very simple answers after that second third refusal he wasn't getting another another shot at an interview every time the Visa officers open it up and when they see seven eight nine refusals they're thinking okay I'm just gonna refuse this person who apparently doesn't get it I'm going to refuse them get them out of here because they're not qualified to review so eight of my colleagues have said the exact same thing well we help this Visa applicant this applicant was in India we helped him describe his family's affluence which he had never brought up in fact he was using a loan to go to the US just because it was convenient but his family had lots of assets and lots of income but alone made it seem like he his family could not afford to send him to the U.S so we got him to where in answer to the very first question that he was asked he said uh yes I'm going to the U.S to study whatever it was but I know that you'll see I've been refused nine times I'm pretty sure it's because I haven't explained my family's finances to you let me give you a brief summary my family has x y z earns a b c laid it out like that caught the officer's attention you catch the officer's attention and all of a sudden they think well I need to get a little more information because this seems not as clean cut as I thought when I saw nine refusals previously the officer asks a few more questions the the student is knowledgeable and forthright and talkative about this fine these Financial uh credentials that he and his family have the officer asks for a few documents the applicant had a summary of these finances an executive summary of it and the extensive evidence of it all of a sudden this student's prospects went from being refused almost a 99 chance of being refused to being issued they got their visa they were able to go to the U.S the key here is knowing how you are going to present yourself okay these are two stories one from the inside one from the outside there are other stories that don't go so well these stories though exemplify how you can do well in your interview even if you've been refused before never replied before you implement these same strategies and you will be able to present your credentials and convince the Visa officer that you do qualify for the Visa [Music]

Channel: Argo Visa

Views: 59,949

Keywords: visa interview, usa visa, us visa, nvc interview, consulate interview, consular interview, embassy interview, visa expert, visa advice, visa officer, consular officer, visa agent, consulate officer, immigration interview, immigrant interview, visa coaching, visa interview coaching, visa consultant, visa interview consultant, 214b, 214-b, 214 b, 214(b), visa refusal, visa refused, visa rejection, visa rejected, visa denied, visa denial

Id: ikwun9CVR0o

Length: 8min 36sec (516 seconds)

Published: Tue May 02 2023