B1/B2 visa request with only 2 days job and no family ties (urgent) - help plz!

[Jam969]

Hello,

I would be grateful to have an advice on my situation:

I have a PR status in Canada for 4 and a half years. My current job (first one in Canada) which has lasted 4 years will terminate on the 12th September 2013 due to poor company performance. I have a new job starting 16th September 2013 and as a requirement of the new job, I need to be able to travel to the USA from time to time without administration delays. My new employer has given me 1 month to sort out my USA Visa (I am from a country that requires a visa to enter USA) but my employer is willing to help me. I have submitted my DS-160 application form and have an interview on the 18th September.

My concerns :
1) I do not have family ties in Canada (nor USA).
2) I will have only 2 days employment from the new employer (with 3 months probation)
3) I do not have any specific trip planned

I have therefore sent visa applications for my wife and child as well so as to have a second reason for needing the visa : tourism. I have put an expected travel date : 6th October for a trip lasting less than 24 hours (I live close to the border) whereby I do not need to provide any USA stay contact/address.

Evidence I intend to bring:
- PR card for the 3 of us
- Letter of employment (from and to) from present employer and letter from future employer indicating that I am required to travel to USA for xxx purpose without lengthy notice and he will take charge of all business costs and the trip will be covered by insurance
- Bank statements of myself and wife
- Proof we have applied for Canadian citizenship
- Pay slips of my current employer + for my wife
- Residence ownership deed (at the names of myself and my wife)
- Passport
- DS-160 confirmation page
- Interview appointment whereby payment receipt number is included

Question : Are the concerns 1), 2) and 3) real concerns? Can you give me some important advice (evidence to bring / interview tips on how to present my case)?

Thanks a lot in advance as this could make me lose a job a second time!

[Nattybone]

Hello,

I am not an expert on Immigration matters, i am sharing a few thoughts.

I personally feel, if you present a concrete agenda, it always helps. i.e.: If you say you are going for Tourism, then stick to it. If you add that i might have work also in the future, which would be sponsored by my employer, it might make your intention appear ambiguous.

If you want to say the purpose is business, then you furnish specific business event, dates and paperwork and stick to that plan. I feel, the best approach is to not mix the two. Stick to one plan.

Also, you have a Canadian PR, it should work positively for you.

These are my personal thoughts, i am not a professional.

Hope this helps.

Wishing you luck.

Cheers,

Hello,

I would be grateful to have an advice on my situation:

I have a PR status in Canada for 4 and a half years. My current job (first one in Canada) which has lasted 4 years will terminate on the 12th September 2013 due to poor company performance. I have a new job starting 16th September 2013 and as a requirement of the new job, I need to be able to travel to the USA from time to time without administration delays. My new employer has given me 1 month to sort out my USA Visa (I am from a country that requires a visa to enter USA) but my employer is willing to help me. I have submitted my DS-160 application form and have an interview on the 18th September.

My concerns :
1) I do not have family ties in Canada (nor USA).
2) I will have only 2 days employment from the new employer (with 3 months probation)
3) I do not have any specific trip planned

I have therefore sent visa applications for my wife and child as well so as to have a second reason for needing the visa : tourism. I have put an expected travel date : 6th October for a trip lasting less than 24 hours (I live close to the border) whereby I do not need to provide any USA stay contact/address.

Evidence I intend to bring:
- PR card for the 3 of us
- Letter of employment (from and to) from present employer and letter from future employer indicating that I am required to travel to USA for xxx purpose without lengthy notice and he will take charge of all business costs and the trip will be covered by insurance
- Bank statements of myself and wife
- Proof we have applied for Canadian citizenship
- Pay slips of my current employer + for my wife
- Residence ownership deed (at the names of myself and my wife)
- Passport
- DS-160 confirmation page
- Interview appointment whereby payment receipt number is included

Question : Are the concerns 1), 2) and 3) real concerns? Can you give me some important advice (evidence to bring / interview tips on how to present my case)?

Thanks a lot in advance as this could make me lose a job a second time!

[Jam969]

Hello,

I am not an expert on Immigration matters, i am sharing a few thoughts.

I personally feel, if you present a concrete agenda, it always helps. i.e.: If you say you are going for Tourism, then stick to it. If you add that i might have work also in the future, which would be sponsored by my employer, it might make your intention appear ambiguous.

If you want to say the purpose is business, then you furnish specific business event, dates and paperwork and stick to that plan. I feel, the best approach is to not mix the two. Stick to one plan.

Also, you have a Canadian PR, it should work positively for you.

These are my personal thoughts, i am not a professional.

Hope this helps.

Wishing you luck.

Cheers,

Hello,

Thank you for your valuable thoughts. So, if I understand well, the request of a B2 tourist visa will automatically entitle me to get a B1/B2 visa (tourism and business)? Do you think my 2 days' work (1 day in fact) can be a problem?

Thanks a lot!

[Nattybone]

Hello,

Yes. They will issue you a B1/B2 visa. I had applied for a tourist visa, to visit my brother in Texas. They issued me a B1/B2 visa. I think the form itself is same.

When you enter USA on B1/B2 visa, at the port of entry, you are asked for your purpose of visit. If you say official work, they would like to see some documentation (Letter from the company mentioning the work, identifying you etc.) and issue you a B1 I94. If you say, you are there to meet a cousin / friends / holidaying, they will issue you a B2 I94.

You can meet business colleagues.

These are my personal thoughts. I am not a professional.

Hope this helps. Wish you luck.

Cheers,

Hello,

Thank you for your valuable thoughts. So, if I understand well, the request of a B2 tourist visa will automatically entitle me to get a B1/B2 visa (tourism and business)? Do you think my 2 days' work (1 day in fact) can be a problem?

Thanks a lot!

[Jam969]

Thanks a lot Nattybone.

Can you please roughly evaluate my chances? I'm especially worried with my 1 day work at my new job (past job lasted 4 years) and also no planned trip - for the interview I would say that I live 30 minutes from the border and since I have heard shopping is very interesting in the USA, I want to go there (to Plattsburg since it is 30 minutes from the border) for shopping and tourism with my wife and children. Does that hold?

Any other questions that VO may ask that would be pertinent to my situation?

Thanks a lot!

Hello,

I am not an expert on Immigration matters, i am sharing a few thoughts.

I personally feel, if you present a concrete agenda, it always helps. i.e.: If you say you are going for Tourism, then stick to it. If you add that i might have work also in the future, which would be sponsored by my employer, it might make your intention appear ambiguous.

If you want to say the purpose is business, then you furnish specific business event, dates and paperwork and stick to that plan. I feel, the best approach is to not mix the two. Stick to one plan.

Also, you have a Canadian PR, it should work positively for you.

These are my personal thoughts, i am not a professional.

Hope this helps.

Wishing you luck.

Cheers,

[Nattybone]

Hello, Jam969.

You will be joining a new job, or you are not working right now? They do like to see stability in job.

There are no guarantees, and no one can predict the outcome of these visa interviews. Please, do conduct some more research and do not rely solely on this exchange of ours.

This sounds good. I would want to say visiting XYZ place in NY. Manhattan City or something like that. That way, the plan sounds more concrete than just shopping. This is my personal opinion.

They would ask you your salary, Nature of work, relatives in US, any earlier trips to US.

Hope this helps. Do conduct some more research, please.

Wishing you luck

Thanks a lot Nattybone.

Can you please roughly evaluate my chances? I'm especially worried with my 1 day work at my new job (past job lasted 4 years) and also no planned trip - for the interview I would say that I live 30 minutes from the border and since I have heard shopping is very interesting in the USA, I want to go there (to Plattsburg since it is 30 minutes from the border) for shopping and tourism with my wife and children. Does that hold?

Any other questions that VO may ask that would be pertinent to my situation?

Thanks a lot!

[Jam969]

Nearly getting it!

Hi Nattybone,

I went to the interview today and guess what... VO says he will approve it! Question : since it will take 5 days for them to inform me when/where to take my passport, is it possible that during that time the visa is revoked for some reason or another?
He is my experience (can be helpful for the community):
VO : for how long are you a PR of Canada?
VO : Are you married?
VO: What's the age of your child (also travelling with me)?
VO: What does your spouse do?
VO: What do you do? Here I said I was an Instrumentation and Control Engineer when in fact I have a degree in Industrial Computing and Instrumentation, have worked in the Automation field for 13 years and have worked as 'Software and Automation' field for 4 years and I'm currently employed as Industrial Computing engineer. He noted this in his computer - hope it's not a problem in the future as all these fields are related. Any comments on this?
VO: What are you going to do in the USA?
After I said your recommendation, he said he will approve my visa! Thanks a lot for your valuable suggestions!

[Nattybone]

Hi Nattybone,

I went to the interview today and guess what... VO says he will approve it! Question : since it will take 5 days for them to inform me when/where to take my passport, is it possible that during that time the visa is revoked for some reason or another?
He is my experience (can be helpful for the community):
VO : for how long are you a PR of Canada?
VO : Are you married?
VO: What's the age of your child (also travelling with me)?
VO: What does your spouse do?
VO: What do you do? Here I said I was an Instrumentation and Control Engineer when in fact I have a degree in Industrial Computing and Instrumentation, have worked in the Automation field for 13 years and have worked as 'Software and Automation' field for 4 years and I'm currently employed as Industrial Computing engineer. He noted this in his computer - hope it's not a problem in the future as all these fields are related. Any comments on this?
VO: What are you going to do in the USA?
After I said your recommendation, he said he will approve my visa! Thanks a lot for your valuable suggestions!

Awesome, Jam969.

Congratulations!

Unless they find some problem with the documents , they will send you the passport with the visa (2-3 days). No worries.

As regards entering your occupation details in the computer, they will ask you the same at Port of Entry. What do you do etc.? Which they do match with their system.

Now, my one query, what did you say when he asked what are you going to do in USA? (Did you say Holidaying + Work, or just one - either Holiday or Work)?

Congratulations, again!

Cheers,

[Jam969]

Finally! Hooray.

Hi Nattybone,

Reason for going to USA : I said we have many plans - we want to go to New York, Florida and Myrtle beach (that's where Quebecers usually go). And I said that for our first trip, we would go to Plattsburg since it's only 1 hour from where I live and I would also go to Lake Placid. He immediadiately said your visa is approved!!! Too great!

One thing however: my new work had already bought tickets+hotels for a training for me in France and I was still waiting for my passport back (I am flying in 5 days). We were supposed to get an e-mail from the USA consulate but nothing after 7 days after the interview! Finally while trying to click on a few links starting from the ceac website and signing in, I saw that my passport was ready for pickup 2 working days ago. I went to fetch my passport today and it's valid for 10 years and with note : Bearer is a legal permanent resident of Canada. So coooool!

Thanks a lot once again Natty!

Awesome, Jam969.

Congratulations!

Unless they find some problem with the documents , they will send you the passport with the visa (2-3 days). No worries.

As regards entering your occupation details in the computer, they will ask you the same at Port of Entry. What do you do etc.? Which they do match with their system.

Now, my one query, what did you say when he asked what are you going to do in USA? (Did you say Holidaying + Work, or just one - either Holiday or Work)?

Congratulations, again!

Cheers,

[Nattybone]

Hi Nattybone,

Reason for going to USA : I said we have many plans - we want to go to New York, Florida and Myrtle beach (that's where Quebecers usually go). And I said that for our first trip, we would go to Plattsburg since it's only 1 hour from where I live and I would also go to Lake Placid. He immediadiately said your visa is approved!!! Too great!

One thing however: my new work had already bought tickets+hotels for a training for me in France and I was still waiting for my passport back (I am flying in 5 days). We were supposed to get an e-mail from the USA consulate but nothing after 7 days after the interview! Finally while trying to click on a few links starting from the ceac website and signing in, I saw that my passport was ready for pickup 2 working days ago. I went to fetch my passport today and it's valid for 10 years and with note : Bearer is a legal permanent resident of Canada. So coooool!

Thanks a lot once again Natty!

Thank you for your response, Jam969.

I am glad to be of use to you. Awesome! And now you are going to France. How amazing is that.

You have fun. And, wishing you luck.

Cheers,