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I was originally born and raised in Sofia, Bulgaria and came to US on a green card 13 years ago. I am now a naturalized US citizen.
I am looking for some help for a very close family friend (68 old, now retired), who originally had applied for a B2 visa back in 2008. His visa was granted and he came to visit once in 2009. He came and left well before the expiration date of his visa. No issues.
He's been trying to come here for a second visit ever since, but his subsequent applications keep getting rejected and we cannot figure out why. There have been no significant changes in his personal life or financial situation. He does have a daughter, two grand kinds and two sisters, all of which live either in Sofia, Bulgaria or in other EU countries, such as Switzerland and Greece. He has some liquid assets in the bank (more than sufficient to cover the trip) and he owns two apartments; one of them provides supplemental rental income. No criminal record of any kind.
Here is a list of his visa applications:
Summer 2008 - B2 visa granted for 1 year; traveled to the US in 2009 [employed full-time]
Spring 2012 - B2 visa denied [employed full-time, same employer]
Spring 2014 - B2 visa denied [employed full-time, same employer]
Spring 2017 - B2 visa denied [retired]
After his second to last denial, back in 2014, along with the standard rejection letter he received a printed copy of an email exchange between the interviewer and the Consular. This was most likely mailed by accident as it was clearly some sort of internal (unclassified) communication. I will not post a copy of the email(s) on a public forum, but it basically showed what they were investigation prior to the interview and which "things" made them suspicious. Unfortunately most, if not all was complete BS, and totally irrelevant...like "We found so and so on ******** and he has the same last name, they could be related or not at all" and "Why does he have X amount of money in the bank account and his friend is paying for the trip"...basically stuff like that.
I am confident that whatever their reason for denying him a visa is, it is a simple misunderstanding (or complete speculation), which can easily be explained *if* they opted for open dialog as opposed to the typical secrecy. Unfortunately that is not the case and we are now stuck. His last interview lasted precisely 1 minute with no exaggeration. It is clear that the decision was already made before he even set foot in the embassy, but we have no idea what can be done going forward.
I know that there is probably very little we can do, and I know that it will be an uphill battle, but I am not ready to give up yet. I am looking for any help/guidance/ideas I can get in therms of what the proper steps are going forward. For instance:
"Department of State visa case records are confidential under INA section 222(f), so information can only be provided to visa applicants, with some exceptions. Certain information can be provided to U.S. sponsors, attorneys representing visa applicants, members of Congress, or other persons acting on behalf of and with the permission of applicants." - as his "sponsor" and a US citizen how do I go about obtaining additional information?
I am looking for some help for a very close family friend (68 old, now retired), who originally had applied for a B2 visa back in 2008. His visa was granted and he came to visit once in 2009. He came and left well before the expiration date of his visa. No issues.
He's been trying to come here for a second visit ever since, but his subsequent applications keep getting rejected and we cannot figure out why. There have been no significant changes in his personal life or financial situation. He does have a daughter, two grand kinds and two sisters, all of which live either in Sofia, Bulgaria or in other EU countries, such as Switzerland and Greece. He has some liquid assets in the bank (more than sufficient to cover the trip) and he owns two apartments; one of them provides supplemental rental income. No criminal record of any kind.
Here is a list of his visa applications:
Summer 2008 - B2 visa granted for 1 year; traveled to the US in 2009 [employed full-time]
Spring 2012 - B2 visa denied [employed full-time, same employer]
Spring 2014 - B2 visa denied [employed full-time, same employer]
Spring 2017 - B2 visa denied [retired]
After his second to last denial, back in 2014, along with the standard rejection letter he received a printed copy of an email exchange between the interviewer and the Consular. This was most likely mailed by accident as it was clearly some sort of internal (unclassified) communication. I will not post a copy of the email(s) on a public forum, but it basically showed what they were investigation prior to the interview and which "things" made them suspicious. Unfortunately most, if not all was complete BS, and totally irrelevant...like "We found so and so on ******** and he has the same last name, they could be related or not at all" and "Why does he have X amount of money in the bank account and his friend is paying for the trip"...basically stuff like that.
I am confident that whatever their reason for denying him a visa is, it is a simple misunderstanding (or complete speculation), which can easily be explained *if* they opted for open dialog as opposed to the typical secrecy. Unfortunately that is not the case and we are now stuck. His last interview lasted precisely 1 minute with no exaggeration. It is clear that the decision was already made before he even set foot in the embassy, but we have no idea what can be done going forward.
I know that there is probably very little we can do, and I know that it will be an uphill battle, but I am not ready to give up yet. I am looking for any help/guidance/ideas I can get in therms of what the proper steps are going forward. For instance:
"Department of State visa case records are confidential under INA section 222(f), so information can only be provided to visa applicants, with some exceptions. Certain information can be provided to U.S. sponsors, attorneys representing visa applicants, members of Congress, or other persons acting on behalf of and with the permission of applicants." - as his "sponsor" and a US citizen how do I go about obtaining additional information?
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