Need Help

[rshanbhag]

Hi,

My parents are going for B2 stamping on Aug 01. Me and my brother both are on H1B. I need to know that if asked by consular officer "how many sons do you have and where are they" then what should they reply.

I assume that if they mention both sons are in US then the officer might reject the Visa.

Please advice.
Ram

[kk]

You should always reply correctly. That will maximize your chances. Never try to lie or twist the facts. If they find out, you will be in bigger trouble.

[swetharao]

It is always better to tell the truth.

[rcmax]

Rshanbag,
truth is no one knows how many people got visa by telling the truth and how many got rejected by the same. No one also knows how many people got the visa by telling some untruths and how many got rejected for the same. So don't take the advice of "Always tell The Truth" as gospel. Tell the truth which is in your favor and be creative about stuff which is not in yours.

Its like this. When the judgement goes in favor of the accused he says he always had faith in the judicial system and it has been proved. If it goes against him he says the judge has erred and he will appeal. Same is the case if these visas.

[gouthamsri]

My take on this would be, you have a lot more to lose if you lie and get caught than telling the truth. So if you say both of you are here and luck doesn't favor (God forbid) you will have a rejection on your passport. However, if you lie and then get caught, you might end up with a 6c stamp making it impossible to ever apply again for a Visa. Again, it's purely luck based. We have seen numerous cases on this forum where people who have siblings in India had their Visas rejected and we have seen equal number or more cases where Visas were approved for single child as well. So it's ALWAYS BETTER TO TELL THE TRUTH AND PLAY IT SAFE!!!!

Sri

[rcmax]

If he tells the truth that both he and his brother are in US and visa is denied he will repent for speaking the truth and wish he had lied. If he lied and gets the visa he will be happy that he twisted the truth and it worked. If he lied and did'nt get the visa then its bad luck because by showing one brother in India he showed stronger ties back home. As far as getting caught by telling one brother is in India , I don't see how it can happen. How will the VO know his brother is in US and not in India? 6(c) can only happen if caught with forged documents.

[sms01]

Whether it might effect the chances of getting visa or not it always better to go by truth,sometimes they might ask you the proof or details of the other children.Also if you hide the fact first time you might continue the same the rest of the time,And if they get to know the truth then you will be in big trouble and leads to some permanent damage.They will have all the details stored in their systems.If you think you can manage every time you can proceed.But it is parents that have to go thru all this.They should be able to answer in every possible way when they are hiding the facts.
Its just my suggestion and hope it helps.

[gouthamsri]

rcmax, these officers are trained in analyzing an applicant's feelings and they would have seen thousands of applicants so far. Getting a Visa by lying is only luck and if luck is on your side you will get the Visa even if you don't lie. I wouldn't encourage anyone to lie as it will only hurt the chances for people who are sincere as well. In my case both me and my brother are here and both of us are green card holders. In 2002 when we tried for my mom's visa everyone advised to lie but my mom could not bring herself to lying to a stranger and she said the truth. She got her Visa, came and visited us for 4 months. So it all depends on how confident you are during the interview and how much you can convince the VO in that short duration with your answers that you will come back. What if they ask for all pages of the passport of the child who is in India?? What would you do then? How will you go back to the consulate again for a VISA?

Sri

[rcmax]

Gouthamsri, since your parents got the visa even though both you and your brother are here makes you feel if you tell the truth visa will be issued. When I applied for my mother's visa I absolutely told the truth and they rejected twice purely because she is widow and that I am the oldest son and my sister is also here. Now looking back I think if I had my mother's visa sponsored thru my brother-in-law and no mention was made of me being in this country things "Probably" would have worked in her favor. I know of couple of my friends whose parents/in-laws' visas were rejected simply because they did'nt lie as they thought it was not needed to if all documentation was correctly made. Getting visa is purely luck + being creative enuf to fall in that narrow safe band thats my conclusion based on reading the various posts.

If they ask for all pages of passport of the child falsely claimed to be in India, one can always say he/she does'nt have a passport as they never applied for one. Its true, lot of people in India don't apply for passports if they have no plans of going abroad. So its not a big deal.

[gouthamsri]

Actually my parents applied together, told both of us are here and got their VISA rejected. Then applied again along with a letter explaining why they would go back and got the VISA approved! So we had both experiences. Additionally when I applied for my student VISA in 1999, I told my brother was here and my VISA was rejected 3 times that Fall Sem. I waited till the Winter Sem and applied again with a letter explaining why I am not going to be an immigrant and got my VISA. So I do know the pains of visa refusal and I can totally understand where you are coming from.

Sri

[rcmax]

This time in the letter to VO, I wrote in big bullets why my mom and sister are not potential immigrants and the VO even saw all my documents including this letter. Still she did'nt change her mind. Incidentally I was talking to my mom half-hour back and came to know that last month one of my uncle and aunt's visa was rejected. He is retired from a govt. job, gets decent pension, has nice big house in Vizag, their oldest unmarried son is a doctor in US and second son is unmarried in India. I think these days they are getting very picky and luck has a huge factor in this. In 1994 when I went for my H-1 things were so easy they just gave it without asking any questions (honestly I did'nt even know then to which state in US and to which client my company was sending me for a project!!). Nowadays they are grilling H-1 applicants like anything. I am telling you things have really changed.