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Hi, I am writing this for my friend. She doesn't speak nor write good English. My first language isn't English too, so I'm sorry for the mistakes in this post. I would like to know if my friend's situation can be improved. Sorry, this is a long post.
Facts about my friend:
Visa and travel history:
Visa interview December 2018 :
New application :
Questions :
Facts about my friend:
- A/S/L : 31/F/Brazil
- Studies completed: Masters degree
- Job : She has a permanent job for the Brazilian federal government as a team supervisor. Her net income is about USD$2000/month
- Property: she doesn't have a property. She lives with her uncle and mother because she separated from her long term relationship about 2 years ago. She has her own paid car.
- Monthly spending: she helps her family with groceries. She also pays her mom's medical insurance.
Visa and travel history:
- Before having her first US visa issued, she traveled to Chile and Argentina.
- She was first issued a tourist visa in 2009. She doesn’t remember for how long it was valid, but she didn't use it. She lost her passport when she moved out from her ex (2017) with the visa in it. She didn't report it to the police nor the US embassy in Brazil, but she got a new one so the Brazilian government knows it’s been lost.
Visa interview December 2018 :
- November 2018: When she filled out the the DS-160 form, she mistakenly answered « no » the having been issued a US visa before because she answered rapidely and thought it meant if she had a visa right now. At the interview, they just asked her if she had traveled to the US before and she said no. She recognizes that it must pass as she was lying and commited a fraud, but it’s just an error and a bad organization (because she didn’t report the lost passport/visa)
- The interview didn’t go well. She was very nervous and both her and the two agents didn’t really understand each other. She answered short answers and she didn’t explain she had a US visa before but she lost her passport in it etc. The agent didn’t mention anything about an old visa. So the motive for her refusal was « not enough ties … »
- She traveled to Europe (Portugal and Italy) in February 2019 for two weeks and have Portugal stamps in her passport.
New application :
- She wants to try to get the visa again. She still lives with her parents, same job, same car, nothing has changed.
- She doesn’t know if she’s doomed to not be able to obtain the visa because she answered « NO » to the question if she has been issued a visa before.
- She doesn’t know what are the steps she could take to explain the situation to them without confusing them even more.
- Her plan for the visit is to visit New York, Boston and then come to Canada with me (I'm Canadian). I would reach her in New York and we would travel together and she would go back to Brazil from Toronto. She yet doesn’t have a Canadian visa because when you have a valid US visa, you can apply electronically for a Canadian visa.
Questions :
- Is it too late to report her lost passport/visa to the US consulate before applying again?
- What would be the optimal respond when they ask in the DS-160 form to explain why she was denied a US visa?
- At the interview, could she directly asks politely the agent to look up in the system so he/she can see she’s been issued a visa before that hasn’t been used, meaning that she isn’t desesperately wanting a visa to get in the US and stay there and explain the situation about what happened in the interview last year.
- Would it be better to get her a Canadian visa, have her visit Canada first and then apply for the US visa? She thinks waiting too long to sort this misunderstanding with the US authorities will only create more problems in the long run. What do you think?
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