nilsoskaraxel

Hi,

I'm a Swedish citizen but since I found so much useful information on this forum I thought I might try my luck and see if anyone responds.

I was originally planning a six months stay in the U.S. but was denied a B2 visa due to insufficient ties to my home country. This seems to happen to a lot of folks, but I wasn’t prepared to be questioned about it during the interview—didn’t realize it was such a big deal.

I've understood that some people manage to get an ESTA approval in spite of admitting their previous visa denial. So my hope is now to shorten my stay to a maximum of 90 days and to try the ESTA route.

My questions are:

1. Would there be any benefit in waiting for my case to cool down before applying for ESTA/VWP? Or doesn't it matter whether I do it today or in six months?

2. If I am lucky and the ESTA is approved of, is there any minuscule risk that I could be grilled about Swedish bonds at the border, and possibly sent home? Would I then need to further strengthen my ”ties,” and my documentation supporting them, even if I go via WVP?

3. Could I risk anything whatsoever by trying an ESTA application right away just to see how it goes?

I've been to the U.S. once, as an exchange student for a good nine months. NO questions asked about my Swedish ties that time. Went totally smooth. So I was not prepared for this to come up.

Very grateful for any input.

Michael

Since you are eligible for the visa waiver program and not of retirement age, there is a very high probability you will be denied a B-2 visa even if you could have shown strong ties.

There is always the possibility of being sent to secondary but from my understanding, refusals to enter the US are rare once ESTA is approved unless the CPB believes you might be overstaying or there is information on their computer that wasn't declared. I suspect more often they will parole someone into the US than deny entry as long as they have a reasonable amount of money and a place to stay and generally that usually occurs after too many entries.

We hear stories about people denied entry but usually those are usually the only ones that usually report their entry/denial to the US.

Pulaski

1. Reported experience is that it takes 6-12 months after a visa denial before an ESTA will be approved. There is no real downside to trying sooner (other than losing the fee), and there have been rare occasions when people report having been approved sooner.

2. It's possible, but then that is possible even if you have a visa, that said, the risk is very small. It never hurts to have evidence with you that you own a home, or have a current rental lease, in your home country, and that you have a job that you are under contract to return to (under different circumstances to you, I obtained a letter from my employer, on headed note paper, that I was expected back at work on x date). IMO anything other than home and job are too tenuous to bother with, for example, people could abandon their car or dog, very easily. Remember that the chances that you will need such evidence is small, and in the event that you are challenged, there is a good chance that the "evidence" would be ignored.

3. No (no real risk), see 1, above.

nilsoskaraxel

Hi again and a delayed thanks for your input!

My ESTA application did not go through.

So I feel like the most sensible thing to do is to wait those 6–12 months and then reapply for ESTA.

But I've also looked into a VISA services company that specializes in optimizing VISA applications. They admit my chances are small, and I will probably not pursue that route, but if I would reapply for a VISA with their assistance, and (if worse becomes worse) be denied a second time, would that affect my future ESTA/VISA applications worse than just having been denied once?

Also, are you certain that repeated ESTA denials doesn’t worsen chances of approval in that area? It seems like common sense to expect the people assessing the applications to grow suspicious if someone knocks on the door too hard and too often.

Trying to minimize risks here not to fall into some kind of "three strikes and you're out." Thanks in advance!

sir_eccles

Specialize in taking money from people is more likely.

Nutmegger

They may be able to get you a credit card, but improving your hopes of a visa to the US are extremely unlikely. They'll be the only winners in this scenario, as they pocket your money.

ian-mstm

With respect, I suggest you look elsewhere.


No... unless some officer gets it into his head that you are desperate to get to the US for some reason. The thing is, however, you'll never know if or when that happens.


Yes - so long as the applications are spread out over time.

Ian

nilsoskaraxel

Thanks again, both for the clear advice and for the memorable spelling lesson. I will never forget to spell ”visa” with lower case letters again. I actually thought it looked strange all along, but since the majority of Google hits showed up as "U.S. VISA," I gave that spelling the benefit of the doubt. (Shouldn’t it be called "visum" anyway when you're referring to a single one? "Visa" sounds like Latin plural.)

Also, the visa services company did seem kind of fishy to me but I tried to convince myself they were trustworthy. Thanks for being so outspoken about them.

Let you know how it goes when I reapply for ESTA in June or so.

LondonSquirrel

No visa is not Latin plural. Think puella which means girl. Latin words that are feminine often end in a instead of the masculine us.

nilsoskaraxel

I'll be damned. But it makes sense. In Swedish it’s ”visum” in singular, though. We must have gotten it wrong somewhere.

ian-mstm

But... in Latin, the masculine (boy) is puer. Just sayin'!

Ian