theanswer2222

Can anyone offer advice on how to improve the chances of getting a B-2 visa?

I’m an American citizen with a British spouse. I’ll be spending the next academic year (Sept 2018 – May 2019) researching at a US university and would like to bring my wife and kids too (both kids have US passports). We want to return to our jobs, family, and house in the UK afterward.

The B-2 visa seems like the only option for bringing my spouse over for longer than the 3-month stays permitted by VWP. But we applied for a B-2 in 2011 and were denied because my wife is below retirement age. She ended up coming over instead for two 3-month visits on VWP, which was expensive in terms of flights, stressful since we didn’t know whether she’d be approved for ESTA, and not easy to manage with small children.

I can’t tell whether it would be a waste of time applying for another B-2 visa. It’s clearly the best option (even if for only 6 months) but not if they’re not actually given out to people in our position or if a failed application will harm our chances of ESTA approval afterward.

Any advice or tips would be very welcome.

az2014

Did she update her ESTA after the previous denial? Just posted in your previous topic.

Anyway to answer your question, the only tip is to prove sufficient home ties.

scrubbedexpat099

Fill out the application truthfully.

Pulaski

Those who have reported success have usually been ones who provided a detailed plan for their visit, which explains exactly why a 90 day VWP visit isn't long enough.

A classic example is a plan to hike the Appalachian trail, but others have reported planning lengthy tours around the US. Either way the application for a B-2 visa has details of the plans, with a schedule, planned hotel stops, itinerary, etc. In other words, "stay with my husband" isn't going to cut it.

S Folinsky

Just read a blog post from a ConOff noting the little value in documentation - it can be faked quite easily. (The post was written in a snarky tone). That said, the most valuable tool for the ConOff is that two minute interview.

theanswer2222

This is helpful info. We'll certainly bring as much evidence of our UK ties as possible.

The main reason that a 90 day VWP isn’t enough is that our kids would need to be enrolled in school during the visit. We have the option of spending a single semester (4-5 months) in the US instead of the full academic year (9 months) if that would improve our chances. But perhaps having the kids will work against us either way?

We do have a detailed itinerary in mind for the weekends, school breaks, and holidays like Thanksgiving. My whole motivation in accepting the position was to visit family while it's still possible.

Pulaski

It may be the most potentially valuable, but in London almost all the reports we ever hear are of the "interview" being cursory in the extreme, and certainly not an opportunity for the applicant to explain and justify their visa application.

S Folinsky

Unfortunately, those reports are of the applicant's perception of what happened. I learned in the days when I did visa work, the perception was most often not accurate. Note that I'm not saying the reports are false, just inaccurate.

scrubbedexpat099

I know my personal experience, seems to tie in with many others.