SCE

Hi everyone,

I just got back from the American consulate, where I was denied a B1 visa.I will give a somewhat detailed description of my situation, as that will enable you all to give the best advice, so please bear with me.

I am currently a university student, and was selected to do a three month internship in the U.S. My university recommended me to go under the visa waiver program, as my internship will be exactly 90 days. However, as I have never been to the US before and my internship will be 5 days a week, I decided to request a B visa so I could have some time to travel after the internship and visit a relative.

The company at which I will be interning provided me with a letter that detailed that my internship is observational, and will adhere to the activities allowed under a B1 visa, and that they supported my application for a B1.

I came to the embassy fully prepared, already had my health insurance etc covered, a bank statement, my current job contract and university registration. However, the officer immediately informed me that I would not receive a visa: the company at which I will be interning is on some sort of special list for violating visa requirements. Rather than observational, it has come to the consulate's attention that internships there are extremely intensive (over 60 hrs a week) and work related. Based on this, my visa was denied.

Now I'm facing a dilemma: the internship is unpaid, and all my savings will go to my stay in the US. But what if I am denied entry under the VWP?

Questions I have:
- the consulate obviously knows that I plan to travel to the US to do an internship in the period for which my visa was denied. I am pretty sure that an internship cannot be done on a VWP in the first place--regardless of university recommendations--so what are the chances that I will be denied entry?
- even if I'm approved in ESTA, will my denied B1 visa be reason to deny me at the airport?
-what should I say to the interviewing officer upon arrival in the US; be honest and tell him that I am there for an internship, or tell him that I want to go on holiday?
- I have never been to the US before, don't have a criminal record, and have never violated any country's stay requirements. Will the fact that I have never been to the US before help me get past the secondary inspection? I mean, I have strong ties to home (job+university) and have never been in the US, so it would seem to me that they cannot possibly think that I am trying to stay.

So if anyone has an idea of what my chances are to get in to the US under the VWP, that would be great. Another thing is that I don't want to risk a denial of entry, as my brother will be moving to the US to do a PhD there soon, and I'm afraid that I'll never be able to visit him if my entry is denied.

Help is much, much appreciated.

GeoffM

Immigration issues aside, are you saying you still want to work for this company that apparently makes you work (not observe) for 60 hours a week for no pay? Sounds like cheap labour for them, a bodyshop. Have you tried looking this company up (reviews, media reports)?

crg

Who was going to pay your living expenses during the internship?

They may have determined that your activities did not fit the B1 or B2 classification. When that happens, the person is considered to be an immigrant even if the consular officer has no concern the person will stay too long.

You'll have to do a new ESTA application now that the answers have changed. You need to see what the result is before planning a VWP trip. Attempting to use the VWP for an activity that doesn't fit B1 or B2 is not a good idea.

Many internships require a J.

ian-mstm

The CBP officers will absolutely think you are trying to stay. Everyone who seeks permission to enter the US is viewed as an intending immigrant, and the onus is on the traveller to prove they have non-immigrant intent.


Then don't travel. With any entry to the US - yes, even with a valid visa - there is always the chance that you'll be denied entry. Only a US citizen has the right of entry... and everyone else can be denied.

Ian

Lissbovavd

Unfortunately, I don´t think it would be possible to guess what might happen at the US POE, as the individual CBP officer has such a wide latitude to make his/her own decision. To some extent it really is a matter of pot-luck...

However, if you feel unduly worried about not getting admitted, I would suggest that you consider travelling to the US from Dublin or Shannon airports in the Republic of Ireland, where there are complete pre-clearance immigration facilitites available.
Should you be denied entry at Dublin or Shannon you´d at least be close to home rather than facing a transatlantic flight with the risk of being temporarily detained at the US POE pending the next available flight.
Best of luck!

Pookiedookie

You probably needed to go for the J1 I worked at Mount Rushmore on a J1 through BUNAC during the summer at university. A J1 may do the trick, though the bunac places will be full by now I think.

suburbanmum

I had a similar experience. I did summer work through BUNAC on a J1 and then after university did an internship in the US through the Council on International Educational Exchange (affiliated to BUNAC). That was also on a J1. I sourced and secured the internship myself and just used CIEE to provide support for the visa application. I would suggest trying them.

rpjs

My OH used to work for CIEE (if you did your J-1 about ten years ago or so she very well may have processed it for you) but she heard from former colleagues a few years ago that they were closing down in the UK.

SCE

Thanks for the feedback everyone. The thing is that the internship placement happened through my university, so I had a definite place to intern. However, the visa was denied by the officer based on company name alone; they will not give me any type of visa for the specific company (a law firm) because the company is on their, what she called, 'blacklist.'

However, my concern is that my ESTA will not be approved in any case, and that I won't even be able to go for a 2 week period over Christmas, which is what I had planned to do with my family. Do they take the reason for denial into account in ESTA? Or can you only explain yourself after you have been authorized and actually speak to someone in person? The consulate has given me a paper that reads that my visa was denied based on their impression of my internship company, so I should be able to prove that it was not a fault of my own doing.

@GeoffM I certainly would not, unless they can guarantee me that the internship will indeed be 'observational' in character. But as I don't think that they can, I decided not to go forward with the internship--not that I could've, but still. My concern now is about visiting the US in December (which is outside of the period for which I had requested a visa, so I hope that that will somehow help convince them that I am no longer there for an internship). Thanks again.

meauxna

Like you say, your visa denial is specific; it's tied to that employer.

Give enough time for the paperwork to catch up and re-do your ESTA. It seems like one that would come back approved, even with the visa denial.

The thing is, none of us can tell you; you just have to roll the dice and do the ESTA and see what it says. Do it with enough time to apply for a B-2 visa for your holiday visit.

suburbanmum

It was 1997-1998 so a little longer than 10 years.

I wonder whether BUNAC now deal with visas for internships. Might be worth the OP contacting them. There must be some mechanism. The CIEE website suggests they still handle foreign students doing internships in the US so unless for some reason UK citizens are not included then they might still be able to help http://www.ciee.org/intern/

crg

They must because some people with visa denials get an approved ESTA and some don't.

As far as I know, there is no mechanism that allows you to call in and attempt to convince the ESTA people if denied.

Steve_

So you're stuffed basically, it will go into your entry record and you will be denied entry on the VWP too if the consular officer did his job correctly.

The only thing that makes it a bit difficult to answer is that you have no entry record as you've never been to the US.

At the end of the day it's up to CBP, but they have access to the same information as the consulate, if you get sent to secondary inspection, CBP can look up the same info the consular officer did.

My advice would be to explain to the company what has happened, see if they'll sponsor you for H-3 instead (assuming your internship qualifies for H-3). Answer probably no, so I'd suggest you just go on the VWP to visit your brother. If they're on a list of people who take the piss, I find it hard to believe the I-129 would be approved for H-3 anyway.

You can avoid ESTA by travelling via Canada btw, rarely see that mentioned on here. Fly to Canada, drive into the US. However that will make CBP suspicious at the POE, what were you doing in Canada? Bring up your name, match it to the visa denial - you're taking the piss, denied entry.

At least you get a holiday in Canada.

Steve_

Whenever I'm sat in secondary inspection I always remember that movie: Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels where Rory Breaker or whatever his name is threatening the greek, "if you lie to me, I'll kill you, if you do so and so, I'll kill you, in fact you're going to have to work very hard to stay alive."

Replace "I'll kill you" with "I'll deny entry" and "work very hard to stay alive" with "work very hard to convince me to allow you entry".

meauxna

Steve, land border crossers still need the old form I-94W, which has the same question "Have you ever been denied a US visa?". The traveler must declare it, and will have to explain why he's crossing a land border in addition to clearing up the visa question.