sanjothi

Hi All,

I am Indian origin, and i have earned my citizenship in UK. When i was in my Indian passport, i applied for H1 and for Visitor Visa, Both the times I was told that, they were not able to verify the status for my certificates and rejected my visa (no rejection stamp in my passport). Now i have my UK citizenship and passport, and below are my questions.

1) while filling ESTA in US embassy website, there was a question, whether i was rejected visa in the past ? do i need to say yes or no ?

2) can i travel to US without any visa ? or do i need to apply visa because of the rejection in the past ? (rejection happened to me before 2 years) .

Appreciate if any one can help me on this.

Thanks in advance for your time,

Regards,
SJ

ljaw2002uk

You have to announce the previous rejections, these relate to YOU as an individual.

You will need either a valid ESTA or a visa. You should try applying for the ESTA first, if this is rejected then you will need a visa before you can travel.

ian-mstm

There are only two outcomes of a visa application: approval or denial. If your prior visas were not approved, they were denied. You must disclose the denials.


As a UK citizen, you are eligible to use the VWP, but you must first complete ESTA. You must disclose that you have prior visa denials. Do not apply for a visa until you know whether or not ESTA is approved.

Ian

sanjothi

Thanks for your reply Ian & ljaw. when i click in 'yes' for question have you been ever refused visa ... it asks me to do the below. but i am not sure what to be done as its not giving any details.

------------
As you have been refused a visa, you should contact the Operator Assisted Information Service for further assistance before attempting to travel under the Visa Waiver Program.
-------------

might be silly, but just trying to understand, i am planning to travel on UK passport, do i still need to declare my visa refusal details which happened on Indian passport ?

Thanks,
SJ

Bob

Yes, because they happened to you as a person, what didn't you understand about the previous responses to this same question?

Noorah101

Yes, you do.

Rene

Michael

Yes you do. There was a recent person on this site that told this cock and bull story about when he was pulled into secondary to ask about previous visa refusals, he said no. When he was confronted by the POE about the refusals on his other passport, he had some story about that he canceled the trip before the visa was refused and therefore was refused entry by the POE into the US on this visit.

So the moral to the story is to not lie because if you get caught, the penalty may be worse than the advantage. Just take you bumps and let the chips fall where they may and apply for a B2 visa and try to show strong ties to the UK including a letter from your employer with return dates to work as well as a copy of an apartment lease as well as any other things that will show ties to the UK and hope the visa gets approved.

Marocco

Was your actual H1 application rejected, or are you referring to the prospective employer's petition?

sanjothi

Thanks all, for your time and help. Its much appreciated.

Marocoo,

it was my h1 application, actually they didnt stamped anything in my passport except this

application received -- 11 Jan 2007 (g) U.S.Embassy London.

Regards to you all and many thanks for your time

SJ

rpjs

What site are you on? The actual ESTA application site <https://esta.cbp.dhs.gov/> or some US Embassy in London site? The reference to the "Operator Assisted Information Service" makes me think you're looking at the US Embassy site. You should complete the actual ESTA application first and see if it gets approved - you've got nothing at all to lose (apart from the $14 fee!) to try.