That is exactly the same as us! I am wondering if it is a generic letter they are using ?! They didn’t once ask my husband what his ties to the Uk were, the interview was over within minutes - as he had already had one before and there were no changes the consular officer literally didn’t ask any questions! It said we didn’t provide enough evidence… well we didn’t provide them with any evidence as they didn’t ask for any. It seems exceptionally cruel that we have waited almost a year, and if they want evidence, then at least provide us with the opportunity to give it to them, rather than refuse us!

B visas are often refused for that reason, every applicant is presumed to have immigrant intent and it’s up to them to prove otherwise. In fact if you search the forum you’ll see that the advice is to never apply for one unless of retirement age as so many are refused, which then in turn means the applicant struggles to get ESTA as they always have to declare the visa denial. But that’s obviously the advice for those who have ESTA as an option, rather than having to apply for a B visa as their only option.

They don’t ever ask for documents (in a ‘normal’ B interview), applicants can bring them but they will rarely look at them. The assessment of ties to home country is done off the info given on the application.

So being refused under 214b doesn’t surprise me at all as that’s pretty standard for a lot of B applicants. What does surprise me is that the waiver is recommend first, you’d think if they were going to refuse the visa they’d do that upfront before they waste government resources on a waiver that isn’t relevant anyway, and before they get the applicants hopes up.

I'm so sorry to hear that Orland0, gutted for you and your husband
You do not have to answer this but what was his original offence?
I wonder if it's dependent on the offence or it's probably what Babsy said and they are trying to clear the backlog

Is your husband also self employed?

No he isn’t self employed. He’s lived in the UK all his life, full time employed, mortgage, married, young children…
Doesn’t make any sense!

It was for theft. I wonder if they are just trying to clear the backlog as the letter I personally don’t feel is relevant to us.
He took evidence of mortgage, work contract, even birth certificates like the DS160 asks for etc but consular officer said it wasn’t needed as he had had a waiver before so they weren’t interested in seeing it… seems very unfair (but I appreciate I am going to be biased!)

The mortgage isn't relevant (tons of people have mortgages in the UK that don't live in the country, you can pay it from anywhere in the world), and presumably you're accompanying him so family isn't a tie either. But the job would normally be, I assume he put that on his DS-260? Has he ever tried to get a work based visa for the US?

No, only ever tried to get a tourist visa, which is what has only ever been needed, and was granted. It had expired, hence the want to renew it for a 2 week family holiday.

Wow I am so surprised. The fact a waiver before has been granted previously and everything else seems to be in order I can't imagine why they would deny it after being recommended one. Are you going to re-apply again?

No, the final sentence in the letter states:
Your case can be reconsidered only in the context of a new application. It is highly unlikely, however, that a re-application in the near future would result in a different outcome.

The stress of the last year has been real! And clearly if we reapply now it’ll be just more money down the drain…
I will however keep an eye on this forum as I would be interested on when things change again … and only when they change would we consider about reapplying. Although I guess declaring that you have previously had a visa denied will now be our next hurdle !!

That is odd then, if he put a full-time job on the DS-160. I wonder if the new administration has made overcoming the presumption of immigrant intent tougher maybe.

So sorry, I hope you can plan a lovely alternative. There are many other places in the world that are much nicer than the US for a family holiday anyway, I'm sure you'll have a fab time in a country that will welcome you and be far less stressful!

So very true! It has certainly put us off that’s for sure!

Occam's razor dictates there has almost certainly been a quiet policy change in light of everything else going on with US Imimgration right now. There have been very long backlogs before and this is not how they were dealt with. Based on the facts we would expect Orland0's case to go through unobstructed. Given the other things flying around on various social media sites...to use the old adage "if it walks like a duck, looks like a duck, floats like a duck....it's probably a duck".

Some things to consider...

If a waiver of ineligibility is approved, you have overcome the permanent bar on obtaining the US visa you have requested, for a fixed duration only. Only once the waiver has been approved does the consulate proceed to consider whether or not to grant you the requested visa. They cannot decline the visa on the grounds for which the waiver has been granted, but they can still refuse to grant it on any other grounds for which a visa can be denied - intent, lack of ties, incomplete/missing documentation, state department policy, etc...

Note that the following is an assumption only.... we currently believe that if the waiver is denied, you will be notified by email as such and will not be asked to submit your passport. We therefore assume that if you are asked to submit your passport, then the waiver has been approved, and any subsequent visa denial is based on consular review of the actual visa application.

I believe it is unlikely they would deny a visa, once a waiver has been granted, simply because of a backlog on the consular side as has been suggested. We have seen a number of reports directly from applicants that the London consulate IS however refusing to make recommendations for waivers of ineligibility because of the ARO backlog.

Since there is no right of appeal against a visa denial, one might be forgiven for taking the cynical view that 214(b) is a just a convenient justification for refusing more and more applications. This mirrors what is happening in the Schengen area, with applicants with even the strongest connections to their home countries being denied Schengen visas based on "lack of ties".

Fully agree, without further cases coming through we can only guess on what's going on. Gregg is about a month later on the sheet, so its going to be a bit of a wait, unfortunately I note four of us are the same date in September, (unfortunate as i would have liked more clarification as to what's going on atm) that's the most cases from the same I've seen in a bit, will be really interesting to see what happens, Jools, without making people feel obliged, what are your thoughts on adding a box to the sheet to include reason for needing a visa?