| By Salleymae on Saturday, June 30, 2001 - 7:33 pm: Edit Post |
Can anyone give me tips on how to help an Ecuadorian woman (18 years old) get a visa to visit the United States to stay with us for 3-5 weeks?
| By t mitchell on Monday, July 16, 2001 - 7:56 pm: Edit Post |
Good luck. The embassy, INS, and Ecuadorian staff are terrible to try to deal with. I married and Ecuadorian after my 2 years in country. We came back to the states hoping to have her sisters come visit. One was denied the first time cause she was single female. She waited and applied again only to be denied because she was denied the first time. A different sister applied, single female. A third sister applied (she was married, owned a home and business and wished to come with one child) she was denied - no reason given, nor necessary. We wrote to our local congressman who wrote a very supportive letter. The married sister went back to the embassy to be told that the ambassador to whom the congressman's letter was addressed no longer worked there to which they basically trashed the letter.
What we finally did is this. My cuñada applied for a student visa by getting sponsored to attend an ESL "college" in Maryland. Through good contacts, she got tuition, flight, housing paid for (she ended up paying most back) and the sponsor declared that he would be responsible for her. She entered the school, did well and recently renewed the student visa for another year. While she's been in school, she's been able to visit us in San Diego.
Now we are giving up on travel visas entirely. Since my wife became a us citizen, she can request family members to get their residency. that is how we will approach any visits from now on. Forget the travel visa. You will only be very disappointed and frustrated. Plus the $ each time she applies.