What you should know about visa interviews

"Unfortunately, I cannot approve your visa today." As a former Consular Officer (also known as a "Visa Officer") who worked for the U.S. For seven years, I still remember the countless times I had to deliver disappointing news to foreigners anxiously awaiting the results of their U.S. visa interview.

Nearly all foreigners seeking to travel to the United States - whether it is for business, tourism, studies or permanent relocation - must obtain a U.S. visa, and to do that, they must first pass a five-minute visa interview with the U.S. Consular Officer.

My job as a U.S Diplomat and Consular Officer stationed at the U.S. embassy overseas was to uphold the law and determine if each foreign national I interviewed met the burden of demonstrating that they were eligible for a U.S. visa to travel to the United States. During my years as a Consular Officer, I worked under extreme pressure to interview up to 150 visa applicants a day, making speedy decisions on who had a right to enter the United States. After developing a "sixth sense" in my interviewing skills throughout the years, oftentimes I could approve or deny a visa in under 30 seconds. It was not without consequence - consular officers commonly lamented to one another about their "decision-making fatigue" when making snap judgments of such monumental importance - one that could deprive someone of their ability to travel to the United States forever.

Once a foreign national is denied a temporary visa, it becomes incrementally harder to get a future visa approved. A foreign national's visa record is all connected in the State Department's database - a prior visa refusal for a tourist or business visa could affect that person's future eligibility for a student visa, an employment visa, or even an immigrant visa/ green card. Further, a Consular Officer's decision is not appealable due to a doctrine known as "consular nonreviewability." So decisions made by consular officers are final.

According to the State Department's non-immigrant visa statistics in FY 2018, a normal year before the pandemic, 3.7 million individuals faced problems at U.S. visa interview, which constitutes 29% of all individuals who applied that year. Twenty-three percent were denied visas by Consular Officers overseas, while another 6% encountered "administrative processing" delays which can last from months to years. This means that on average, one out of three international citizens can expect issues at their U.S. visa interview.

After leaving U.S. government service in 2018, I realized that the type of work I did as a Consular Officer is often overlooked and underestimated in the world of U.S. immigration law. In fact, many outside of this field don't realize that the U.S. visa and immigration process involves two different U.S. governmental agencies - the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Department of State. DHS handles immigration issues within U.S. borders, while the State Department manages all visa processing overseas, also known as "consular processing," the kind of work I specialize in.

For most U.S. immigration lawyers, the crux of their work is filing petitions with United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), a division of the DHS which makes them skilled with USCIS issues. However, once a petition has received a stamp of approval from USCIS, the foreign national must still apply for a visa overseas at the U.S. embassy or consulate to enter the United States. Without this "visa stamp" (as most immigration attorneys call it), the foreign national would not be able to enter the country. Sometimes, despite immigration counsel having done everything correctly and the petition being approved by USCIS, the client may still have trouble getting their visa approved at their visa interview.

Unfortunately, immigration attorneys are often not in the best position to prepare their clients for the visa interview because they don't have firsthand knowledge of how consular officers make decisions. How consuls look at cases and weigh the criteria for visa eligibility is a process that is not written down anywhere - it is simply a culture that is learned while they are working "on the line" as a visa officer and is passed on from one generation of consular officers training the next.

It is always recommended that immigration attorneys take preemptive measures to make sure their foreign clients are prepared for the consular interview. When things go wrong, it is often difficult to resolve past missteps.

Here are some common reasons why problems can occur at the consular interview. When these situations arise, it is recommended that immigration attorneys work with consular experts to minimize risk to their international clients.

Foreign nationals are unprepared for the interview: most visa applicants do not know how to properly explain their situation to a Consular Officer in the short amount of time they have. Despite being prepared by an attorney, clients often do not know how to advocate for themselves or effectively answer a consul's questions. Even worse, Consular Officers will take into consideration how a visa applicant looks, acts, dresses, breathes, talks when deciding whether or not to approve a visa, so any nervousness or unusual behavior can be taken the wrong way at the visa interview.

Cultural differences can wreak havoc: Consular Officers who are unfamiliar with a country's cultural customs can deny visas if the visa applicant is unable to provide the context. For example, I once interviewed a young newlywed couple at the U.S. Consulate in Chengdu, China, who planned to bring the wife's parents to their honeymoon in Hawaii, which to me was shocking. I was very close to denying the visa outright (who would bring their parents on their honeymoon?) but stopped in the middle of the interview to ask some local Chinese staff working at the Consulate about this situation. Apparently, this is quite common in southwest Chinese culture - older generations are nervous about traveling so far on their own, without fluent English, while young couples are willing to bring their parents to Hawaii on their honeymoon to thank them for their support over the years. When I later shared what I learned with other consular officer colleagues, many of them had denied visas to young couples for this same reason because they did not have the context, and assumed there was fraud involved. For cases with cultural context, it is important that clients know how and when to offer that information

Language barriers can cause problems: Visa applicants from non-English speaking countries often face an uphill battle when the visa they are applying for requires them to speak English. Student and employment-based visa interviews are generally conducted in English, and so applicants who are not fluent or tend to be nervous during interviews can stumble during their short conversation with a consular officer and easily get denied.

Confidence is key: As Americans, Consular Officers value directness and confidence, and that includes at the U.S. visa interview. However, citizens of other countries may value deference and shy away from speaking confidently about their capabilities or their expertise. This is a big problem when a visa applicant has only a few minutes to give a "sales pitch" on why they qualify for a U.S. visa.

For foreign clients, passing the U.S. visa interview is pivotal and will affect their future plans in the United States. Proper preparation by consular experts is crucial in ensuring success in this area.