Tourist Visa

[sarapa]

Pennsylvania.

My question is regarding an international situation--we have a friend of the family from Argentina that would like to come and visit my family on his summer vacation (the month of February).

He applied for the tourist visa, as required. I had heard in the past that it was a good idea to write a brief letter vouching for character and claiming financial responsibility for room and board during the applicant's stay--so we did that.

Today when he went in there to have his interview, they basically accused him out of the blue of having a scheme to come here and pay to get married, and obtain US citizenship. I don't know where they got the idea but, apparantly, they did not like the fact that the letter was written by myself, a female of around the same age. Furthermore, they were interrogating him with specific questions regarding my lifestyle, job, habits, intentions, prior relationships, etc. I don't know why the extreme interest in MY situation and not his, but I am left feeling rather violated.

Also, they told him that, in addition to their suspicions regarding ME, he did not have enough money in his bank account to cover room and board for the duration of his stay--he had about $2,000 in the bank account which seems like more than sufficient for only one month. Also, I thought I had made it clear that my family was assuming all financial responsibility for room and board in the letter we wrote. We even offered to show our bank statements or sign other papers, if necessary.

Is this considered correct behavior on the part of a consular official? I think that a simple 'NO' would have been more appropriate than a full-scale interrogation into the personal aspects of my life--I was not the one applying for the visa, afterall. Can anything be done about this?

They refused to grant him the *tourist* visa, by the way.

[evcalyptos]

Is this considered correct behavior on the part of a consular official?

Welcome to your wacky first encounter with US Immigration. Yes, that was perfectly normal behavior.
By law, every non-USC is presumed to be an immigrant. It's a tall order to overcome, proving that you are not. In some countries, a pattern of abuse of non-immigrant visas make them difficult/impossible for legitimate people to obtain one.
Unfortunately, you letter likely did more harm than good.

He is welcome to re-apply, with more substantial proof of his ties to his home country. It is his job to satisfy the Consular Officer and the Border officer (when entering) that he has no intention of stayinig over in the US. He now has to overcome having a USC female friend of the same age, in addition to the usual problems of getting a tourist visa from his particular country. They asked about YOU to determine his relationship with you.