B2 Tourist Visa to US

Many friends asked about how to get Visa to U.S. for my U.S. trip last December, because it is the biggest issue for people to visit U.S. When surveying many friends about going to U.S, they will say: “It is impossible to get the visa”. They are telling the truth.

Visa, the Pain

The high rejection rate of visa to U.S. is the reason behind the “impossible impression”. The easiest way visa to get seems to be B1 Business Visa, especially when the applicants are working for a company which is a member of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. Refer to my experience: I Got my U.S. Visa. Other types of Visa, like F-1 Student visa, H1-B temporary working visa are harder.

B1 visa often combined with B2 visa. It is always so for me. On the visa type column, it is noted as B1/B2. Wendy got the B2 visa, which is very rarely seen.

It was a funny story. When Wendy present the visa to the security when she leave China, the Chinese inspector checked the photo again and again, and even claimed that the photo is not clear enough - the root reason is, he seldom see B2 visa and suspect the visa is fake. :-D

At the U.S. boarder, the U.S. inspector was mentioning a new inspector. He put a circle around the B2 visa and told the trainee: “Typically, it should be B1/B2. It is so strange that this person from China only have B2 here…” I saw the large circle on Wendy’s visa when I met her in New York.

How to Get B-2 Visa

B-2 is tourist visa for visitors whose propose is recreational in nature, including tourism, amusement, visits with friends or relatives, rest… “Changes introduced shortly after September 11, 2001 involve extensive and ongoing review of visa issuing practices.”

Unlike some European countries, tourism in US is not opened to China yet. If a normal traveller goes to U.S. Consulant and ask for B-2, it is almost for sure it get rejected and the 100 USD visa fee can be considered donation. :-D

Wendy has visa from U.S. before and have entered U.S., it is a hard fact to support this travel.

She also has visa for German and it helps a lot.

Most importantly, an invitation letter from my company (member of American Chamber) to clairify that she will accompany me with the trip. It is very important.

P.S. The third installment of my audio blog in America was on air at KQED and other radio stations in U.S. Click the audio archive and click the a Chinese blogger in America (Part 3) to listen.