Tourist Visa

[ignorante]

Can ladies from the Phillipines get a visa to visit the U.S. without it being a fiancee visa, or is the Phillipines like Colombia?

[flipflop]

worse than Columbia

[Cbear]

It depends on her status in life, if she owns property in her name, if she has a bank account with a decent balance and has a very good long term job or a true business owner then she might have a chance. Other wise it aint gonna happen.

[z_k_g]

NO

Zulu

[Dave H]

I go with"NO!"...in most cases. My neighbor is very well off. She is the director of a department in the regional government in the Philippines. She owns a house, property, a new car, has children and grandchildren living in the Philippines, etc. She had an interview a few months ago, but was denied a Visitor's Visa to the US.

Dave

[william3rd]

Surprising that she was denied. Had she traveled abroad before, overstayed a visa before or had overstayed family members in the US?

[braziliangirl]

Surprising that she was denied.

I guess they deny people randomly just to show they have the power

I know people with a much better economic situation than me (even a congressman son) that were denied. Fortunately, most of them tried shortly after and got it...

[z_k_g]

Tourist Visas

Philippines = NO (95% of the time)
Colombia = YES (95% of the time)

Work, Student Visas are another story, lots of Pinays may go to school and work in USA especially related to nursing or health care.

Zulu

[Dave H]

Surprising that she was denied. Had she traveled abroad before, overstayed a visa before or had overstayed family members in the US?

Hey William,

She has never been to the US, but traveled to several other countries in Asia. She has a daughter who works as a physical therapist in the US. She had a stroke at the beginning of the year, walks with a cane, and drags her foot slightly when she walks. She mentioned that she was going to tell the interviewer that she had injured her leg. I strongly advised her to tell the truth! She denied it, but my guess is that she lied about the leg.   

Dave

[Fuzzyone]

Tourist Visas

Philippines = NO (95% of the time)
Colombia = YES (95% of the time)

Work, Student Visas are another story, lots of Pinays may go to school and work in USA especially related to nursing or health care.

Zulu

  I can tell you that you are wrong about Colombia, they deny most of the time a tourist visa. I don't know how many times family members I have have been denied. My mother in-law owns a ton of property and stills gets denied.

[z_k_g]

 I can tell you that you are wrong about Colombia, they deny most of the time a tourist visa. I don't know how many times family members I have have been denied. My mother in-law owns a ton of property and stills gets denied.

Fuzzy,

My 95% was probably a bit high, but I think Colombians do get more tourist visas.

Here are some facts:

2009
Population of Philippines- 91 million
Non-Immigrant visas approved- 153,589

Population of Colombia- 45 million
Non-Immigrant Visas approved- 198,162

(Source US Dept of State)

I don't have the stats for how many applied and were rejected, however from a purely anecdotal perspective, you odds of getting an tourist visa (per-capita) in Colombia are much higher than in the Philippines.

Here is a quick and dirty analysis:

Per Capita comparison, based on the Dept of State numbers and the population figures:

Philippines 1.7 approved for every 1000 citizens
Colombia   4.4 approved for every 1000 citizens

Your odds, per capita, are 40% greater if you live in Colombia than if you live in PI, of getting a tourist visa.

Zulu

[william3rd]

The PI has a much longer track record of overstays and fraudulent applications methinks.  Funky adoptions, false claims of military service etc etc etc. I remember going to a dating service called Filipino Friendship Club several years ago. It was a speed dating type arrangement. Every girl there was a "tourist"- some still being a tourist after 6 years of overstay, all working illegally, and all just ready to fall in love with the first USC that made a move on them. . . . 

[Fuzzyone]

Fuzzy,

My 95% was probably a bit high, but I think Colombians do get more tourist visas.

Here are some facts:

2009
Population of Philippines- 91 million
Non-Immigrant visas approved- 153,589

Population of Colombia- 45 million
Non-Immigrant Visas approved- 198,162

(Source US Dept of State)

I don't have the stats for how many applied and were rejected, however from a purely anecdotal perspective, you odds of getting an tourist visa (per-capita) in Colombia are much higher than in the Philippines.

Here is a quick and dirty analysis:

Per Capita comparison, based on the Dept of State numbers and the population figures:

Philippines 1.7 approved for every 1000 citizens
Colombia   4.4 approved for every 1000 citizens

Your odds, per capita, are 40% greater if you live in Colombia than if you live in PI, of getting a tourist visa.

Zulu

   One question for you, how many different types of non immigration visas are there? I count the U.S.A. has 33 different types. So your figures on tourist visas being issued in Colombia is wrong.

[z_k_g]

   One question for you, how many different types of non immigration visas are there? I count the U.S.A. has 33 different types. So your figures on tourist visas being issued in Colombia is wrong.

Fuzzy,

Yes, I just counted the total number of non-immigrant visas issued.

But my statement is correct.

I never listed a figure for tourist visas, only a comparison of ratios of total non-immigrant visas.

And, I stated your "odds" were higher in getting a tourist visa, based on the total numbers granted.

I don't have the number on actual tourist visas issued.

Thanks for pointing that out!

Zulu

[william3rd]

These numbers include the H series visas as well? You need to isolate the B1/B2 visas to get an accurate view

[Capstone]

Here are the adjusted refusal rates for B visas (B1/B2) as reported by the US State Department for 2010:

Colombia - 30.7%
Philippines -37.9%

The Philippines has a higher refusal rate than does Colombia but compared to other countries their refusal rates are both very high.

http://www.travel.state.gov/pdf/FY10.pdf

[z_k_g]

These numbers include the H series visas as well? You need to isolate the B1/B2 visas to get an accurate view

I didn't see any type of stratification, just totals.

Do they have those breakdowns on the state.gov website?

Zulu