MSE News: 100,000s may need new passport to visit US after rule change

Quote from article

"Alternatively, you could apply for a tourism visa from the US Embassy, but this is likely to take longer (3-6 weeks) and cost more ($160 - about £114)."

A word of warning - Do NOT do this if you are working age and do not require one.

It will most likely be denied, and as such your denial will mean you cannot use ESTA for about a year, as the denial will trigger this question

"Have you ever been denied a U.S. visa or entry into the U.S. or had a U.S. visa cancelled on your current or previous passport?"

Prior to 9/11 the B2 visa was relatively easy to obtain if you wished to stay in the US for up to 6 months at a time, now they are not.

danielthomark wrote: »

Quote from article

"Alternatively, you could apply for a tourism visa from the US Embassy, but this is likely to take longer (3-6 weeks) and cost more ($160 - about £114)."

A word of warning - Do NOT do this if you are working age and do not require one.

It will most likely be denied, and as such your denial will mean you cannot use ESTA for about a year, as the denial will trigger this question

"Have you ever been denied a U.S. visa or entry into the U.S. or had a U.S. visa cancelled on your current or previous passport?"

Prior to 9/11 the B2 visa was relatively easy to obtain if you wished to stay in the US for up to 6 months at a time, now they are not.

Is this from personal experience?

That's not my experience. Both myself and a friend of mine (aged 33 and 45, respectively) obtained a B1/B2 visa from the US Embassy in London last year. No problems at all.

Both UK citizens, btw.

danielthomark wrote: »

There is a major difference between a B1 and a B2.

The only difference is that one is for tourism, one is for business. My visa is a COMBINED B1/B2, so I can enter the US for either tourism or business purposes.

danielthomark wrote: »

The difficulty is the B2, not the B1. There are examples of refusals out there, usually "insufficient ties" or "no need to come for longer than 3 months" (paraphrasing there).

Pre 9/11 the B2 was relatively painless to get - a few companies did seasonaire holidays in the US, so required every guest to have B2s so they could stay for 5 months during the ski season. I don't believe any companies operated these sort of holidays in the US now.

The problem then lies in the refusal means failing esta for around a year.

No-ones stopping people from applying, but personally I like to state the downside.

I understand, but that's not my experience. Saying that someone is likely to get denied may be the case for some or even the majority, but it's certainly not the case for everyone.

The US Embassy in London approved both myself and a friend - two separate applications judged by two different embassy agents - around a year ago. So it's a relatively recent experience that's worth noting to anyone reading this thread, and deciding whether it applies to them or not.

The joint B1/B2 allows exactly the same privileges as "just" the B1 or B2, except that the stay can be either business or pleasure. If B2 is the problem, apply the combined visa. It's the same difference to tourist visitors.

From my experience, this is relatively trivial to get. I have plenty of overseas friends who have to get one, because their country of citizenship isn't a member of the VWP.

Again, maybe my application and that of my friend is an outlier here, but we have the visa in our respective passports so it's certainly NOT a blanket refusal.

Just balancing the experience.