00:01I'm a former Visa officer and today
00:03we're going to answer the age-old
00:05question of what exactly do these
00:07officers know about your case at the
00:09time of the visa interview and what are
00:11the top three things that Visa officers
00:13review when they're trying to make a
00:15decision on whether or not to approve or
00:19as to the first question Visa officers
00:22generally don't know very much about
00:24your case until right before the visa
00:26interview generally it's in that 30
00:29seconds as you're walking up to the Visa
00:31window when they are pulling up your
00:33ds-160 visa application and they're
00:36reviewing it from top to bottom and
00:38looking at the most important questions
00:41to them and this includes generally how
00:44long are you going to the United States
00:45for what type of Visa are you applying
00:48for do you have family already in the
00:50U.S have you been denied a Visa before
00:53and what do you think is the reason why
00:55you were denied what is your job and how
00:58much do you make a month
00:59what is your family situation are you
01:02married and do you have kids and they're
01:04taking in all of that information to
01:06decide whether or not your situation
01:07makes sense and if that sounds like it's
01:10a lot of information to review in a very
01:13short time you're absolutely right
01:15however Visa officers because their work
01:17is so repetitive and they interview so
01:20many people a day for example when I
01:23worked at the U.S embassy in Beijing
01:24China I used to interview between 100
01:27and 150 people a day that is a lot of
01:29people to talk to but what visa officers
01:31get really good at is scanning
01:34information really quickly and picking
01:36out what are the most important factors
01:38in making that important decision to
01:40decide whether or not you get to travel
01:42to the United States now to the second
01:44part of my video what are the top three
01:47things that Visa officers always look at
01:50when they're trying to make this
01:52okay so the first thing that they look
01:56whether or not you've been denied a Visa
01:58before this is really important because
02:00whether or not you've been denied and if
02:03your situation has changed since your
02:05last interview will play a very
02:07important role in whether or not you
02:09overcome the situation this time and
02:11whether or not you can get your visa
02:13approved if you have been denied more
02:15than once all of those notes will be in
02:18the computer system and the Visa officer
02:19will be able to pull them up and review
02:21why a different officer has decided that
02:24you don't qualify to go to the U.S and
02:27this is why it's so important to make
02:29sure that you really try to to minimize
02:32Visa denials that you go in prepared for
02:35your interview because if you're not
02:36prepared sometimes officers can deny
02:39your Visa in as short as 30 seconds so
02:43you really want to make sure that you
02:44are extra prepared you know what
02:46questions might come up and you know
02:48exactly how to answer the questions and
02:50what exactly they're asking for
02:52the second thing that officers always
02:54look for is something called your
02:56clearances because when you apply for a
02:59Visa it goes into all sorts of different
03:01databases to check on your prior
03:03criminal history and all of these things
03:05and sometimes those things will pop up
03:08and if they do the Visa officer will
03:09want to ask you questions about what
03:11happened see what you have to say for
03:14yourself whether or not you still
03:16qualify for a Visa so that is also
03:19something that's very important and the
03:21last thing that Visa officers look for
03:23is whether or not an immigrant Visa has
03:25been filed on your behalf what that
03:28basically means is whether or not you
03:30have uh permanent or immigrant intent to
03:34go to the United States now if you'll
03:36remember if you're applying for a
03:38non-immigrant temporary Visa like your
03:39B1 B2 or your F1 Visa
03:42um usually what's required is that you
03:44don't have immigrant intent that you
03:46don't actually intend to go to the U.S
03:48and stay permanently however if they see
03:51in the system that someone has already
03:53filed for a green card for you then that
03:57is really going to be a factor in
03:59whether or not you qualify for this
04:01non-immigrant Visa that's supposed to be
04:03temporary so if you are someone who has
04:07had a green card or an immigrant Visa
04:09petition pending for a really long time
04:11you'll want to be prepared to address
04:13that issue at your visa interview and
04:16know how to talk about it and it doesn't
04:18mean that you're automatically denied
04:21just because you have a pending
04:22immigrant Visa however it will
04:25complicate things and that means that
04:27this interview will be be crucial to
04:29determining whether or not you actually
04:30qualify and how you explain things to
04:32the Visa officer how you engage with
04:35them how you can communicate with them
04:36is super important the reason why I
04:40started this immigration law firm and
04:43Visa consultancy is because I used to
04:45see so many people who are not prepared
04:47for the visa interview to their
04:49detriment and they end up getting a Visa
04:50denied and that will go into their visa
04:53history forever and you don't want that
04:56to be you you always want to make sure
04:58that you're extra prepared and you know
04:59exactly how to tackle this very short
05:04but very important interview
05:06questions or comments feel free to leave
05:09something below if you have a topic that
05:12you want answered in a video please
05:14mention it in the comments I'm always
05:16scanning your comments and seeing if
05:18there are topics for future videos so
05:21thanks for spending this time with me
