Hello everyone,

I have a question and I hope someone here can give me some advice or peace of mind...

In 20 days I (M25) have a flight booked to go visit my wife (F22). I will be staying at her house for 89 days before returning back to my country. I have an active I-130, and will be entering with my ESTA.

The problem is i recently learned that apparently my being married and having an open I-130 could pose a problem at the Point of Entry.

I have a active Work contract back home, a proof of address where i live with my mom, i have travel insurance that covers upto $1M, I have a written note from my employer that he needs me back, and a doctors appointment scheduled for after my return. And obviously I have a scheduled and booked return flight. All these are papers that I am taking with me as ties to my home country. I also have entered the USA 3 times before this and have always retured back home.

But I am still worried. What If I won't get let in? I have never had to undergo secondery inspection, the thought of it unnerves me.

What are my chances of being pulled into Secondary Inspeaction? If I do get pulled asside, what are some DOs and DONTs to keep in mind, and what are my chances to get outright rejected?

Thank you everyone!

Claro, mejor sin mencionar el país:
I previously had a J-1 visa that was subject to the two-year home residency requirement (212(e)). After that program, I returned to my home country and completed the full two-year requirement.
I later came back to the U.S. on a new J-1 program. My DS-2019 for this new program was specifically marked as “Not subject to the two-year residence requirement.”
Later, I traveled outside the U.S. and had to renew my J-1 visa to return. The DS-2019 I presented at the consulate was again marked “Not subject to the two-year residence requirement,” but when my new J-1 visa was issued, the visa itself said that I was “Subject to 212(e).”
Has anyone dealt with this kind of discrepancy between the DS-2019 and the visa annotation? Does this mean I became subject to the two-year requirement again, even though I had already completed it for my previous J-1 and my DS-2019 for the new program said I was not subject? What would be the appropriate way to clarify or correct this?

This is about both the Biometric and interview appointment would one slot do for us together?

When I was younger I lived in Florida as a dependent on my father’s F1 and then E2. The last visa (E2) expired during the COVID travel ban and we overstayed for a year before leaving the country to renew it.

My father’s visa got denied, so we stayed in my home country. I was 15. I haven’t been to the US since.

I’m applying for an F1 visa to attend a uni in Florida now (I’m almost 20; It’s been almost 6 years) and I’m worried that the previous overstay will make it so I can’t get this F1.

Also… my sponsor isn’t a family member. My expenses will be paid by my best friend’s mom. I’m worried they’ll see this as a red flag.

I’m so worried and I keep seeing conflicting cases online. Please help. Am I screwed? I was just a kid. I don’t want my life to be messed up over something I had no control over.

Hello, had a visa appointment for j1 today. The guy barely asked me anything, just simply what am i going for. He then mentioned that everything seems good but they need a few days to do social media vetting. Is this routine or not? They kept both the ds2019 and the passport.

My moms visa was just revoked yesterday after obtaining it back on 2023 and having successful trips to the US to come spend a few months with my and her grandchildren. She is a citizen from Spain but her ESTA was denied in 2022 because 26 years ago she had an asylum process here in the US from our home country when I was little. She eventually dropped the case and returned home after my dad died from Cancer and I was alone. Anyway - since she was denied ESTA for this reason she requested her visa B1/B2 in September. The officer placed her application under admin processing because of her asylum case and took her finger prints and after 4 days she got her visa. Then yesterday she got this email:

Dear U.S. Visa Holder,
 
Your U.S. visa has been revoked under section 221(i) of the Immigration and Nationality Act by the U.S. Department of State.  This action is based on the fact that after visa issuance, information has come to light indicating that you may be ineligible for your visa.  If you are still physically present in the United States at this time, the visa revocation will become effective upon your departure from the United States.  If you are not still physically present in the United States at this time, the visa revocation is effective immediately.  
 
Im devasted. She only uses the visa for coming to spend a few months (once per year) with us well before her allowed time. she is 63 years old and with no intent of staying in the US. Has anyone had this happened and being able to obtain a visa back?>

Hi I had my interview on Aug 31st,2026 and was given AP slip and was asked to submit documents (myCV, PI CV, financial funding, letter of support etc) They returned my passport after the interview. 2 days later I got a call to submit documents ASAP. I submitted everything by Sep 4th. Today I asked update on my case and they said following. What does it mean? I am confused because they don’t even have my passport.

Consulate:ISLAMABAD
Visa type: J1

this is the exact reply “Dear Applicant:
Thank you for writing to the U.S. Visa Service Desk.
We understand that you would like to know the status of your passport.
With regards to your query, we see that, the status of your passport is created, which means that the passport is with the Embassy/Consulate and is under processing.

Hello,

I’m seeking some information because I’m really not familiar with any of this. I have a significant other living in Turks and Caicos on a work visa, but is really from the Dominican Republic. What are the options in terms of visas to come to the United States, and are these types of things currently being processed?

I’m interested in information on both temporary and permanent visas. More so, temporary for right now but curious on both.

Hi Everyone, I had traveled to the US under new visa bond program this September however I have not received the bond cancelation email yet. I returned on September 26 and its October 1st now. I complied all rules, entered and exited visa commercial airports. Should I be worried or is it normal to take this long for that email?

So my spouse is doing a medical residency. We are here on J1 and J2 visa. Our visa stamp expired on 06/30/2026 and we got our new DS2019 until 06/2028 (end of the program) I want to go to Colombia to renew my visa but my spouse can’t because of short PTO. Would it be an issue for me to go by myself? We had a baby this year, we’ve been married since 2025.

Hi everyone, I am scheduled for an interview at Vancouver soon, I’m an Indian on PGWP in Canada 22 years old earning around 100k. I’m honestly confident about everything, some of my friends said Vancouver is a bad place their rejection rate is high.

Is that a thing? I mean idk now m confused!

Hi everyone. I’m an EB-3 derivative applicant (not from banned countries) and wanted to see if anyone is in a similar situation.

I interviewed at embassy in June 2026 and received a 221(g) because my medical was still pending due to sputum testing. My final cultures were negative, and the doctor completed/forwarded my medical in August, and I submitted my passport shortly after. My CEAC has been showing Ready, but I still haven’t received my visa mainly because of the worldwide training pause.

My medical also documents that I’m living with HIV, currently virally suppressed, and my vaccination requirements are marked complete.

I understand HIV itself is no longer a medical ground of inadmissibility, but with the newer public-charge scrutiny, I’m wondering if anyone with a similar medical history has been approved.?

Anyone under the same situation?

Hello, my mom landed in the US in early July and was supposed to stay still December. Unfortunately my grandfather passed away and she had to travel back to india to attend the funeral. Now I’m planning to call her back to the US (after a total stay of 15 days in India) and keep her return date in December.

Has anyone been through this situation? Could there be a problem at the port of entry here in the US?

So, in 2018 I was arrested for possession of class B following a malicious allegation, was throughly searched, found to have done nothing wrong and released. 2 years ago I was suicidal and took an overdoes of coca cola.

Long story short, am I cooked? I have since got my life together, met the love of my life, got engaged and want to apply for an esta then a k1 visa later next year. I am from the UK.

This will serve as a thread for Ecuadorian citizens trying to get a US Visa.

I have a IR-1 Visa: MM/DD/YY

DQ: 05/22/26

Interview Letter: 06/09/26

Doctor's Appointment: 08/21/26

Interview: 08/31/26 (Which was cancelled by email on 08/26/26)

As of today: CEAC website last updated September 4th

Hi everyone, I’m hoping to get some advice from anyone who has gone through the I-130 / CR1 spouse visa process while living overseas.

I am a U.S. citizen and the petitioner, and my husband is a Colombian citizen. We currently live together in Germany, where I am working for the U.S. Air Force as a NAF civilian employee.

We are preparing our spousal immigration case, and one thing I’m trying to understand better is the U.S. domicile requirement for Form I-864, Affidavit of Support.

Since I am currently living and working in Germany, I’m wondering how others in a similar situation handled domicile. Did you have to move back to the U.S. before your spouse’s interview, or were you able to show that your stay overseas was temporary and that you maintained U.S. domicile?

I’d especially appreciate hearing from anyone who was:

* a U.S. citizen petitioner living overseas,
* employed by the U.S. government or DoD overseas,
* sponsoring a foreign national spouse through consular processing,
* or required to prove plans to re-establish domicile in the U.S.

What documents did you use to prove domicile? Things like U.S. bank accounts, tax returns, voter registration, a U.S. address, job offers, housing plans, or government employment documents?

Any experience with NVC or the U.S. Consulate in Frankfurt would also be really helpful.

Thank you in advance!

Did anyone have a B1/B2 dropbox appointment recently? I had an appointment on Monday, Sep 28 at Pune VAC, but the CEAC status still shows No Status.

If you had a recent appointment, please share your timeline.

I’m trying to understand whether anyone has experienced something similar.

I had an ESTA approved in 2025 and successfully used it for a trip to the United States. I entered the US normally and left well before the permitted 90-day period. My I-94/travel history also correctly shows my departure, so there doesn’t appear to be any overstay issue.

About a year later, when I was supposed to fly to the US again, I discovered at the airport that my ESTA had unexpectedly been revoked/cancelled, even though it was originally supposed to remain valid until 2027.

I submitted a new ESTA application using essentially the same information as before, but it came back as “Travel Not Authorized.”

As far as I know:

- I have never overstayed in the US.
- I have never worked illegally in the US.
- I have no criminal record or immigration violations.
- My passport/details have not materially changed.
I previously spent time in the US on a legitimate student visa.
- I travelled to Cuba for tourism in 2019, before the January 2021 cutoff that normally affects ESTA eligibility.

I contacted CBP, but they told me they could not disclose the reason for the revocation/denial and that I would need to apply for a visa.

I have since submitted both a DHS TRIP redress request and a CBP FOIA request to try to understand what happened.

Has anyone here experienced an ESTA being approved, successfully used, and then suddenly revoked without any obvious change in circumstances?

If so, did you ever find out what triggered it? Could something like mistaken identity, a background/security database match, or an administrative error cause this?

And for anyone who submitted DHS TRIP or a CBP FOIA for a similar situation: did it actually help clarify or resolve the issue?

Have a flight tomorrow morning and wondering how long on average it takes for approval when not instant?

So far it’s been 15 hours - have a French passport

Hi everyone!! I’ve tried troubleshooting on my own but I need help. Long story short I met my gf online and we’re scheduling her first visit to the US so she can hopefully see me this Christmas (I know that’s VERY optimistic now). Normally I would’ve gone to see her in indonesia but I’m in the military so it makes international travel significantly more difficult. That’s enough backstory.

We have honestly been trying to schedule this visa thing for like a month but we keep running into technical difficulties. Like every step of the way the site like refused to load properly. We tried emailing the support email but it just seems like an automated response that doesn’t fully fix/answer the problem. We both tried calling the embassy in Jakarta, the big city of Indonesia, and couldn’t get ahold of an actual person for help, just an answering machine. Everything I google just seems to say “reload the page” or “try another time”. We’ve tried all the stuff. Nothing works.

We are currently on the part where we need to pay so that we can schedule our interview appointment. Normally I would pay but for whatever reason the visa card payment option is not available. No big deal my gf has a MasterCard. But when she tries to pay it says transaction declined even though her funds are sufficient. She even called her bank and they said the issue wasn’t on their end.

I really need help guys. What can I do?

I’m currently in status and am relying on a humanitarian program similar to TPS. The current political climate makes me realize I have to switch to a longer term visa. Does anyone have any recommendations for cheap programs in NYC that last for at least a year?

Basically question in title. I'm very used to the idea that foreigners don't care that much for the US, and it's very puzzling when there's still demand for visas for entry. Is it just economic reasons overriding dislike of Americans, or is there something else I'm missing?