Green Card holder’s mother denied B1/B2 visa to attend housewarming ceremony: They did not ask for any documents

A Green Card holder says her mother was denied B1/B2 visa in Mumbai.

An Indian woman with US Green Card shared the experience of a B1/B2 visa interview at Mumbai Consulate attended by her mother which ended in a flat refusal. As the woman shared her mother’s interview experience seeking advice on what they did wrong, it emerged as an interesting case to study for B1/B2 visa applicants, as the denial rates in India are pretty high. Whenever visa officers don’t find strong ties of the applicants with India, they deny visa detecting “immigration intent” which means that they suspect that the applicants may not return to Indian.In this case, as specified by the Reddit post, the visa officer asked the woman, a widow staying in India with her son while the daughter is a US Green Card holder with a US citizen spouse, the purpose of her visit. The mother had no history of international travel and it was her first intended trip to the US to attend the housewarming ceremony of the daughter.The trip was planned for a month. The visa officer asked her about the funding of the trip. The mother, a widowed housewife, said she was funding the trip herself through savings. “I have my savings good enough to cover my one month trip. I live with my son so he takes care of my expenses and I also survive out of the interest from my FD and other investments. I also do some small embroidery work but it’s seasonal and not often available,” the mother said.“They didn’t ask for any documents. my mother has property and all the investments on her name. I don’t know what went wrong here,” the Redditor said. Within five minutes of this conversation, the visa was denied. The visa officer also told her to apply again.

What went wrong?

Redditors pointed out that though a similar case may get approved in another consulate or by a different visa officer, the mother did not actually show any strong ties to India. A widow with no job and a richer child in the US is a person who has fewer chances to go back to India