Why Didn’t The Consul Want To Look At My Evidence?

Some unsuccessful visa applicants have said, “The officer didn’t even look at my evidence!” Today we’ll see some remarks made by an experienced consular officer, who explains why the consul might not be interested in examining the papers and photos that the applicant brings to the interview. The comments of this officer mostly refer to tourist or student or business visa applicants, but these comments give us a very good idea about how consuls feel about evidence in all kinds of cases.

First of all, any type of evidence can be manufactured, forged or counterfeited. There is nothing about a piece of paper that will tell an officer anything about a visa applicant’s intentions. It is the applicant’s intentions that the officer is trying to discover at the visa interview. No papers will tell the consular officer if it is a sham marriage or if the tourist visa applicant intends to remain in the US for the rest of his life.

The consul says, “A bank book, a job letter, a lease, a car title, emails, chat and phone records…… none of it means anything. If the tourist visa applicant intends to stay in the US forever, he will gladly leave everything behind if he can get the visa to the States. The evidence he presents to the consul will not be any guarantee that he will return home when his visa expires. An officer’s job is to interview applicants, not shuffle papers, and, an officer should not ask for papers or accept papers that the applicant offers.”

Other officers disagree and they refer to the Code of Federal Regulations which says that "All documents and other evidence presented by the alien, shall be considered by the consular officer."

In fact, the supervisors in the visa sections try to discourage the officers from depending on papers. They want the officers to concentrate on the applicant himself.

One officer said that most effective consular officers do look at the applicants' evidence, but they feel that they don't need job letters or bank books or chat records to make a decision.

The challenge for consular officers is to sharpen their interviewing skills so that they can be more productive, effective, and avoid requesting or accepting evidence from the applicant.

Consular officers know very well that there are document services that can manufacture any documents that an applicant wants. People have the skill and technology necessary to provide whatever the applicant thinks the consul will want to see.

Some consuls firmly believe that any evidence that the applicant offers should not be accepted. Why? Because it is irrelevant, it is distracting, it invites dishonesty and it interferes with the consular officer’s evaluation of the applicant’s intentions.

Of course, in some cases the consul does want to see evidence of the relationship or financial evidence. However, when we see the way that most consuls view most evidence, it is clear that papers alone are not going to achieve a successful visa application.

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Q.1. If some consuls are not interested in looking at evidence, what should the applicant do?
A. 1. In fact, there are some consuls who do want to see some evidence, or even all of the evidence, so the applicant should have it ready. The main point in our topic today is the explanation of why consuls do not rely on papers to tell them the real intentions of the applicants.

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Q.2. What can a visa applicant do to be successful if the consul is not interested in examining the evidence at the interview?
A. There is no clear answer to this question because conducting interviews is not an exact science. Success or failure depends on the perceptions of the consular officer and the interaction between the officer and the applicant. There is a good chance of success if the applicant appears honest, completely truthful and self-confident. Basically, the officer is looking for verbal and behavioral clues to real intent of the applicant.

 
 
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