A person applying for a B1 visa, from Kolkata, to attend their graduation ceremony, shared their experience. The individual's visa was rejected and Reddit users were quick to point out the ‘one mistake’ that likely led to this rejection.
The post was shared on the US Visa Scheduling subreddit, where the user listed the questions posed to them, before their visa application was rejected. The person wished to attend the graduation ceremony for an online course at the Georgia Institute of Technology. Here's how the interview went.
B1 visa application interview details
The applicant shared they were asked some general questions like why they were traveling to the US. “I will be travelling to attend my online masters of science graduation ceremony at Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta and plan to do sight seeing around the city,” the applicant replied.
The individual also shared that they planned to stay ‘around’ Atlanta for two weeks, and noted they had no family in the US.
“So, you will travel to attend graduation ceremony, but the VISA says Business Professionals. You have misused the VISA application, hence you're rejected,” the interviewing officer said, as per the Reddit post.
HT.com could not independently verify the authenticity of this post.
Reddit users point out what applicant should have done
Many Reddit users pointed out what the applicant should have done in this situation. “B1 is not the right visa for attending graduation ceremony. You should have just applied for B2 and talked about tourism/sightseeing,” one stated.
Another clearly noted that with the immigration crackdown under the Donald Trump administration, the reason for the applicant's travel and their choice to apply for a B1/B2 put them in a grey area. “Attending your own graduation in US on B1/B2 is neither tourist nor business intention. Sorry with this administration, it puts you in a gray area,” they wrote.
While the original poster conveyed that many from their college from the same program got their visa in this process, one person noted that it might have just been luck. “Just consider them getting lucky- under usual circumstances, it is very difficult to get a visa on this pretext. And who knows, they may have posed tourism as the main reason for going and not their graduation,” they wrote.
Overall, the comments suggested that the applicant should have stated that tourism was their main purpose, and they could have attended the graduation ceremony as well, while in the US. One person noted “Yours is not even a tourism trip fully for that matter of fact, you primarily talked about your graduation which is neither tourism nor business nor something that the VO may have considered important keeping in mind the need of your physical presence there. Sorry you had to go through this, but even reapplying won't work here I feel.”