Inviting Your Parents to Visit
We frequently receive questions from Yemeni-American citizens and Yemeni residents in the U.S. who want to know how their parents can qualify to receive visas to enter the U.S. for tourism. In our experience, many of these applicants are eligible for visas, but a significant number overstay or fail to return.
First, in addition to following the general instruction for all non-immigrant applications, it may help parents to bring copies of their son/daughter’s American Passport visa or green card. so that we may establish the legal status of the son/daughter in the United States. Parents should be prepared to present this information at the time of their visa interviews.
Next, in adjudicating visitor visa applications for parents, our visa officers tend to focus on factors that help us determine whether the applicants possess compelling ties to Yemen:
• If the applicants have traveled to the U.S. previously, how long did they stay?
• If the applicants have traveled to the U.S. previously, how long have they been back in Yemen?
• How many children and grandchildren do the applicants have in Yemen?
• Have the relatives in the U.S. ever returned to Yemen to visit their families as is normal for foreign students, workers, and residents in the U.S.?
• Are the parents active professionally in Yemen; if so, what is their income and the nature of their work?
The answers to these questions relate to whether applicants can fulfill the statutory requirement in Section 101 (a)(15)(B) of the Immigration and Nationality Act to show that they have a permanent residence in a Yemen that they have no intention of abandoning. In other words, persons who are absent from Yemen for periods of more than six months may have trouble showing that they possess social or professional obligations in Yemen that are sufficiently powerful to ensure that they will go home following a temporary stay abroad. Applicants are advised to be ready to address these issues during their visa interviews.