B2 Visitor Visa for Pleasure

The B2 Visitor Visa For Pleasure is designed to allow foreigners to visit the U.S. for a limited period of time for non-business activities. Acceptable purposes include:

1. Visiting friends and relatives, tourism or vacationing;
2. Visits for medical treatment;
3. Participion in conventions, conferences or convocations of fraternal or social organizations;
4. Participation by an amateur in sports, musical, and other events or contests, who will receive no money or other remuneration in return.

Visa Waiver Program
Citizens from developed countries such as Germany, Japan, Australia, et cetera, can enter the U.S. without a visa under the Visa Waiver Program ("VWP"). The VWP affords relatively easy access to citizens from program countries for purposes of tourism. VWP citizens may enter the U.S. by providing little more than a valid passport and a promise to stay in the U.S. for less than 90 days. Most of the rest of the world has to fight the U.S. consular bureaucracy and obtain a visa before entering the United States. By law, the foreign citizen is presumed to have immigrant intent.

Presumption of Immigrant Intent
All nonimmigrant visa applicants are presumed to have immigrant intent. This means that the burden is entirely on the applicant to convince the consular officer that the applicant does NOT want to stay permanently in the U.S.

Predicting Success
A consular officer is forbidden by law to make an assessment or predication of any individual applicant’s chances of receiving a visa. This reticence causes many persons to go into the applications process without realizing that they are wasting their time and money. A cynical observer might note that visa fees are a major source of income for the U.S. State Department. The State Department therefore does not have a strong incentive to tell applicants that they might be wasting their time.

Finally, attempting to obtain a visa by the willful misrepresentation of a material fact, or fraud, may result in the permanent refusal of a visa or denial of entry into the United States.