How to Invite a Relative in the Philippines to the USA
Inviting a Filipino relative to visit you in the United States requires the fulfillment of a number of documentary requirements. Your relative must apply for a nonimmigrant visitor visa, which can either be a B-1 (business visitor visa) or B-2 (pleasure/tourism/medical treatment visa).
While anyone can apply for this type of visa at the nearest U.S. Embassy or Consulate in the Philippines, getting the visa approved is based on the supporting documents that can prove your relative's strong ties to the Philippines and ensure that he/she will be returning after the intended visit.
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Things You'll Need
- To invite a relative in the Philippines to the USA, you will need the following:
- Invitation letter
- Proof of residence in the Philippines (billing addresses of credit card statements, bank statements or utility bills)
- Proof of Filipino citizenship (birth certificate)
- Philippine passport
- Proof of financial capacity to travel
- Proof of employment and/or source(s) of income
- Supporting documents to prove strong ties to the Philippines (assets and ownerships of house, car or investment accounts, immediate family residing in the Philippines)
Instructions
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Write an invitation letter to explain and support the reason(s) why your relative intends to go to the United States. Although this explanation is not the main reason considered during the application process, your statement helps to prove initially that your relative will not work illegally in the United States, especially if you will provide room and board during his/her stay. However, your relative should provide documents proving his/her financial capacity to travel. He/she must have assets like house and lot, car and other properties owned in the Philippines. He/she must have a good job in a long-standing company that he will not easily consider abandoning in the Philippines. For a relative with his/her own family already, he/she can also prove that this person has ties to the Philippines if his/her immediate family is based in the country.
In your letter, state the duration of stay and approximate dates of the visit and how your relative will be financially supported during the stay, regardless of whether or not you are providing room and board.
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Send the original signed letter to your relative in the Philippines before his/her visa application to the U.S. Embassy or Consulate.
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Wait for the result of your relative's visa application. Your relative should also provide all documents required for submission for the visitor visa application, as required by the Embassy or Consulate.
For the visa application, your relative should provide a proof of funding, which may be a current original bank statement showing available funds to cover the trip and the duration of stay in the United States, regardless of whether or not you are providing room and board. Other primary requirements include original documents and photocopies of the applicant's passport, proof of identity through valid IDs, proof of Filipino citizenship and permanent residence in the Philippines and other documents to support strong ties to the Philippines.
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Tips & Warnings
According to the Web site of the U.S. Department of State's Bureau of Consular Affairs, the typical wait time for a visitor visa interview appointment is 8 days.
As the U.S. immigration law requires any applicant to qualify on his/her own merit, even if you intend to provide room and board for your relative, if he/she does not have enough proof of strong ties to the Philippines and your relative has no significant source of funds to prove that he/she is financially stable in the Philippines, the Consul would generally assume that your relative intends to stay in the United States permanently. This is usually the case if the person intends to travel to the United States with a visitor visa, but the person does not have enough money to accommodate such travel and he/she merely depends on sponsorship from a relative in the United States during his/her intended travel. Most applicants get denied a visitor visa if they do not have sufficient proof of financial capacity to travel overseas.
References
- U.S. Department of State - Bureau of Consular Affairs: Visitor Visas - Business and Pleasure
- U.S. Department of State - Bureau of Consular Affairs: Visitor Visas - Visitor Visas
- Foreign Born: US Visas (Nonimmigrant Visas)
- U.S. Department of State - Bureau of Consular Affairs: Visa Wait Times Results Page
- University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill: How to Invite a Family Member to Visit You in the United States
- Photo Credit Medioimages/Photodisc/Photodisc/Getty Images
