Visa Consultants

Many temporary visitors turn to visa consultants before scheduling their interviews. While some consultants provide helpful information, many do not.

Information on the visa application process can be found on this website as well as on http://www.travel.state.gov/. This information is free of charge and is the only accurate source on which you should rely. Answers to all visa questions can be found easily on these websites.

Remember: You alone are responsible for the accuracy of the information in your application. Intentionally submitting false information either on the application itself or during the visa interview can lead to a finding of a permanent ineligibility. Never sign the application you are submitting without reviewing it first for accuracy if you have had help filling it out.

As part of their “services,” Consultants sometime sell to students fake financial packages or encourage parents wishing to visit U.S.-based children to lie about the number or location of their other children. In both of these scenarios, applicants have been found permanently ineligible for visas because they provided false information during interviews.

Applicants who receive interview coaching by consultants should also be wary of such services. The end result is that every client from a particular consultant sounds exactly like one another. This diminishes credibility among those who memorize the “correct” answers and cannot hold free-flowing conversations with visa officers.

Once an officer has determined that an applicant does not qualify for a visa, the applicant should not re-apply unless there are significant changes in the applicant's circumstances or information, which was not presented during the first interview.