tourist visa granted but went home to the philippines

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i have a friend who passed all the foreign exams.. and was fortunately granted a tourist visa.. she went to the states but the immigration asked her so many questions.. her purpose of visiting usa was just to visit her relatives. i dont know what had happened. the immigration knew that she is a nurse and asked her so many questions.. sad to say, but she was sent back to the philippines at that very moment.. airport to airport. and her visa has been cancelled. she advised me not anymore apply for a tourist visa. what do u think?

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Specializes in NICU, Nursery.

You have to be honest with what your intentions are when you're interviewed by the consul. Of course they asked her all those questions because this route has been tried too many times by lots of people. Even if her intentions her only to visit her relatives, if she's single with no kids or not married, they will really be suspicious as they know that she is a nurse, and NO DOUBT she will use her "extra time" to apply for a job as a nurse. It's a no brainer hon. Always be honest because the truth will always come out and your friend is not the only person who attempted to do such thing. The wiser choice is to go for another type of visa like immigrant or others.

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there are no immigrant visas.. im planning to apply for either student or working visa.. i want to be with my family in the states.. what can u advice me regarding these types of visas.. thanks a lot..

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Specializes in NICU, Nursery.

As i said on my post-- WORK AND GAIN EXPERIENCE IN A HOSPITAL. Even if you have all your papers, no employer will petition you if you have no experience in A SPECIALTY AREA as this type of visa is not made for nurses, you have to have specialty skills to qualify.

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You should work with an immigration professional on this issue.

Bottom line though; if you plan on working in the USA there is no way around retrogression for an occupational visa or immigrant visa. However, depending on your individual circumstances an immigration professional may be able to help you with alternative methods which are completely legal.

It is NOT legal to enter the USA for the purposes of employment under a Toursit or Student visa. If the immigration officials sniff out that you are intending to do that then you will be sent home immediatly.

Worse, if you do something which they determine to be immigration fraud then you can be banned from entering the USA for life.

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these kind of posts are embarrassing and i apologize for the poster.

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Specializes in Medical and general practice now LTC.
these kind of posts are embarrassing and i apologize for the poster.

Why are these posts embarrassing?

Retrogression has been ongoing since Oct 06, this means the demand for a immigrant visa is higher than visas that are allocated. When coming over on a tourist visas POE are within their rights to question you and if necessary deny entry and this is what happened to the OP's friend. They more than likely didn't have enough proof that they intended on returning home once their time was up. Unfortunately he tourist visa gets abused a lot making it harder for the ones who genuinely want to visit the US for a holiday.

OP if you plan on looking at a work visa then you need experience and need to find a employer willing to assist you with the work visa, however with current economic times and many US nurses struggling to find work plus changes that are happening within the healthcare you will find this hard especially with no experience. For a student visa you need to meet requirements and provide proof that you can support yourself whilst in school. Working whilst a student is limited especially the first 12 months.

Also be aware if you go with a work or student visa you CAN NOT adjust your status to immigrant and work. For this to happen your immigrant visa in progress needs to have a PD current so even when your student or work visa expires you may still have to return to the Philippines and wait along with all the others waiting

Moved to the International forum

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It's people that abuse the visa that make it harder for the ones who just intend on using the tourist visa to visit and have full intentions of going home. But sometimes they're denied because of suspicion. Sad but true.

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Not good to cut in line.

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I find it inconceivable, that the fact that she's a nurse never came up during her visa interview. The occupation is normally the first thing that a consul asks.

If officers at the port of entry are suspicious of the real reason why a visitor is entering the US, they subject that person to secondary screening, where they can go through her luggage, her purse, even her email! My guess is, they must have found something incriminating.

Despite the horror stories, I still believe in the sense of justice/fair play of immigration officers at ports of entry, that they don't simply send a person back A to A (airport to airport) for no good reason.

I'm truly sorry for your friend. It must have been a traumatic experience for her and a huge disappointment to her family. However, I hope that her story will serve as a deterrent to those who plan to circumvent the rules. There's always a price to pay if one takes a gamble and loses.

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I went to Guam USA last year on a tourist visa. The immigration officer asked me what is my present occupation, since I was not prepared to answer questions related to my occupation I told him I was graduate student (even if at that time I wasn't)...I wonder what if I told him "I'm unemployed nurse" , would he refuse my entry and send me back to Manila???

I find it all ridiculous. Not all Filipino nurses wants to live or work in the US.

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I find it all ridiculous. Not all Filipino nurses wants to live or work in the US.

Unfortunately for you and your kababayan enough Pinoy nurses have committed immigration fraud to make immigration personnell look at all Filipinos with scrutiny.

Unfair?

Perhaps.

Try flying internationally as a Muslim post-9/11.

One bad apple ruins the whole batch.

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