Visa Interviews Have Changed: What Applicants Need to Know

The hardest visa interviews, according to the consular officers themselves, are the ones where the applicant won't volunteer anything.

I learned this at the AILA conference last month.

One of the panels was former consular officers — the people who used to decide these cases. They talked about what it's like to see thousands of applicants a day, and what makes them want to approve someone.

It's interesting because for years, the advice was to keep it short. Answer exactly what the officer asks, nothing more. That's how the older attorneys trained us, and for a long time it worked.

The officers said the opposite is true now. When someone gives only the bare minimum, they start to wonder what the person is hiding.

The follow-ups turn into pulling teeth.

Purpose of travel: business.

What business: sales.

The posture has shifted to a presumption against everyone.

So the first answer has to carry the weight: who you are, what you do, why you're traveling, what you're coming to work on. Enough that they don't need to dig.

It's a balance — complete without rambling into a new question.

A lot of my clients work in film and television. So before O-1 stamping, I tell them to be ready to talk about the project itself. If it's a show the officer might have seen, or a company they'd recognize, mention it. It gives them something to connect with, rather than one more applicant they know nothing about whose teeth they have to pull.

This is the part of immigration law that never sits still. The rules aren't fixed, and neither is the advice. What got a case approved a year ago can be the exact thing that raises a flag today.

So staying up-to-date is the job.