I've been married to a wonderful Filipina for nearly a decade (she was actually already in the US when I met her) I've visited her family in PI 4 or 5 times, and had a great time. We would like to have some of her nieces and nephew come visit us for a month for a vacation. They've treated us wonderfully during our visits, and we think it would be nice to return the favor. We just went through the fun of getting them all passports and getting them visa interviews, wrote a letter taking financial responsibility for them and listing all the touristy things we were going to do while they were here, and promising to send them home afterwards, and they got denied because they "didn't have sufficient ties to the Philippines" that would make them return.

Now if the US actually seemed to care about illegal immigration I wouldn't be so angry, however this is 4 people who have an American citizen vouching for them, that just want to come visit for a month.

Anybody know a good immigration attorney who could advise me on if there's any way to proceed...short of buying them plane tickets to Mexico or marrying them all off to my friends? (that's a joke)

Sorry I can help. Just wanted to say this sucks.

I'm sorry, that's just wrong. I hope you can make that visit happen and find someone to help you. Waltz across the border with no docs and it's fine. Do it the right way and you are denied.

That's fucked up.

Hunh, wha...?



Dammit!

You might want to start with Tacoma Community House.

I realize Tacoma is in the name, but they cover many counties, including Mason.

It’s a good starting point, and you could be directed, if they can’t help.

https://www.immigrationadvocates.org/no ... nity_House

You mentioned your wife is Filipina, is she in touch with any of the local Filipino communities?

There are pockets in Puyallup, Olympia, etc., and some have community centers, where you could interact with folks that have had similar issues & may have contacts.

Just a couple of quick thoughts…

Thanks for the kind words and advice.

Good friend of mine is working though an immigration issue as well.

Barbara Marcouiller
barbara@kirklandlaw.com

1. Get them a ticket to Juarez
2. ????
3. Meet them in El Paso
4. Profit!

I'm not sure if a immigration lawyer can help, tourist are considered non-immigrant and you can potentially be wasting your money. Best to ask up front before they charge you hourly fee. Plus, if they have been denied a visa once, chances of their visa being denied again will be higher.

It may be that you'll have to meet them in Canada and spend host them there instead. It'll be more expensive, especially if you plan an entire month's worth of stay but if you can swing it for a couple of weeks I think it should still be a pretty good trip for them.

Following. I've run into this on more than one occassion with the Pinays. If they don't have significant property and financial holdings or long time employment in the Philippines it's a tough nut to crack getting them to the U.S.. Even government workers, like teachers have trouble. On both sides. Manila is afraid they won't come back, and DC fears they might not leave/return home, depending on the day of the week, moon phase and direction of the wind.

One possible, but spendy work around is to try to meet in an easier country to enter. Australia is pretty friendly that way and has worked in the past. Maybe Canada? Probably not what your looking for. Certainly not the same as treating guests to your home turf. Good luck

For those that haven't been through this, it's hard to really appreciate the relative freedom to travel that we take for granted.

3,2,1....

Edit - I was typing (slowly) and didn't see the same suggestion in the post above.

Have you tried contacting your rep or one of our two illustrious Senators? When we reviewed VA claims, folks who’d been denied often suddenly become eligible when the Congressional request hit the file.

That being said, I’m surprised the PI isn’t a CAFE country. It’s like having a golden ticket.

YMMV

Coming for a month probably didn't help how they viewed the visit

Canada is like that. When I used to visit my grandparents for the summer I learned to always say I was staying two weeks. Anything longer than that and they think you're going to need to work to support yourself and start asking a lot of questions

It probably would have been better to tell them two weeks then overstay the visa. Not sure they really check on outgoing people to see if they're past due

Find an ambulance chaser and sue the state dept for racism. White tourists from Europe do not go through the same garbage that good hardworking Philippine's do and the Philippines are a crucial ally in countering China. If anything they will settle for a huge sum just to not raise a diplomatic stink when we need to open bases back up there and you can use the cash to buy your own Island.

Brilliant. This man knows how the government works...