Indonesian Travel to the US

**b33j915** · 20-02-09, 15:36

Was wondering if anyone knew the "REAL" story on whats required of an Indonesian Citizen to enter the US for any of the following Visas:

Social
Business

I have a friend who is interested in going to the US and wish to assist in the sponsoring process. If anyone of you have done this before (sponsored someone/visited the US) please share your thoughts here.

**waarmstrong** · 20-02-09, 18:39

All the requirements and are available at the Consular section page of the US Embassy site in Jakarta:

http://jakarta.usembassy.gov/consular/consular.html

Beyond the formal published process, my personal feeling, from have gone through the circus numerous times -- most often successfully, but not always -- is that there are two common reasons for rejections.

First, the consular official who conducts the interview comes away suspicious that the applicant does not plan to return to Indonesia. Applicants can mitigate the chance of this outcome by documenting strong ties to Indonesia -- Job/income, family, property ownership, money in the bank, etc.

Second, the applicant's name is similar to one on the State Department's or Homeland Security Department's watch list, or the applicant is from a region know for producing or harboring Islamic radicals, or there is some other innocuous bit of information on the application or gleaned during the interview that raises a suspicion, reasonable or not, that the applicant could be a security threat. I don't know that there is any way to mitigate this basis for a denial. I think its rather arbitrarily applied, even more so than the first reason.

Stay cool and don't let the hassle get to you. Good luck with your sponsorship.

**b33j915** · 20-02-09, 21:23

Originally Posted by waarmstrong

All the requirements and are available at the Consular section page of the US Embassy site in Jakarta:

http://jakarta.usembassy.gov/consular/consular.html

Beyond the formal published process, my personal feeling, from have gone through the circus numerous times -- most often successfully, but not always -- is that there are two common reasons for rejections.

First, the consular official who conducts the interview comes away suspicious that the applicant does not plan to return to Indonesia. Applicants can mitigate the chance of this outcome by documenting strong ties to Indonesia -- Job/income, family, property ownership, money in the bank, etc.

Second, the applicant's name is similar to one on the State Department's or Homeland Security Department's watch list, or the applicant is from a region know for producing or harboring Islamic radicals, or there is some other innocuous bit of information on the application or gleaned during the interview that raises a suspicion, reasonable or not, that the applicant could be a security threat. I don't know that there is any way to mitigate this basis for a denial. I think its rather arbitrarily applied, even more so than the first reason.

Stay cool and don't let the hassle get to you. Good luck with your sponsorship.

I will review the link you provided shortly. I am grateful for the info you provided and am looking forward to the process. The sponsorship will be for my surrogate family member who expressed serious interest about going to the US. When it was brought to my attention, I jumped at the chance to do any and everything in my power to assist. Again thank you very much and should anything else come to mind, please don't hesitate to notify me.

**indotom** · 21-02-09, 06:34

There is a strong suspision among US consular officials about granting visas to Indonesias wanting to visit the USA. The typical issue is the visitors over stay their visa and do not return to their home country. To get a US visa a big plus is to show that you or your family are wealthy. Rich Indonesians typically do not go overseas and over stay their visa to live the American dream because actually their life here is better. A rich Indonesian typically has several maids, a driver, a gardender, a cook, and atleast one security guard. Who in American can afford that except the super rich?

Also a help to get a US visa is showing past visits to other westernized countries. This shows a history of world travel and typically satisfies the officials fear of "Joe Kampung".

**ohmdafyd** · 21-02-09, 08:07

'There is a strong suspision among US consular officials about granting visas to Indonesias wanting to visit the USA. The typical issue is the visitors over stay their visa and do not return to their home country.'

Same for applicants wishing to visit Australia, unfortunately in the past many have simply 'gone bush' worked illegally and in the process made it harder for others to visit..
I'm sorry to say that Australia still has touches of the old 'White AustraliaPolicy' , however once 'genuineness' can be proven the process becomes easy peasy!
Stay cool as advised, provide the evidence of strong ties to Indo and..persist
Note I don't know about the US, but Australia sometimes enforces a 'bond' on the sponsors'...

**atlantis** · 21-02-09, 08:26

I am afraid that this "suspicion among customs officials" is a concern in any "western" countries, not only the US of A and Australia. Europe is the same, and with the global economic crisis knocking loud at the door, things aren't gonna improve. Any visa applicant from any countries less economicaly developped is gonna been double screened. If on top of that, you add the fact that there is an history of troubles with islamic radicals in the applicant's country, it is not gonna smoothen the visa process.

In my experience, delivering visa or refusing it is a human decision. Your personal implication with the embassy may also help, as long as you play very softly. I was once in your situation and I personally went to my embassy in JKT with the visa applicant I sponsored, met the person in charge and I have the impression that it helped. Though the lady said to me that my intervention would not interfere in her judgement, I do believe that it did help her to be convinced that the file was serious.
Make sure that the person you sponsor fully comply with the visa requirement. I have seen some applicants (in this case it was girls wishing to join their western boyfriend in Europe) being refused for not having provided all the documents requested or the correct number of photocopies... just because they thought it wasn't that important.

Once an applicant is refused, the subsequent requests are even harder.

**PapuaBoy** · 21-02-09, 10:04

Originally Posted by atlantis

I was once in your situation and I personally went to my embassy in JKT with the visa applicant I sponsored, met the person in charge and I have the impression that it helped. Though the lady said to me that my intervention would not interfere in her judgement, I do believe that it did help her to be convinced that the file was serious

Atlantis has tounched on a very important point here. Although having the sponsor accompany the applicant to the embassy when making the application should not have an effect on the officer's final judgement - Atlantis is quite right in that it actually emphasises the fact that this is a serious application and that the applicant intents to cooperate with the laws of the land that they wish to visit. Such an action can have either a small or large impact on the whole processing of the application.My parents are working in Japan and we went to visit them on holiday at one point (I am British and my wife is Indonesian). The fact that I was born in Japan and that my father wrote a specially worded letter (in English and Japanese) inviting us to visit them on holiday spoke huge volumes and that bore a lot of weight. The officer processing the application was so impressed by it, that he processed the application in 1 day instead of the usual 3 days.

**b33j915** · 21-02-09, 12:44

So I gather, a moving letter and personal appearance to the Embassy on my behalf is the most preferential course of action. I figured as much and when reading the openinging paragraph of the Visa section; I thought "fair and open policy", how fair and open is it? I understand that countries wish to protect their borders and this is the first line of defense. Given the state of the world today, seems the agressors should be licking their internal wounds and not out in the streets raising war. Just a couple more questions. Are the interviewers more partial to Male or Female applicants? Does the embassies view male or females as higher risks...be it flight/threat or otherwise? Some of the replies suggest areas of which the intended applicant was born/raised would be "semi-automatic" grounds for denial, where are these areas? Anyone know how much the "Bond" would cost and rather I would post it or would the applicant?

**ohmdafyd** · 22-02-09, 07:35

Originally Posted by b33j915

So I gather, a moving letter and personal appearance to the Embassy on my behalf is the most preferential course of action. I figured as much and when reading the openinging paragraph of the Visa section; I thought "fair and open policy", how fair and open is it? I understand that countries wish to protect their borders and this is the first line of defense. Given the state of the world today, seems the agressors should be licking their internal wounds and not out in the streets raising war. Just a couple more questions. Are the interviewers more partial to Male or Female applicants? Does the embassies view male or females as higher risks...be it flight/threat or otherwise? Some of the replies suggest areas of which the intended applicant was born/raised would be "semi-automatic" grounds for denial, where are these areas? Anyone know how much the "Bond" would cost and rather I would post it or would the applicant?

The 'bond' I referred to was for Australia...I have no idea about the process for the USA, and it is several thousand dollars, I forget exactly how much but detailed information can be found here..http://www.immi.gov.au/..

I do not believe that in Australia's case at least, there is an automatic or semi automatic rejection, each case is asessed on merit and as stated before, providing 'genuiness' can be established, a visa will be issued.

**PapuaBoy** · 23-02-09, 08:52

Originally Posted by b33j915

So I gather, a moving letter and personal appearance to the Embassy on my behalf is the most preferential course of action. I figured as much and when reading the openinging paragraph of the Visa section; I thought "fair and open policy", how fair and open is it? I understand that countries wish to protect their borders and this is the first line of defense. Given the state of the world today, seems the agressors should be licking their internal wounds and not out in the streets raising war. Just a couple more questions. Are the interviewers more partial to Male or Female applicants? Does the embassies view male or females as higher risks...be it flight/threat or otherwise? Some of the replies suggest areas of which the intended applicant was born/raised would be "semi-automatic" grounds for denial, where are these areas? Anyone know how much the "Bond" would cost and rather I would post it or would the applicant?

Well, the letter should be professionally and well written without too much emotion in it, if possible. It should be written using the language and verbiage that is used and understood by the people of the country that you are wanting to get the visa from. So if you want to get a visa for America, use American English, American style of words, phrases, grammer, etc.

As for the Interviewers being more partial towards Male or Female, etc. Well now that is a real toss up! It depends on the Interviewer as a person, what "security issues" have arisen from the applicant's country, the applicant's sponsor, the current political, economic, and security climate in the country the applicant wishes to visit. The weather can also affect the Interviewer's mood as well and whether they are having a bad hair day or not.