Holiday Visa for Indonesian Citizen (IRL resident)

Hi there,

My husband (indonesian) and I (irish) plan to travel to the US for 16 days. I am travelling for work as I have to attend training there, and my husband is accompanying me, so basically for Tourism purposes. As an Indonesian citizen he'll have to apply for a Tourist visa with the US Embasssy. He's arranged an appointment with the Dublin US Embassy for Weds AM. Has anyone attended one of these before? Any tips on what's asked?

It seems the main concern seems to be that is that he will not exit the country and will remain in the US, so the onus is on us to prove that he has "ties in his country of residence". The documentation I've accumulated for the application so far are:

• Details of my work (payslips, contract)
  Details of his work (letter of job offer)
  Rental Agreement & Utilities
  Joint and individual Bank statements
  Marriage Certificate
  Return Flight Booking for both of us
  Hotel Bookings in my name

Any other suggestions of documentation we should include? If anyone's had personal experience of applying with the Dublin Embassy, please send details. As we are due to fly in 3 weeks time, there's not much time for an appeal if we get the application wrong the first time. Thanks a lot.

See also Visa Denials.

Thanks for the link Vinny. We made sure to bulk up the application with as much info as possible adding details of various Bank Accounts, Utility Bills, Employment Contracts, Rental Agreement etc. My husband had his Embassy interview today. We both attended even though they only asked for the applicant to attend. It was pretty straight forward and the questions were all pretty much expected ones:

1. Where did you meet, when & where did you marry?
2. What/where the applicant was working/studying now?
3. How did the applicant enter and get residency in Ireland?
4. What was the purpose of the stay and when would the applicant return?
5. Why was I (spouse) visiting the US and where/what did I work at currently?

Strangely enough, all documentation (all photocopies) apart from a letter from the Uni where he is currently studying was handed straight back to us. I guess they'd seen enough. The Embassy Offical said the application would take a few weeks (longer than the usual 2-3 business days). I'm presuming this is because of my husbands nationality. Fingers crossed we get good news in a few weeks. Otherwise it's been an expensive mistake on flights and accommodation!

Update: All went well in the end. 10 days later we got the call that the application had been accepted and visa granted. Received passport back today (13 days after interview) issued with 5 year B1/B2 visa (multiple entry). We were both quite shocked as we'd expected a Single Entry Tourist visa for the exact period of our intended stay.

It's pretty amazing as he has to apply for an individual Schengen Visa for each trip we take within the EU (where I am a citizen), supplying a barage of information about Hotels/Flights/Financial Resources/Relationship/Living Together etc. Despite EU multiple trips together and adhering to the visa dates each time, he's only ever been issued a visa for the exact dates of our flights. But when we apply for a visa for him to the US, he gets a 5 year visa with no more formalities. Fantastic news about the US Visa, but it highlights even more the stupidity of the EU Schengen visa situation.

Congrats.

Yeah, once you get approved for US visa they are usually pretty generous. US also usually approves your stay for 6 months (when you enter the country) even though you're coming for 2-3 weeks.

It might have been 10 years except the Indonesian passport is limited to a 5 year tourist visa on reciprocity grounds:
http://travel.state.gov/visa/frvi/recip ... _3584.html

Schengen countries have a bad attitude towards tourist visas so you should really plan to go to other countries. There are alternatives.

Until your spouse gets an Irish passport?

It's hard to rule out visiting the EU on the basis of the rules and protocols they impose, given Irelands geographic location and distance from alternative destinations (not to mention cost).

Yeah the Irish passport would be good, but unfortunately it'll be a while off before he can get an Irish passport. He can apply next July (when we're 3 years married), but given the current processing times, it'll be another 3 years after that before he gets the passport