Au pair J1 visa when AP has siblings in US

[Anonymous]

Any experience with an AP having difficulty getting a visa if she has close relatives/siblings in the US? What if they are here illegally? Wondering if this might affect our AP candidate’s visa application?

[Anonymous]

That will depend on AP's home country, their siblings visa status etc. An EU AP with a sibling on a J1/F1 will most likely find it easier to receive a visa than a Mexican AP with a family member who overstayed or is on a GC through marriage or similar.

[Anonymous]

Yeap that will be a tough one, they will think AP wants to immigrate which is automatically a visa denial.

[Anonymous]

OP here. And her tourist visa was denied in 2018.

[Anonymous]

What country? If a sibling came and overstayed a visa, and she is not from EU or Japan, that will be very tough to overcome.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here. And her tourist visa was denied in 2018.

Ok with this extra information I wonder why are you even trying, is it someone you actually know?

[Anonymous]

Obviously the would-be au pair is a would-be illegal immigrant.

[Anonymous]

OP here. Thanks for confirming what I was already thinking.

We really like this candidate but are going to pass.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here. And her tourist visa was denied in 2018.

Mmmmh. I would take a pass. Too risky.
However, having a tourist visa denied as a young adult (late teen?) with very few binding ties and possibly limited money is not uncommon.

If she is from a VWP country and had a B2 denied I would chalk it up to stupidity (it's amazing difficult to receive a B visa if you are from a visa waiver country and eligible to travel under the visa waiver program... the problem is that nobody tells you that before you apply and even if you have the money and the binding ties if you don't have a good explenation why you need to stay longer than the 90 days you are eligible to be in the US under the VWP you will be denied, sibling in the US or not).
If she is not from a VWP country and had a B2 visa denied she may still be eligible for a J1. Just because she wasn't considered eligible for one doesn't necessarily mean she will not be able to get the other. However, if the risk the embassy saw was immigration intent she may well be denied her J1 which would leave you hanging without an AP at most likely last minute.

[Anonymous]

What country is the key question?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What country is the key question?

She wouldn’t need to apply for a tourist visa if she was not from a “problem” country .

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:She wouldn’t need to apply for a tourist visa if she was not from a “problem” country .

Europeans from "not problem countries" who would usually fall under the visa waiver program do apply for tourist visas if they want to spend more than 90 days in the US for some reason. They do often get denied because the embassy doesn't agree that their reasons are valid enough. Most likely this isn't the case here but as OP hasn't said... who knows?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:She wouldn’t need to apply for a tourist visa if she was not from a “problem” country .

Europeans from "not problem countries" who would usually fall under the visa waiver program do apply for tourist visas if they want to spend more than 90 days in the US for some reason. They do often get denied because the embassy doesn't agree that their reasons are valid enough. Most likely this isn't the case here but as OP hasn't said... who knows?

This case is so rare.