Visa Statistics

[Gary Bala]

I thought that some of you on this forum might be interested in this
information.

Courtesy of an attorney friend of mine, we just secured access to
Visa Statistics for K-1, K-2, K-3 & K-4 visas (and other Non-Immigrant
visas) for all the U.S. Consulates worldwide for FY 2003 and 2004,
unclassified and released under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).

I have posted this data on my website in MS Excel spreadsheet format.
I have extracted and compiled specific data for K visas issued by the
U.S. Consulates in 20 Latin countries.

SEE: http://www.usaimmigrationattorney.com/VisaStatistics.html

It shows many expected things, and but also a few mild surprises.

1. Most people get their visas. Only a relatively small group of people
are denied.

2. The post in Bogota, Colombia approves most visas, almost all eventually.
(98% approval rate reported for the K visas for FY 2003 & 2004). I know
that recently the Consular officers in Bogota are closely screening cases,
and may ask the lady fiancee to return for more questions or further
documents one, two, three and even four times. But people appear to be
persistent and eventually get their visas at least at this post, according
to the visa issuance totals reported by Bogota.

3. Other posts with very high visa issuance rates are: 2004:
Honduras (100%), Costa Rica (98%), Panama (97%),
Brazil (98%), Mexico (99%)

4. At some posts, the visa approvals are lower, and the denials are relatively
higher: 2004: Lima visa approvals are only 53%, Chile 60%, Ecuador 65%,
Belize 50%, Cuba 70% (Special Interests Section Swiss Embassy).
Also Manila 57%.

5. Some high fraud posts still report pretty high visa approval rates:
Dominican Republic 88%, Bogota 98%.

6. Some of the posts which are NOT high fraud posts have relatively low
visa approval rates: 2004: Belize 50%, Paraguay 58%, Chile 60%.

7. As to raw number of total visas issued in 2004, (as one person
pointed out) Consulate in Mexico issued the highest number of K-1 visas
(1109), followed by the Consulate in the much-smaller country of
Dominican Republic (1032). Conversely, for a country the size of Brazil,
the Consulate in Rio issued a relatively small number of K-1 visas (409).

At any rate, the reader should draw his or her own conclusions from this data.

Hopefully, this data is helpful.
Regards.
GB

PS: We have no further information other than what is shown in the Excel
spreadsheet, such as reasons for each visa denial, etc. If we secure any
more information, I will post it. Thanks.

[lapentier]

... in response to Visa Statistics, posted by Gary Bala on Jul 15, 2005

This is interesting.  The number for Manila seems relatively on-target.  That particular post can really test one's patience.  However, persistence there seems to pay off in virtually every case I know.  The main strategy is to bring abundant evidence you are not fraudulent--letters, bills, pictures, high school yearbook, etc.  Even better is if both of you can show up together.

I could bore everyone with my story, however it is almost a decade old--definitely pre 9/11.

What is curious to me is that there appears to be little correlation between the reputation of being a high-fraud post and the visa approval rate.

Does anyone have any idea why this is so?

Mark

[DavidMN]

... in response to Visa Statistics, posted by Gary Bala on Jul 15, 2005

Thanks. Very good info.

Frankly, I was surprised at Colombia's figure of 900 (average of K1 plus K3 for two years). Given the large number of Colombian immigrants already in the US, I suspect a fair number of these relationships were not started via introduction agencies. X percent could have used friends, families or even services like Amigos.com

You could make up numbers all day long but even if 75% of the relationships are a result of introduction agencies and each man paid $500 to join, it's no wonder so many of them go out of business. I realize the agencies have members that take a couple of years to make a decision or members that are just chasing chicas, but still, it seems like the whole agency thing is pretty small potatoes.

[utopiacowboy]

... in response to Re: Visa Statistics, posted by DavidMN on Jul 15, 2005

If you look at the monthly appointment list put out by the US embassy, you'll see about 200 K-1 and K-3 visa appointments every month. That's not counting the CR-1s. So I would have thought the annual number in Bogota was much higher. Even so, there are not as many of these marriages as one would think. You're right - most of the relationships do not seem to be initiated through the agencies.

[Ray]

... in response to Visa Statistics, posted by Gary Bala on Jul 15, 2005

Very interesting. Thanks!