B2 visa for sister, previously rejected

[TN2018]

Hi,

Thanks for this forum.

I am a US citizen and would like my sister to be able to visit me for a couple of weeks from India. She has a good permanent job in India, is married (no kids) and is in good financial standing with property in her own name. In the last several years her B2 application was rejected a couple of times. The last rejection was about 4 years ago and the VO didn't even talk to her during the interview and didn't even look at her, let alone looking at any documents. The VO didn't even respond when she tried to ask why.

I have persuaded her to apply again this year because I want to be able to spend time with her, she is my only direct family alive. My sister and brother-in-law are planning to come for a one or two week tour with a tour group and have already paid deposits/advance for their trip. Now they will be filling out the DS-160 form and would ask for the visitor visa (B2, looks like it is given as B1/B2).  They insist on paying for their own trip. Would you have any advice on how best to proceed especially after previous rejections for no clear reasons? The DS-160 does seem quite straight forward so we couldn't have made mistake on that. The only difference in their situation from the last time is that they have been to a few foreign trips with tour companies.

I really hope someone can give me some advice.

Thank you so much in advance.

[JoeF]

Having been on trips to other Western countries and gone back home is actually a good thing, because it shows that they are returning back. That's the most important thing, being able to convince the officer that they will return to their home country.

[TN2018]

JoeF: Thanks so much for your response, makes sense and also makes me feel a bit hopeful this time.