Reply #64: Here are my responses

[WilmywoodNCparalegal]

I work with thousands of people who are seeking to get to the U.S. for research, especially in the sciences but not exclusively. Some come on a J visa, which requires a sponsoring organization. Some come on the famous H-1B visa; the ones who can prove 'extraordinary ability' as described by U.S. law come with an O visa.

But all must have a U.S. company/institution/university/library/non-profit/etc. as their sponsor. That sponsor - the petitioner - prepares a formal request through the USCIS. When that request is approved by USCIS, notification of the approval is forwarded to the Department of State and, more specifically, to the Consulate where the beneficiary of the petition will go for a personal interview in order to be cleared to enter the U.S. with that particular visa classification.

USCIS determines if one is eligible for a visa classification. USDOS determines if one is eligible to enter the U.S. One could be approved for a visa but be denied entry to the U.S. for a variety of reasons - for instance, lying to a consular officer about the intent of his/her stay in the U.S.

As to your questions, Answer 1: the USDOS, which oversees embassies and consulates, does not determine if one is eligible or not for a visa (except for some family based visas). The USDOS can only determine if one can enter the U.S. If I'm looking to come to the U.S. but I don't know what/how to do it, the worst place I could contact for information is a consulate or embassy. What she should have done was to contact a legitimate press organization - such as AP or Reuters - or a journalism union or even an university with a journalism school in the U.S. to find out exactly what the criteria are in order to perform research related to her occupational category. The other option would have been to locate an immigration attorney who is knowledgeable about U.S. immigration. I am not saying that Ms. Weber is lying; I'm simply stating that she, as a journalist, should have checked her sources better than just calling some anonymous embassy employee and/or not double-checking with an attorney or an international news organization.

As to question 2, the answer is that there is no need for a contract with a press organization for her to qualify for an I visa. An invitation from a legitimate news organization or association or journalism school or research foundation would have sufficed to show that she was being invited to review archives and records in the U.S. for a certain period of time. Compensation is not even an issue. I've done plenty of work with these, especially with freelance fiction writers who need to spend some time in the U.S. to get to know places they will be writing about. I'm sure a foundation or activist group would have happily volunteered to write an invitation letter for Ms. Weber had it been asked. There is no need to describe how the information will be used or even what places will be used in the research.

Finally, what happened to Ms. Weber is not deportation; rather, she was denied entry, which is within the right of DHS agents at airport immigration screens all over the U.S. The reason this happened is because her intent was not tourism or business meetings (which would have made her clearly eligible to enter freely under the visa waiver program); she herself honestly revealed her intent was to perform research which is related to her occupation as a freelance journalist. That particular intent is not covered by the visa waiver program. Therefore, she was refused entry in the U.S. This does not mean she is forever ineligible to re-enter the U.S. as a tourist (if that is her true intent) or to seek an I (or any other) visa.

However, the DHS officers did exactly the right thing. For instance, a British woman flies to the U.S. under visa waiver with the intent of seeing her U.S. citizen husband who lives in the U.S. When questioned at the immigration check at the U.S. arrival airport, she reveals her true intent as above. Guess what happens... she is denied entry because her intent is not covered by the visa waiver program (in addition, she has an added problem - that of the 'intending immigrant' intent - in other words, DHS may legitimately think she's trying to remain in the U.S. unlawfully in order to join her US citizen husband).

Ms. Weber should not have a problem procuring an I or B or other visa in the future, if she intends to do research. I'm sure she won't have a problem if she just wants to go to Disney World on a visa waiver in the future. (minus a few hiccups caused by the denied entry - usually this means she may have to be interviewed at the U.S. consulate to be pre-approved - this happens to all who have been denied entry).