I LIVE IN THE UNITED STATES AND WANT TO INVITE AN URUGUAYAN FRIEND OR RELATIVE TO VISIT ME.

Many US citizens and permanent residents of the United States invite Uruguayan friends or relatives to visit them in the US. Naturally, they want to do whatever they can to ensure that their guests are approved for US visas and able to travel to the United States.

Some American hosts go to great trouble to write invitation letters stating that they will take care of their guests’ expenses while they are in the United States and that they will ensure that their guests do not overstay their visas.

Unfortunately, these letters do not guarantee that their friends will receive visas at the US Embassy in Montevideo.

US immigration law requires Embassy consular officers to determine if visa applicants have strong reasons to return to Uruguay once their temporary visits to the US are over. These reasons, or “ties,” could be good-paying jobs, family responsibilities, or other factors that would demand their presence in Uruguay. It is up to visa applicants to demonstrate that their “ties” to Uruguay are strong enough to cause them to return to that country.

The fact that someone in the United States has invited an Uruguayan friend or relative to visit them may help to explain why that person needs a visa, but it does not, by itself, satisfy legal requirements for them to obtain a visa. A friend or relative in the United States is not a “tie” to Uruguay. Similarly, US sponsors cannot “guarantee” that their guests will promptly return to Uruguay.

In order to apply for a visa at the US Embassy in Montevideo, your guest will need to schedule an interview appointment online at http://visas.com.uy. There is a fee for the interview, which is not refunded if the visa application is rejected.

WHAT CAN I DO TO HELP MY FRIEND OR RELATIVE QUALIFY FOR A VISA?

If you will be paying for your guest’s airline ticket, you should send your guest a letter stating that you are doing so (For a sample letter, click here). Please send this letter to your guest, not to the US Embassy. Your guest should bring a copy of the letter when he or she applies for a visa.

Suggest that your guests carefully review their personal situation in Uruguay and realistically evaluate their “ties” to that country. You can suggest that they write down on paper what qualifying ties they think they have which should be evaluated at the time of their interview with the consular officer. One way to determine what factors represent good “ties” is for your guests to imagine that they are now in the United States visiting you. They ask themselves, “I’ve been in the US for awhile now. I really need to get back to Uruguay because…….”

Once they have determined what their important “ties” to Uruguay are, they should collect documents that show that they have those “ties” and that they are significant. Your guests might need to return to Uruguay to resume a good-paying job, to take care of minor children or aging parents, to start school, or for a variety of other reasons. They would likely not have to return to Uruguay because they have a bank account there or because they have a round-trip ticket.