visa issue
Hi Michael, My situation is a bit different than all the other cases read on here. it's been 13 years since I last visited the USA and I lived in NYC for a year back in 2000-2001 and over stayed for 6 months there, when I returned to Israel gave me a black seal and not knowing much about immigration laws and visas I had flown back the USA this time to LA a couple of months later and of course was denied entry and sent back to Israel. I have returned from England 2 and a half years ego having lived there for 9 years and about 6 months ego I have applied for a US tourist visa and was denied due to that I don't have strong relations with Israel, they wouldn't even look at my documents and the lady who interviewed me was very unpleasant to put it in a nice way. I am also an artist/musician but not so famous yet lol and was thinking of applying for an artist visa through the but assistance of an immigration lawyer like yourself but having spoken to another immigration layer in Israel, she said I'd have to prove that I am well known and famous in other words in order to be able to apply for that type of visa or have a half a million dollars to invest in a business in the USA, from reading your answers to other people's question you keep repeating that unless it been 10 years for those who received black seals there no way they'd be able to succeed in maintaining a visa but it's been 13 years for me, so what can I do? can you help?
Hi Merav, It's nice to receive a message in English! In regards to your previous overstay in the US, it has now been more than 10 years since that time. Therefore, that specific overstay should not prevent you from obtaining a visa. Additionally, your denied entrance to the US also should no longer prevent you from entering the US, but I cannot be certain of that unless I see the paperwork that you should have received at the airport when you were denied entrance. Consequently, it is most likely that you are not banned from the US anymore and can thus apply for any type of US visa. However, you still need to qualify for those visas. For example, in regards to a tourist visa application, you need to prove that you have very strong connections to Israel which will cause you to return to Israel after your trip in the US. As for the artist visa, I agree that this is a difficult visa to obtain. You may have a chance if you are able to obtain a job offer in the US, but even with this it is not a guarantee that you will receive the artist visa. I hope this helps and that all is well. Good luck. -Mike
