Invitation Letter for My In-Laws for Our Wedding, requesting B-2

[samcmac]

Hi Candlers,

 

Been a long time. I was last here in 2014, seeking advice on how best to go about securing permanent resident status for my wife. We are now happily living in the U.S. together, her with permanent resident status, and I am very grateful to the Candle community for the assistance they provided during difficult times. Now, I find myself about to embark upon a new visa journey, and anxious for help all over again.

 

While my wife and I have been legally married for nearly two years now, we have never had a wedding ceremony; we wanted to wait until such a time where we would have the best chance to have both our families in attendance. Well, we've set a date: August 20th of this year, here in the U.S.. Now we're sincerely hoping that my in-laws, and my wife's grandmother, will be able to attend.

 

This means that three of my wife's family members will be applying for B-2 visas, and will be giving our wedding as the reason for their visit. Now, most of the documents for this they'll be preparing themselves, but my wife and I will be providing at least two important pieces for their application: 1.) A wedding invitation 2.) A formal invitation letter addressed to the U.S. consulate.

 

As for the latter piece, I've looked at various examples, and I've attempted a first draft of my own—which I'd like to present for the hivemind here to critique as best they can:

US CONSULATE XXXXX
Visas Section
Consulate address

RE: Invitation Letter and financial responsibility affidavit for US Visitor’s Visa for:

[APLICANTS]

To Whom It May Concern:

I, [MY NAME], born [MY DOB], am a U.S. citizen. I am legally married to a Chinese citizen, [MY WIFE'S NAME], born [MY WIFE'S DOB]. [MY WIFE'S NAME] lives with me at [OUR ADDRESS] with U.S. permanent resident status. The two of us have not up until this point ever had a wedding ceremony; instead, we decided to wait until we had the best chance of getting both of our families together.

Now, we have set a date: Our wedding ceremony will be on August 20, 2016. It will be held at my mother’s house [MY MOTHER'S ADDRESS], as the wedding invitation that is included with this application indicates. As such, we would very much like for the applicants listed above — my in-laws: [APPLICANTS' NAMES AND DOBS] — to be granted B-2 visas so that they may attend our wedding.

During their visit, the applicants will be staying at my mother’s place of residence, located at [MY MOTHER'S ADDRESS]. All other expenses during their trip, including but not limited to the expense of travel to and from the United States, will be covered by the applicants themselves. I will, however, insure [APPLICANTS' NAMES] timely return to [APPLICANTS' ADDRESS].

Should you have any further questions for me about this letter or anything else pertaining to [APPLICANTS' NAMES] B-2 visa requests, please do not hesitate to contact me at [MY PHONE NUMBER] by phone or [MY EMAIL] by email. I sign this document in awareness of my legal liability for failure to comply with any of the terms I have stated or in the case that any information given is incorrect.

Thank you for your attention to this matter, and I appreciate your approval of this application.

Sincerely,

[MY NAME]

[Randy W]

mamabear reported on her successful visa applications for her Chinese relatives last year - http://candleforlove.com/forums/topic/47797-my-mom-and-6-y-o-niece-passed-b2-interview-on-april-9/

[samcmac]

Thank you Randy. I have looked through that thread and gotten some ideas, so here's draft 2 of my letter. I have also changed it so that this is from my wife, instead of me, because that seems to make more sense. Any further feedback on this, from anyone, would be greatly appreciated. Thanks Candlers!

 

Draft 2:

 

United States Embassy XXX

Visas Section
Consulate address

Subject: Insurance of Visit Visas (B-2) for My Mother, Father, and Grandmother

To Whom It May Concern:

My name is [WIFE'S NAME], born [DOB]. I attend college in the U.S., where I have lived with my husband (who is a U.S. citizen) with permanent resident/Green Card status since [DATE]. My husband and I married when he was working in China; he petitioned for CR-1 status for me and we now live in [PLACE].

We left China not long after we were married, and we have never had a wedding ceremony — we decided we would do so at a later date, after having more time to plan.

This winter, my husband and I settled on a date and place for our wedding: [WEDDING DATE], at my mother-in-law’s home ([ADDRESS]). (Included with this letter is a copy of the wedding invitation we have sent out to all of our guests, along with some documentation that shows the preparation that’s gone into the ceremony.)

All of us would very much like my family to attend, so I am writing this letter to request B-2 visas for their visit, which is planned for [DATE] to [DATE]. I’m requesting B-2s for my mother, [MOM'S NAME], born [DOB]; my father, [FATHER'S NAME], born [DOB]; and my grandmother on my father’s side, [GRAN'S NAME], born [DOB].

They will stay with my husband and I at my mother-in-law’s home. My mother-in-law, in fact, stayed with my family during her trip to China, in 2014, to visit my husband and I, when we were still living there; she is happy to be able help introduce them to her country, in much the same way as my family did during her visit to China.

Along with this letter and the wedding invitation, I am providing a detailed schedule of my family’s trip, including arrival and departure dates and cities. This is to clearly show what their plans are, and that they will be returning, in a timely manor, to China.

To convince you of this, I want to explain that my father has worked for over twenty years at the same job, as an [JOB]. My mother is retired, and my grandmother is unemployed, but both have houses in their names. My father, mother, and grandmother are happy with their lives in China, and will return to them when this trip to the U.S when this trip is over.

Further, I am signing this letter with the full acknowledgment that I am responsible for making sure my parents return to China at the end of their trip, and that it is legally required of me.

Thank you for your time,

[WIFE'S NAME]

[dnoblett]

Should be in both your names, you as a couple are inviting family over.

 

I-134 can be provided by whoever is providing a place to stay while visiting.

[Randy W]

Be careful with the legal terms - specifically "insurance" (you may have simply misspelled "issuance"), and the paragraph about "I am responsible" and "legally required". Not sure that it would affect THEIR application, but you may wish to change the wording to something like, "We will ensure their timely return to China, as per the enclosed itinerary."

[samcmac]

Thanks guys. "insure" was in the first version but excised from the new one, and I changed the wording in the last paragraph of draft 2 to be something closer to what Randy suggested, less heavy on the legalese.

 

As for Daniel's comment about making the letter from the both of us, jointly, that kind of complicates the whole thing in terms of perspective and pronouns, and I think it would make it sound less emotionally engaged. Maybe it's ok if I keep in my wife's voice but say at the end that we're both signing it? Something like this:

 

In signing this letter, my husband and I also understand that we are ensuring that my family will return to China in a timely manner, as per the itinerary we’ve included.

And then, obviously, we both sign the bottom.

I'm going to have my mom fill out an I-134 today. Should she also write her own letter? And is there anything else we should consider adding to the application? So far we have this letter, a detailed itinerary, and the (pending) I-134.

Lastly: I wanted to just mention that my wife's family doesn't really speak any English. (I speak enough Chinese to communicate with them well enough.) I'm a little nervous about this because everything seems to say that the interview will be in English. Is this any kind of issue -- as in, does this also have any kind of negative bearing on their approval chances? Not that there's really anything we can do about it...

Thanks.