Visa Services

Frequently Asked Questions

This guide answers some of the most frequently asked questions about U.S. Visas. If you have other questions not answered here, you may contact the Consular Section through our CONTACT INFORMATION page.

Q - Where do I pay the application fee for nonimmigrant visas?
A - The fee is payable at the time you apply for the visa. Applicants must pay the $100 USD MRV fee at the Commercial Bank. Also,  see our Visa Fees page for information on  services which must be paid at the consular section cashier.
Q - Can I have one receipt for the whole family?
A - No, each applicant intending to travel (including children of any age) must have a separate receipt. Each receipt will contain the individual applicant's name and passport number.

Q - If I decide not to apply for the visa after I have paid the fee, may I receive a refund or give the receipt to someone else to use?
A - No, the receipt is non-refundable and non-transferrable.

Q - How long is the receipt valid?
A - The receipt is valid for one year.

Q - If I am not from Qatar, do I also pay the fee?
A - All applicants of any nationality who intend to apply for a nonimmigrant U.S. visa in Qatar must pay the visa fee.

Q - If I have to pay an issuance fee for my visa, do I also pay this fee at the embassy?
A - Yes, the issuance fee (applicable for some third country nationals) is assessed after the interview and is paid in the Embassy's Consular Section.

Q - Are any applicants exempt from paying this application fee?
A - Those applicants who were not required to pay will remain exempt, including

• Persons whose application is pending for additional documentation/processing.
• Persons travelling to perform official duties on behalf of their governments or employees of international organizations and their immediate family (A, G visas).

Q - Why is there a visa requirement?
A - The United States is an open society. Unlike many other countries, the Unites States does not impose internal controls on most visitors, such as registration with local authorities. In order to enjoy the privilege of unencumbered travel in the United States, aliens have a responsibility to prove they are going to return abroad before a visitor or student visa is issued. Our immigration law requires consular officers to view every visa applicant as an intending immigrant until the applicant proves otherwise.

Q- How do I request for an appointment for a visa interview?
A- All non-immigrant visa applications, including tourism, business or other short-term stays require an appointment for an interview.  Please visit our GET AN APPOINTMENT page for more information.

Q - Where and when may I apply for a nonimmigrant visa to the United States? How much does it cost?
A - Applicants may apply at the U.S. Embassy in Doha, Qatar, any business day (Sunday,  Wednesday or Thursday) between 7:30 - 9:30 a.m. after taking an appointment for interview. The fee is $365 QR or $100 US dollars. Please CLICK HERE to request an appointment. 

Q - How long before I travel should I apply for a visa?
A - Please apply for your visa well before the date you intend to travel. 

Q - Can Iraqi and other third country nationals apply for visas in Qatar?
A - Yes. Applicants of all nationalities are welcome to apply at the American Embassy in Doha. Please keep in mind, however, that the presumption of immigration as outlined in Section 214(b) of the Immigration and Nationality Act is more difficult to overcome outside your area of residence. For this reason, non-Qataris or Qataris permanently residing outside of Qatar may find it more difficult to obtain visas to the United States from Doha. We ask that applicants weigh carefully their likelihood of overcoming the presumption of Immigration when deciding to apply here, as the journey to Doha may involve considerable personal hardships with a poor chance of obtaining a visa.

Q - Should I use a travel agent or other advisor to help me apply?
A - The matter is a personal decision for you to make. However, in most cases it is not necessary for you to hire a special advisor to assist you with your application. Visa clerks will often charge you to fill out forms that are available free from our office or our website. Applicants are cautioned that they may be approached by individuals proporting to be visa assistants or staff of the U.S. Embassy or consular section. All consular staff are located inside the Embassy compound and are prohibited from offering such assistance. Please report any such incidents to a member of the consular staff with a description of the individual. They also may charge large sums on the promise of enabling the traveler to obtain visas. Further, our experience shows that many applicants are coached by intermediaries to provide answers which are misleading. While the truthful answer may not have harmed the application, the discovery of a misleading answer often puts the entire application in doubt. If you have a particular questions about our procedures, we suggest you contact the Consular Section through our CONTACT INFORMATION page.

Q- How do you decide whether or not to issue a visa? What is section 214(b)?
A - The interviewing Consular Officer must apply the provisions of the U.S. Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) in determining whether an applicant is eligible for a U.S. visa. One of the most important points in the INA that an officer is called upon to apply is Section 214(b). That section states: "Every alien shall be presumed to be an immigrant until he establishes to the satisfaction of the consular officer, at the time of the application for a visa ... that he is entitled to nonimmigrant status .... " This means that our officers are required by law to view each visa applicant as an intending immigrant until the applicant proves otherwise. Your proof may come in many forms, but when considered together, it must be enough for the interviewing officer to conclude that your overall circumstances, including a permanent residence and other ties abroad, will compel you to leave the United States at the end of a temporary stay. NO single document, certificate, or guarantee letter can be regarded as sufficient for this purpose. Because of the volume of applications received, visa officers must decide after a brief interview whether someone is qualified to receive a visa. Applicants should therefore be prepared to present their case clearly and concisely, since the application must otherwise be denied.

Q - What constitutes "strong ties"?
A - Strong ties differ from country to country, city to city, individual to individual. Some examples of ties can be a job, a house, a family, other capital assets. "Ties" are the various aspects of your life that bind you to your country of residence: your possessions, employment, social and family relationships.

Our consular officers are aware of the diversity of ties that bind people to their place of residence. During the visa interview, they look at each application individually and consider professional, social, cultural and other factors. In cases of younger applicants who may not have had an opportunity to form many ties, consular officers may look at the applicants' specific intentions, family situations, and long-range plans and prospects within his or her country of residence. As each person's situation is different, there is no magic answer as to what constitutes sufficient ties. For example, one person may have a thriving business in Qatar which he or she would be unlikely to abandon, while another may have close and convincing ties to a house and family here, or a promising career. Each case is examined individually and is accorded every consideration under the law.

Q - Is a denial under Section 214(b) permanent?
A - No. If you have new information which was not presented to the interviewing officer at the time of your first application or if your overall circumstances have changed significantly since your last application and you can now better establish convincing ties outside the United States, you may reapply. However, simply reapplying in the days or weeks following a 214(b) refusal will most often lead to another refusal. Presentation of additional documentation (such as land deeds, bank account statements, car registration, etc.) which only document the situation understood by the Consular Officer at the time of the initial refusal, will not improve the applicant's chance of success.

Some applicants will not qualify for a nonimmigrant visa, regardless of how many times they reapply, until their personal, professional, and financial circumstances change considerably.

Q - Do refused applicants have to wait three to six months before applying?
A - Presently, there is no time restriction on resubmitting an application after a refusal. If you have additional information or supporting documentation to present which is substantially different from your initial application you are encouraged to reapply. Simply bringing deeds of ownership of land, automobile registration, or a bank account as new evidence will not normally influence the decision of the consular officer. If your circumstances are unchanged and you will present only evidence which has already been reviewed recently by an officer, your chances of gaining approval on a second or third application are much lower. In such cases, it is probably better to wait until your personal circumstances have changed significantly before reapplying.

Q - I presented all the necessary documents I was told to bring, but my application was turned down anyway. What else should I bring?
A - Your current overall situation (as supported by those documents) was not adequate to overcome the presumption that you are an intending immigrant. 

Q - Why are visa interviews so short? I was refused after only a couple of questions and the interviewer hardly looked at my documents?
A - The visa officers handle over 15,000 applications every year. Based on this experience, they are able to quickly review the application form and supporting documents in order to narrow the range in which questions may need to be asked. Keep in mind, most of the information we need is already supplied on the application form itself, so there is usually no need for the officer to ask more than a few additional questions. We often need only to verify your identity or clear up one or two points. Also, if the interview were longer, you would end up waiting in line for a considerably longer time. In order to be fair to all applicants and to provide everyone an equal opportunity to establish eligibility, we must work quickly and efficiently.

Q - When I applied for a visa, I told the officer I would return to Qatar after a short stay in the U.S. Why didn't the officer believe me?
A - We are required to evaluate your overall situation in reaching a decision. Your statement that you intend to return to Qatar is helpful; however, under the requirements of U.S. law, that statement alone is not adequate to show you have strong ties outside of the United States which would compel you to return to Qatar. It is not that the officer did not believe you. Rather, the officer considered your statement along with the other evidence you brought to your interview and concluded that, on the whole, the evidence was not compelling.

Q - I have been accepted by a U.S. school which issued me an I-20. Why isn't that enough for issuance of a student visa?
A - The approved I-20 is just one piece of information the interviewing officer must consider when deciding whether a visa may be issued. Remember, under Section 214(b) of the U.S. Immigration and Nationality Act, you still must prove that you will leave the United States after the purpose for which you entered the United States comes to an end. In student visa cases, the applicants may intend to stay in the United States for many months and even years pursuing a course of study. Consequently, we must consider your overall circumstances when deciding whether to approve a student visa. Student visas must be denied if it appears that the student cannot or will not complete a full course of study in the United States. The fact that a school has admitted a student to study and issued the student an I-20 is, therefore, only one factor we consider.

Q - I don't have a TOEFL score, but the school says I can take the exam there. Why did the consular officer tell me that I wasn't qualified to study in the States because of my English?
A - The officer must be convinced that the applicant will be able to complete a full course of study in the United States. Student visas must be denied if it appears that the applicant's primary purpose of travel is not to obtain an education, but, rather, to facilitate an indefinite stay in the United States. 

Q - What documents should I bring with me to apply for a student visa?
A - At a minimum, the officer must see a valid original, signed Form I-20 (faxed I-20s are not acceptable); proof of financial ability to pay for expenses (Please do not present a document from the bank that simply says that your sponsor has enough money to cover expenses. This paper will not be accepted by the consular officer as proof of funds); and any documents that will demonstrate compelling ties to a foreign residence abroad. Student applicants are also advised to bring any previous passports they may have been issued, High School/University transcripts, standardized American test scores such as TOEFL, SAT, GRE, etc. as the officer may request to see these documents to enable him/her to make a decision.

Q - I will certainly return to Qatar because my parents/children are here. I need to return because I am the only person who can take care of my parents/children. Why did the officer say I have insufficent ties to compel me to return?
A - Our experience shows that leaving parents/children behind has not deterred travelers from remaining indefinitely in the United States. While this factor may be one among others relevant to an individual's personal circumstances, it would not usually, in itself, be sufficient to establish eligibility.

Q - I need to accompany my sick relative/friend to the United States. I am the only one who can go. Why was I refused?
A - Each applicant must overcome the presumption of Immigration as outlined in Section 214(b) for him or herself. Simply because a member of your family or close friend has been issued a visa does not necessarily mean that you will be qualified for a visa as well. Every applicant presents different life histories and circumstances and cases are handled with separate applications on an individual basis.

Q - My company and my American friend have both written letters guaranteeing that I will return to Qatar. Why isn't that considered to be enough proof that I actually will return?
A - A guarantee letter, like other forms of written documentation, by itself, does not establish the applicant's ties to a residence outside the United States. Similarly, pledges from family members or highly placed persons that you will return to Qatar do not automatically enable applicants to overcome Section 214(b). This is because U.S. law does not permit visa officers to delegate to others their authority to evaluate the applicant's overall circumstances.

Q - I am an American citizen who pays taxes and fulfills all of my duties as a citizen. Isn't it my right to have my foreign national relatives visit me in the United States?
A - The law does not ask consular officers to evaluate the qualifications of American Citizens in the United States. Instead, we are tasked to strictly apply Section 214(b) to applicants who cannot demonstrate substantial ties to a foreign residence abroad. If applicants cannot convince the officer that they do not intend to immigrate or seek unlawful benefits in the United States, they do not have a "right" to a nonimmigrant visa.

Q - I have a letter (or fax) to show you that will help you understand my situation and my strong ties to Qatar. Can I send it to you so you can read it in advance of my interview?
A - You should bring any information, including your letter, to the interview. Mailing it to us in advance will not be helpful as we do not accept mailed or faxed information due to our large volume of daily applicants. The visa interview is the proper setting for us to consider the information in your letter.

Q - Where can I report visa fraud?

If you have information regarding visa abuse and visa fraud, please let us know by sending us an email to fpmdoha@state.gov. Thank you.

Q - But it wasn't my fault. The person who completed my application didn't ask me the same questions that are on the application form. How do I know what was written on the application? Why should I be held responsible?
A - Each applicant is responsible for the accuracy and truthfulness of the information presented on his or her application. We caution applicants who use "visa assistants". These assistants are often not interested in the accuracy of your application, just the fee that you pay them.

Q - If my visa application is denied, would it help to have a high ranking official or an American contact the interviewing officer? Who can influence the consular officer to reverse a decision?
A - No. Immigration law delegates the responsibility for issuance or refusal of visas to consular officers overseas. They have the final say on all visa cases. By regulation, the U.S. Department of State has authority to review consular decisions, but this authority is limited to the interpretation of law, as contrasted to determinations of facts. The question at issue in such denials, whether an applicant possesses the required residence abroad, is a factual one. Therefore, it falls exclusively within the authority of consular officers at our Foreign Service posts to resolve. An applicant can influence the post to change a prior visa denial only through the presentation of new, convincing evidence of strong ties.

Q - What if I have other questions about applying for a U.S. visa?

If you have other questions not answered here, you may contact the Embassy's on work days at (974) 488-4101, or email us at ConsularDoha@state.gov or access the Department of State's Consular Affairs Web Page..