According to the legislation of the United States, the Department of State is responsible for visa issuance, and most visas are issued by Consulates and Embassies of the Department of State outside the U.S. An American Consular Officer will assess your application during the interview and decide if you qualify for a visa.

Having a visa issued in the passport does not guarantee entry into the United States. A visa only indicates that your application was evaluated by an American Consular Officer at a U.S. Consulate or Embassy, and that officer determined that you are eligible to travel to a port of entry in the United States, where an Immigration Officer will assess whether you can enter the United States with the visa issued by the Consulate. The U.S. Consulate and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security are autonomous and independent entities; their decisions are not binding.

It is not possible to establish residency or work legally with a B1 – Tourism visa. The tourist visa prohibits work and study. There are numerous visas that allow work and temporary residence (H, L, O, P, and Q), such as permanent residence – Green Card, but they have prerequisites to be met.

Your chances are reduced because the interview exists for the consular officer to identify potential immigrants. If you have no ties to Brazil (employment or other sources of income, study, etc.), you may be considered a potential immigrant and have your visa denied. But, of course, this is not a rule.

A marriage to an American citizen will give you the right to initiate a legalization process. However, various factors may affect your case. This process can be done within the United States if you entered the country legally; otherwise, you will have to undergo a different type of process.

In general, people who stay illegally in the U.S. for up to 180 days face a penalty of not being able to return to the U.S. for 3 years. If you stay more than 180 days, the penalty period is 10 years without returning to the United States.

If you have already completed the 10 years, you will need to meet all the requirements of the American Consulate for a visa petition, such as proving income, ties, and having a well-structured process. As the interview aims to identify and prevent immigrants with the intention of staying beyond the period given by the immigration officer, someone who stayed illegally in the U.S., i.e., after the deadline given in their passport to stay on American soil – the stamp you receive upon entering the U.S. – is a potential target for them not to allow your return, and the chances of getting a new visa decrease.

No. Having a visa denied means that, at the time, the person tried to convince the consular officer that they were able to travel to the U.S., intended to return after the visa period ended, and wished to use the visa to make the United States their permanent residence. Thus, having a visa denied once does not imply that it will be denied forever.

Your life situation may change in a way that, if you apply again, the consulate may understand that they now have sufficient elements to believe that you will return. Ideally, you should not attempt applications with short intervals between them.

Not at all. What happens is precisely the opposite; the consulate itself instructs applicants not to buy anything before having the visa in hand. Even if the person has the visa approved, the return of the passport and documents submitted to immigration can take time.

If you have citizenship from one of the countries that has a trade treaty with the U.S., such as Italy, Germany, France, etc., you may be eligible for the E1 (Treaty Trader) or E2 (Treaty Investor) visa. The first step to know if you are eligible for this visa category is to establish what your goal is in coming to the United States:

• If it is to engage in substantial trade, including trade in services or technology, in qualified activities, mainly between the United States and the country of which you are a citizen; or
• If it is to develop and direct the operations of a company in which you have invested a substantial amount of capital.