E2. Refusal

hello can you not look around and find another business  and what does the embassy mean by marginal ? what sort of business are you looking for ?  so they dont take into consideration you were in us for 10 yrs so been here that long you must of been doing something right  you couldn't start up your old business and just change the name ?

I can only wonder what kind of personal questions they asked and what they should object to? One should not lie but be selective to spin things to sound like what they want to hear. Unfortunately, many Americans would rather hear that you like to read the bible and shoot guns but if you are a pot smoking, gay, hippy then they will not give you a visa.

i think a lot of it is down to who you get on the day and what mood the officer is  in as there  have been been people who have gone for visa renewal and they've not got it

All this has nothing to do with pot-smoking gay hippies who like to read the bible and shoot guns. If you wanna help people with visas issues, don't post non-sense.

E2 Investor visas are targeted to foreign investors who wish to create or take over a business with a substantial investment and solid business plan that demonstrates a potential for success and strong potential for US citizens employment. By marginal, the officer wasn't convinced that the business fits the qualification for a E2 Investor visa. It doesn't mean that you can't rework your business plan and accounting projections and resubmit. You can hire the help of professionals (lawyers and CPAs), which is often what people do, to present a rock solid application.

They also refer to marginal as an insufficient monetary investment in order to insure a mid to long term success.

English2Francais, the second part of your post is correct and informative, thanks for sharing that.

But I have to disagree with your first sentence. What I wrote is certainly NOT nonsense. Yes, there can often be very objective reasons for one to be denied a visa. One cannot ignore this and just assume it was personal.

But I stand by what I wrote; that personal attitudes or prejudices by immigration officials CAN often determine a decision. Everything else being equal, a person's business plan or trustworthiness can often be seen in a different light according to ideology.  And one cannot even condemn this out of hand because lots of things cannot be well judged just by looking at a list of criteria. Immigration, like law enforcement officers, learn to get a feel for a situation and all the more so after years of experience. Part of their qualification is having good judgement. But the downside is that one can become jaded and over-generalize.

Even for Americans entering the USA it can mean trouble at customs. The typical American is going to be returning from a 3 week trip to Europe to go back to his job as an accountant in suburbia. I often used to get something like this: How long have you been out of the States? 3 years. Where have you been in that time? Europe, Morocco, Thailand, Indonesia, Nepal and India. Where do you live? Officially nowhere. I travel around the world making street shows and have no home. What do you do for a living? I'm a professional clown. OK, smartass, get over there and strip for a search…

Yeah, I didn't fit their profile of normalcy.  My whole life style was a bunch of red flags for them. Yet I don't blame them for seeing it that way.  My tip to travelers is to stay truthful but to the best of your ability give them the answers they want to hear. Paint them a picture of plausibility that what you say, while unusual, is somehow legitimate.

And thus I recommend to anyone, citizen or immigrant, to think how you want to present yourself when entering the country or applying for a visa.  Your appearance and lifestyle can be as much as a determining factor as your objective qualifications in whether you get accepted or not. Not that a good suit and a big smile will overcome not having needed documentation for example but it sure beats wearing worn out cloths and looking like a junkie if one wants to make a good impression.

TominStuttgart wrote:

How long have you been out of the States? 3 years.
Where have you been in that time? Europe, Morocco, Thailand, Indonesia, Nepal and India.
Where do you live? Officially nowhere. I travel around the world making street shows and have no home.
What do you do for a living? I'm a professional clown.
OK, smartass, get over there and strip for a search…

Alright, you gotta admit that would make a good movie skit. 
I just recently came back from a trip to Europe with my girlfriend (who's native) and we often joke or laugh, even when going through customs. The big black dude CBP officer was awesome. He was rapping his shift when calling "next" and "welcome back". My personal experience with LEOs is that they usually can have a good sense of humor if you take it easy.

Sure. Immigration or custom officials are just people. Some are happy and have humor, others not so much. I'm just saying that one never knows who you're going to get and what prejudices or recent personal problems they might have had. Thus, best to be on the safe side because many subjective factors can influence their decisions at times.

David, can you tell me more about the eqoppa.com domain that is registered in Germany to Asaf Labes who, according to his online bio, started his career as a mentalist advisor for wealthy people?

All I'm saying is that, according to the chart of this forum that you should read before posting, you should advertise in the business section with clear and verifiable information about your legitimate business so maybe you can get some positive feedback. The discussion forum is not for advertising purpose and your post is too vague, and quite incredible in my opinion with such low investment for a E2 visa.