Visa & More: Frequently Asked Questions

Below, you will find a selection of visa questions we have been asked by our customers over the last few days. Please note that none of the answers below is an actual substitute for individual consulting and can only touch on the real issues. We would like to point out that we do not take responsibility for the correctness of this information.

If you need fast and individual information, our service team is there for you on the phones from Tuesday to Friday between 10am and 5pm. Find the phone number on our homepage and get our experts' advice on everything visa as quickly and as conveniently as possible. Please note that our phone number has changed due to legal requirements!

And as usual, for all questions concerning the green card lottery just call our service team.

YOUR QUESTION: I booked my son a flight to Argentina via Houston. Now I saw that his red passport already expired in August of 2004. He won't get a new one on such short notice. At the resident's registration office they told me that a preliminary machine-readable passport with a one-year validity will be accepted by the US authorities. Can we be sure that he will not have any difficulties with transit through the US on both ways.

OUR ANSWER: Unfortunately, no one can give you a guarantee for a smooth admission, not even the US authorities themselves, because this will always be decided from case to case on the day of admission. However, by now the US authorities even grant people without a machine-readable passport special permits to enter the US. Processes such as admission with the preliminary machine-readable passport are usually agreed upon by the Secretary of the Interior and his US counterpart. So you don't have any reason to worry, it is more than likely that your son will be admitted into the US.

YOUR QUESTION: I have third or fourth degree relatives in the US (a cousin of my aunt) who have obtained a green card via a sponsor about 40 years ago. Both of them are US citizens by now. They have now offered to sponsor me so that I may obtain a green card as well. Now my questions: 1.) does this form of sponsoring still exist and if it does 2.) what are my chances of obtaining a green card that way?

OUR ANSWER: These regulations existed in the 50s and 60s when immigration processes were still being handled by the US consulates. The law has been changed several times since then, so that today only close relations such as parents or siblings can sponsor their relatives.

YOUR QUESTION: I (we, 2) are flying to Jamaica. We have to change airports in New York, from John F. Kennedy to Newark. Will that be a problem?

OUR ANSWER: If you are both German citizens and have machine-readable passports that are still valid, there will not be any problems. You will not need a transit visa if you are traveling under the Visa Waiver Program, because this also applies to transit through the US.

PLEASE NOTE: Only people who are not eligible for the Visa Waiver Program need transit visas.

YOUR QUESTION: I have been issued a tourist visa by the consulate in Berlin a few years ago. It is still valid until 2007. My passport was stolen. What should I do now?

OUR ANSWER: If your passport is stolen, you will, unfortunately, have to do the whole visa application over again, i.e. schedule an interview and apply again. Please note that the US consulate may take this opportunity of again determining your B-visa eligibility.