Prepare for your consulate interview

A recent client, having been approved for the P1 athlete visa, filed his DS 160 application with the U.S. consulate in his home country (all online), and then appeared for his interview and flubbed it--TWICE. In thinking about what went wrong and with limited information from half a world away, several things came to mind. The athlete answered the questions of the interviewing officer at the consulate with one word answers or incorrect answers to questions such as "how are you going to pay for your living expenses--food, housing, etc.?" (He has a generous donor sponsor as well as an agent/manager.) He answered "My manager pays for these things."-- which was wrong, the manager does not do so in this case, his donor-sponsor does this, and the donor sponsor of course is no where on the paperwork provided through the visa process. The interviewer, unimpressed with his answer, denied his visa because the athlete could not accurately describe how he pays for his expenses. The athlete in this case was unprepared for the question and confused who his manager was with his good friend who is his donor sponsor. After some scrambling to educate the athlete as to how to respond, he applied again, but because he did not have a letter from his country's sports federation (a requirement in some countries, not in all) "authorizing" the athlete's travel to the U.S., the consul again denied the visa. The athlete will apply again and, after some quick letter drafting by his donor sponsor and an invitation letter from his manager, we hope that any deficiencies in his interview performance may be made up for by the information provided in these letters. The lesson: The process for obtaining the visa, from initial petition to USCIS to the return of your passport from the consulate in your home country, involves much consideration of the facts of the athlete's situation and the deft presentation of the necessary evidence at each stage of the game.