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I'm a Moroccan citizen living in Morocco. I have had 3 Schengen visas in the past (France and Spain, the last one was for a year) and I would like to apply for a B1/B2 visa to the US for tourism later in the year (November or December depending on when I can get an appointment). I'm also single, employed and never had any issues in all of the countries I visited.

The issue is I have a half-brother that went to the US on a B1/B2 visa, overstayed and worked there illegally then he got his citizenship after a few years. He's now living in Morocco and he only visits the US a few times a year to catch up with friends (since he lived there for almost 20 years before deciding to come back to Morocco).

How do I explain this in my application? I see that they ask if you have family in the US, technically I don't since my half-brother doesn't live there anymore. Also should I even apply? Or is my application doomed because of what he did?

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    Your brother overstayed and, despite that, managed to become a US citizen. If they didn't hold the overstay against him, why would they hold it against you?
    – phoog
    May 26 at 11:29
  • @phoog I guess I'm just concerned they'll think I'm trying to do the same thing ! But thank you for that perspective
    – Meryem Boujena
    May 28 at 7:26

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The question you ask about is seen below:

DS-160

Your application has nothing to do with his actions, unless you somehow aided him in anyway to overstay. Also the DS160 explicitly asks about family in the US. If your brother lives in Morocco full time, then no need to mention him here. If the consular officer finds out and has questions they will ask you about it in the interview anyway (where you should be completely honest in whatever they ask, but answer ONLY what they ask). You have a seemingly good travel history and from what you say both financial and family ties in Morocco, that should only make the consular officer feel pretty ok about your application.

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    (+1) If the application question asked “… or immediate relatives who are US citizens” the answer would clearly be Yes however as asked, the correct answer is No.
    – Traveller
    May 26 at 8:22
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    Thank you for your response, it does make sense when it's all spelled out like that ! I just don't want to appear as if my concealing information I have a friend who's been to more than 40 countries, and she didn't include Iran in the list. They knew about it and asked her at her interview and she was denied . I really don't want to have a denial on my record since I'm currently applying for a UK visitor visa as well.
    – Meryem Boujena
    May 28 at 7:29
  • If she was asked to list the countries she had visited and failed to do so then she actively (purposefully or not) hid information. You aren't asked about it in the application, so no need to mention it. If they want to ask you in the interview then they will. Please accept them answer if you feel it is a complete and helpful answer.
    – Ozzy
    May 28 at 18:03

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