They are indeed coming here!!

My parents got their B2 Non-immigrant visitors visas approved yesterday. Yayyy!!!
I spent all afternoon pacing the floor, feeling anxious and worried about their interview with the immigration officers at the US Embassy. I've heard too many people get denied their tourist visas for no good reason. A lady who was interviewed before my parents got denied. She was also going to visit her daughter. The immigration officers think or feel that one would overstay in the U.S and not want to leave. So they are very sticky when it comes to this. You need to prove to them that you are coming back to Malaysia. Ways to prove this would be to show you have strong ties in Malaysia like :
1) You have a job that you need to come home to (My parents are retired)
2) You have kids in Malaysia (I am an only child and I am not in Malaysia)
3) Properties in Malaysia( ok, so maybe them having a house helps)

Also, if you have been to the U.S before and showed them that you did return legally, that helps. So the officer was quite pleased to hear that my dad was in the U.S in the early 70's doing his studies in NJ for 2 months.

If only these people knew how hard it was to persuade my dad to just come for a visit. I had to bargain and bribe him just so he would agree to stay for more than 2 weeks. That too he feels it's too long. My dad is a homebody who loves the comfort of his home. I know it's not that he doesn't want to come see me, but he just does not enjoy the hassle of flying 30 odd hours. And I totally understand. My mom, on the other hand, is the adventurous one.

So, do they think he would actually overstay? I think not.

Now I'm going to stock up on books for him to read, Mad magazines and Burger King's whoppers. That's the bribe that I promised him.