"What does your son/daughter do in the US?" — how to answer
Direct answer: Answer with four facts — city, occupation, status, and years: "my son is a software engineer in Boston on a work visa, four years now"; downgrade any fact you are unsure of to "about", and keep it consistent with the DS-160 contact and relatives fields.
How the question is asked
The U.S. Department of State publishes no official interview script; officers question freely around what they need to establish. These are the most common phrasings of this probe, collected from public interview accounts:
- What does your son/daughter do in the US?
- Where does your child live? How long have they been there?
- What's their visa status? (the direct version)
- Chinese-language equivalent at China posts: 你孩子在美国做什么?
What the officer is evaluating
In the parents-visiting scenario this question is nearly universal and usually comes with follow-ups. The officer is checking three things: that the child's details match the DS-160 contact and relatives fields; that the parents' knowledge of their own child is real ("can't say where they work" is a danger signal); and that the relationship supports this trip coherently — visiting whom, staying where, who pays, for how long.
Parents often worry that an imperfect description of the child's status hurts the case. The assessment logic runs the other way: a child on a work visa or enrolled in a degree gives the relationship a clear legal status and trajectory, and parents who can name the city, job, and years prove the relationship is real. The thing to avoid is not imprecision — it is contradiction: one story at the window, another on the form, a third in the invitation letter.
Answer framework
- 1. Four facts in one sentence
"My daughter is an accountant in Chicago, on an H-1B, five years now." City, occupation, status, years — then expand whichever one the follow-up lands on. - 2. Status: say it or downgrade it
Name the visa class if you know it; if all you know is "she works at Google", say the employer plus "a work visa of some kind" — never improvise green-card versus H-1B distinctions you are unsure of. - 3. Catch the trip questions that follow
"You're going to visit her — staying at her place? For how long?" These arrive almost automatically; have the answers ready: staying at the daughter's, days matching the form, funding matching the payer field. - 4. Let paper anchor the details
If the invitation letter and your child's employment or enrollment proof travel with the documents, the employer, school, and address there are your script; form, letter, and mouth speak with one voice.
Common mistakes
- Missing the basics: no city, no occupation — the relationship's reality is instantly in question and the questioning digs deeper.
- Improvised status: calling a student "already working", or a work visa a green card; mismatching the letter or the system costs credibility.
- Three versions of the truth: DS-160 contact names the son, the invitation letter is signed by the daughter, and the interview reveals "both children are there" — conflicting facts are worse than plain ones.
- Over-guaranteeing: one sentence of "I'll come back — my younger son is here" is enough; repeated assurances read as compensation.
- Reframing the visit as childcare: "going to help with the baby for three months" — a long childcare arrangement drifts beyond B2 family-visit norms and invites reclassification.
Sample answerFICTIONAL SAMPLE
Sample (fictional person, shown for structure — not a model answer): "My son is a software engineer in Boston, on a work visa, four years now. I'm going for his wedding and to see the city he lives in — staying at his place for two weeks, and he's covering the costs. He's also the contact on my DS-160."
Structure: four facts → the occasion (a wedding — concrete and verifiable) → lodging/days/funding → pointer to the form. The high-frequency parents-visit follow-ups (where, how long, who pays) are answered before they are asked.
Consistency with your DS-160
Check "U.S. Point of Contact Information" and the immediate-relatives field: the child's name, city, and relationship agree; when the child pays, "Person/Entity Paying for Your Trip" names them too.
The invitation letter's salutation, occasion, and dates match your words; occasions with objective dates (graduation, wedding) are the sturdiest.
When both parents interview separately (common), align the story at home first: one city, one employer name, one itinerary.
Related DS-160 fields
How to practice this question
The fastest way to make this answer automatic is to have someone drill you at window pacing. qianyu (签屿/VisaIsle) is an AI mock visa interviewer for the US B1/B2 visitor visa that reads your DS-160, cross-checks it against your spoken answers and supporting documents to catch every inconsistency, and drills you with realistic 214(b)-style consular questioning at three difficulty levels — with pay-as-you-go credit packs from ¥29.9 for Chinese applicants. New users get 1 free training credit on sign-up.
FAQ
Is it better if my child studies or works in the US?
Both are routinely approved configurations; the weight sits on the relationship being real, the trip making sense, and the statements lining up. A child with stable employment or enrollment gives the relationship a clear trajectory — parents who can state the details matter more than which status the child holds.
My child is a green-card holder — are parents more likely to be refused?
Not decisive. The immigrant-intent assessment is about the parents: what remains at home (spouse, property, other children, pension) and whether the trip is short and specific. State the child's status truthfully and lay out your own home arrangements; concealing the status is what creates the real problem.
My parents don't speak English well — how do they memorize all this?
Drill the four facts in Chinese until fluent — at China posts the interview can be conducted in Chinese. A small card with city, occupation, status, and years for the taxi ride (not for the window) settles nerves; a mock interview at real pacing is the best rehearsal there is.
Updated 2026-08-16