"Who invited you to the US?" — how to answer
Direct answer: State the inviter and relationship in one sentence ("my daughter invited me to her graduation"), with the occasion dated if possible; the invitation letter, the DS-160 contact, the lodging, and the payer should interlock as one chain, not four stories.
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:
- Who invited you to the US?
- Who asked you to come? / Whose graduation is it?
- Did your son write you an invitation letter?
- Chinese-language equivalent at China posts: 谁邀请你去的?
What the officer is evaluating
The inviter is the narrative core of a family-visit B2: who they are, their status, why now, where you stay, who pays. What is checked is the coherence of the invitation chain — the letter's signatory, the DS-160's "U.S. Point of Contact", the lodging address, and the payer field should all point at the same person and occasion; when the chain is clean, this question takes thirty seconds.
The occasion's concreteness sets the follow-up density: occasions with objective dates (graduation, wedding, a birth) are the cheapest; "just to see him" can pass, but you must have time, lodging, and funding answers ready. An invitation letter is not legally required — it is simply the cheapest tool for fixing the spoken narrative onto paper; carry it if you have one, matching your words.
Answer framework
- 1. Inviter, relation, occasion
"My daughter invited me — her master's graduation is May 18." Three elements in one sentence; a dated occasion carries its own credibility. - 2. Status in one sentence
When asked "what does she do there": "She's a graduate student in statistics at Ann Arbor." City, status, field — consistent with the relatives field and the letter. - 3. Pre-answer the chain three
Staying where (her place / a hotel near campus), for how long (two weeks, matching the form), who pays (she does / I do, matching the payer field) — these follow the invitation question almost automatically. - 4. One primary inviter
With multiple children or co-signers, name one primary inviter (usually the contact/payer); others surface only if asked.
Common mistakes
- A four-way fork: the letter from the daughter, the form's contact the son, the mouth saying "both asked me" — an unclear primary inviter is the most common family-visit deduction.
- Vague occasion: "just miss her, going to see her" — may be true, but invites the time/lodging/funding sequence; prepare those three answers.
- Letter-versus-mouth funding fight: the letter declares full sponsorship while you claim self-funding — one funding story, kept everywhere.
- Upgrading the occasion: recasting a plain visit as "care after her delivery" turns a short family visit into a caregiving arrangement outside B2 norms.
- Blank inviter facts: no city, no status for the central person of the narrative — the interview's credibility collapses with its subject.
Sample answerFICTIONAL SAMPLE
Sample (fictional person, shown for structure — not a model answer): "My daughter invited me. She's finishing her master's in statistics at the University of Michigan — graduation is May 18 and she wants me there. I'll stay at her place for two weeks; she's booking the tickets, and she's the contact on my DS-160."
Structure: inviter and relation → dated occasion → lodging/duration/funding → pointer to the form. The high-frequency family-visit follow-ups are answered before they are asked.
Consistency with your DS-160
Check the invitation letter (if any): signatory, occasion, and dates match the spoken story; the letter's funding statement, the form's payer field, and the mouth share one version.
The DS-160's "U.S. Point of Contact" is the primary inviter; the relatives field's status description (student / work visa) matches the spoken one.
The lodging address matches the inviter's address when staying with them; otherwise any hotel address in the itinerary's city is consistent.
Related DS-160 fields
How to practice this question
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FAQ
Can I apply for a family-visit visa without a formal invitation letter?
Yes — the letter is not a legal requirement. A plain note from the child (status, occasion, funding) plus proof of their status serves the same function as a templated letter; what is actually checked is the consistency of your spoken narrative with the form and materials, not letterhead.
My inviter is a friend, not a relative — is that OK?
Yes, with a fuller narrative: the friend's city, how you know each other, and this trip's occasion (wedding, gathering, a visit). The common follow-up for non-relative inviters is the relationship's reality — concrete facts (friends for ten years, colleagues for three) beat a generic "close friend".
Do I need proof of the graduation I'm attending?
Helpful if available: the school's ceremony invitation email or page, or the child's enrollment letter. Not mandatory — but dated written occasions pin the narrative; without them, consistency does the work.
Updated 2026-08-16