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An Iranian citizen has recently joined my team, and he needs to attend company orientation in either the United States or Switzerland. All things being equal, when applying from Sydney, Australia, which would be the easier and/or faster option?

For avoidance of doubt, I'm pretty sure his visa will be approved in the end since he's quite low risk (Australian permanent resident, solid job at very well known company, all expenses paid etc.), I'm just hoping to minimize the time, expense and hassle involved.

Update: We opted for Switzerland. Literally one day after he joined the company, Trump signed the second executive order banning Iranians for 90 days!

Update 2: The Swiss consulate said processing would take 10 days, the visa was approved in 9. The hardest part of the process was fedexing a signed hard copy of the invitation from Switzerland.

lambshaanxy
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2 Answers2

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Switzerland hands down.

The US is extremely strict in demanding substantial proof of ties to the country of the applicant's residence. Each time they take in an applicant for an interview, their mindset is: "alright, this guy is trying to become an illegal immigrant, unless he convinces me otherwise".

Furthermore, as a Middle Easterner your application is likely (though possibly somewhat less if an Australian PR) to be taken for the dreaded "administrative processing". From then on it could well be months or even a year before you finally get a decision.

Schengen visas, on the other hand, are relatively straightforward: provided you present a credible bona fide itinerary, along with adequate funds for your stay, you will usually get it without much hassle.

So I'd go with Switzerland, definitely

Crazydre
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Belated answer to my own question:

As Crazydre correctly states, Switzerland is almost certainly the easier option and that's what we went with.

However, he ended up applying for a US visa for a second trip, and long story short, while it took about two months to process and requires a bit of paperwork (translations of exemption from military service etc), he received the US visa on the first attempt and there were no notable complications along the way. So it's by no means impossible for Iranians to visit the US.

lambshaanxy
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