Renewal of Non Immigrant Visa and Firearms Purchases

[LSUTiger]

I know you can purchase a firearm on a Non Immigrant Visa with a TX hunting license from an FFL. My question is, is that firearms purchase going to flag you in the system when trying to renew your visa?

A friend at work who is here legally on a Non Immigrant Work Visa is interested in purchasing a firearm and but is hesitant to do so because he is concerned that it will affect his ability to renew his visa.

He is also hesitant to purchase the firearm he needs because he thinks the firearm will designate him as a terrorist or something.

My thought is if a legal firearms purchase from FFL will flag you in the system then it doesn't matter what kind of firearm you buy. But I am not a lawyer.

I reassured him that the FFL, while wanting to make a sale, will not likely knowingly sell a firearm illegally. They can get into serious trouble. So if he submits his ID, and "Papers" and qualifying exception and fills out an ATF4473 and they submit to FBI NICS and all comes back "proceed" then he has followed the legal purchase requirements to the extent that he possibly can.

But the question still remains, even if he does everything legally, can there be negative consequences on his next visa renewal because of a firearms purchase?

[mrvmax]

Unless he buys multiples at once (where the multiple hand gun or long gun form is sent to the ATF and Chief LEO) the FFL happens to get audited and the IOI sees something irregular or the FFL goes out of business, nobody will know. The 4473 stays with the FFL and nobody else sees it.

It’s been a while but I used to have people like that buy firearms. I had one guy from England who was an engineer and bought a few from me. During one audit the IOI asked why he was buying firearms. I told him because he legally could. The IOI agreed but said what happens to the firearms when he goes home? He wrote the guys info down and I never saw that guy again. I assume he contacted the guy and scared him which made him stop buying. This was a jerk of an IOI who also tried to shut me down, the liberal IOI’s that are trying to find ways to close FFL’s. He moved back to the west coast so I never have to deal with that IOI again. The IOI’s since then have been pretty good.

I’d say nobody will ever know and if they did, they can explain what they use the firearm for, that they want to experience what Americans do while they are in the US working. I would not think people would question that unless there were other factors in place. But that is just me.