There is no rule against applying a third time, and no penalty for having been refused twice. There is also no benefit in applying again with the same facts, the same form and the same answers, because the same presumption applies and nothing new has been put against it.
Section 214(b), Immigration and Nationality Act
Every alien shall be presumed to be an immigrant until he establishes to the satisfaction of the consular officer, at the time of application for a visa, that he is entitled to a nonimmigrant status.
The law starts by presuming you intend to immigrate. The officer is assessing whether your ties to your home country are strong enough to overcome that presumption, in an interview that usually lasts two to three minutes.
shall be presumed to be an immigrant until he establishes to the satisfaction of the consular officer, at the time of application for a visa, and the immigration officers, at the time of application for admission, that he is entitled to a nonimmigrant status under section 1101(a)(15) of this title.
Immigration and Nationality Act, section 214(b) (8 U.S.C. 1184(b)), INA 214(b), 8 U.S.C. 1184(b)
When it does so, the action of an executive officer “to admit or to exclude an alien” “is final and conclusive.”
Department of State v. Muñoz, Opinion of the Court, Part II
A materially different circumstance: a promotion or a longer record with the same employer, a marriage, a child, a property purchase, a business that now files accounts, a completed trip to another country with the stamps to show it. Time alone counts for a little. A new folder counts for nothing.
A different consulate in the same country. A different agent. A thicker set of documents. A letter explaining the previous refusals. An invitation from a more impressive host.
Long enough for the change to be real and evidenced. For most people that is months rather than weeks, and it is usually tied to a specific event: the end of a probation period, a completed trip, a filed tax return.
We take your two refusals, your DS-160 and your circumstances, and tell you plainly whether anything has changed enough to be worth the fee. Sometimes the honest answer is to wait, and we will say so.
There is no appeal against a 214(b) refusal and no waiting period in the law. You may apply again as soon as you have something new to show. Applying again with the same facts and the same papers usually produces the same result.
Section 214(b) refusals carry no right of appeal and no administrative review. Anyone offering to appeal one is selling you something that does not exist.
A 214(b) refusal is handed over at the window on a single sheet. There is no appeal and no formal review. The only route is to apply again when circumstances have changed, and to present them better.
Our software reads the refusal, names the grounds and the route, checks every ground against your documents with the refused ones held open, and writes the reapplication letter that answers each one by its reference. Re-runs and second-refusal handling included for 30 days.