Originally Posted by wolfie_cr

While I am sure that the majority of US visas issued are good for 5 or 10 years there is NO guarrantee of anything, I have personally seen US visas good only for 1 year (and I am talking about the regular B1/B2, its up to the consular rep to decide how long the visa will be issued to, the person that I know had a 1 year visa....based on his particular situation I have the feeling it was deemed a borderline 'high risk' to stay illegally)

btw on rejection rates of people of 'x country applying for a US tourist visa' here are the figures

http://travel.state.gov/pdf/FY07.pdf

(I have to believe that the great majority of Americans applying for a Chinese tourist visa get it )

'reciprocity' indeed