anabella

Hi!

I’m a member since around 2006 but I haven’t used it in recent years and I’m extremely out of touch with immigration matters.

My long time long distance boyfriend has come to be with me in CO on an Esta visa. We came together from Spain (where we are both from) at the beginning of December and he has a flight to go back 3 months later, at the beginning of March. Ideally, we would love it if he could stay until April, because it would mean not having to be apart. I go back to Spain all of April and all of May. If we travel to Mexico for a couple of days would that be enough for him to stay longer in the US? Or is there a rule about how long he has to be abroad to be allowed to stay longer/back in the country?

He’d be coming back with me in June again. The idea is for him to live with me a winter and a summer (these are my busy work periods) and with that decide if he’s willing to move here. I have dual citizenship.

Also, I recall hearing about a “fiancé” visa on this forum in the past. Is that something that he could get? And how long would he be allowed to stay in the US with it? Would he be able to work with that visa?

So many questions...

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

mikelincs

Travelling to Mexico will NOT reset the clock, neither will Canada I'm afraid. The fiance visa is a visa allowing him to come to the USA and marry you, it can't just be used to be a longer term visitor visa, you have a specific number of days after entering on the Fiance visa to get married, I believe it's 90 days. So I'm afraid there is no 'Try it and see' visa

christmasoompa

Sounds like a recipe for him being refused entry tbh. The general advice is to stay out of the US for longer than you were in it, so if he's in the US for 85 days (hopefully not 3 months, as the VWP is only 90 days and he should plan to leave a few days earlier in case of any flight cancellations etc), then he should stay out of it for longer than that before trying to return. The travel pattern you've outlined above isn't one I'd risk personally, particularly if your long term plan is for him to move to the US.

civilservant

Your plan won't work as a trip to Mexico or Canada does not reset a 90 day VWP stay. We also recommend that he stays out as long as he was in to play it safe.

I would highly recommend that he never uses the work 'live with' to a CBP Officer either, or he'll end up getting bounced from the US with no way to return in the short term.

scrubbedexpat099

Forget the K1, much easier to marry and adjust, not sure if adjustment works for you, Consular processing makes more sense.

Multiple 90 days and his VWP days will soon be over.

Pulaski

Nor the Caribbean, even a clearly "non-US" island such as one of the British territories. .... A colleague of mine was bounced onto a flight to London after spending 13 weeks in the US and then a week in the Cayman Islands, after being told by the immigration officer at IAD, on arriving back in the US, that he "hadn't left the US" while in the Cayman Islands.