debnet

I am a British citizen and marrying a US citizen who is resident in the Uk.

Which visa should I apply for after the marriage (April/UK) to allow travel at any time?

I previously had a visa denied as they thought I wanted to live in the States but since gained a B2 for 1 year which expires end of March.

I have been told I cannot apply for an Electronic visa.

I do not intend to live in the States but we need to travel back to the States to visit with his family.

Many thanks.

msi64

Same kind of question from me really, only difference is we will have been married 12 years by the time we come to move, Is there a different Visa we need and will we have to jump through all the interview hoops like newly married couples do.

Will we need to get an immigration attorney or is it a little easier for us?

hobbes79

Both scenarios are very different.

Debnet, if your B2 visa is still valid you may simply carry on using that for visits. Why can't you travel on the VWP? Only cautionary thing I would do would be to bring proof of ties to the UK (job contract, mortgage, etc).

Msi64, you would need to apply for a marriage based greencard. The only minor convenience of being married so long is that you won't need to re-prove you have a valid marriage after 2-years. You would instead be granted with a full 10-year greencard.

Many on here do marriage based applications as a DIY, since they are not overly complicated if you've led a pretty vanilla life (no convictions, etc). Plenty of info on here on how to go about it.

msi64

Well thats one less thing to worry about. Thanks for the advice.

Now just
schools
houses
bank accounts
new furniture
Jobs to sort out

thank the lord I have some time

Noorah101

If you do not intend to live in the USA, you will be visiting as a tourist. If you qualify for the VWP, you'll use that. If for some reason you don't qualify to use the VWP, you'll need a B tourist visa.

Rene

Noorah101

Your question is not the same. You intend to live in the USA, not just visit.

You will need to apply for an Immigrant Visa, just like other married couples. As hobbes said, the only difference is that you'll be awarded a 10-year green card at the POE instead of 2-year one. Since you and your USC spouse are resident in the UK, you'll file the I-130 directly to London, and the process takes about 4 - 6 months.

The USC will have a few issues to overcome...mainly the affidavit of support (form I-864) and proving intent to domicile in the USA.

Hopefully he's been filing a US tax return while he's been living in the UK.

If you have further questions on your process, please start a new thread.

Rene
Moderator

debnet

I've been told I can't travel on VWP by the Embassy in London as I previously had a visa denied. They then advised me to travel on VWP and Miami immigration jumped on me, held me for 15 hours overnight and then parolled me in for 3 months and built a case for me to support further visa applications.

Thanks to the advice I received on here, I went armed with every shred of evidence I had thankfully. Apparently to be paroled in is a very rare occurrence.

When I returned to the Uk, I had another interview in London and was told they needed to make further investigations with Miami and would be about two weeks. Four months on I engaged the help of my M.P. to contact the embassy and then my B2 was granted, but only for 12 months. They told me at the time I would have to reapply in the future although I could try the VWP but no guarantees as I'd officially been denied entry.

The B2 runs out in March. I just returned from spending Christmas out there and when I landed in Raleigh Durham, the officer was so polite and welcoming it really put me at ease after my previous experience.

We just want to make sure we apply for the right visa as soon as we're married, to make plans for our next trip.

It hadn't occured to us that we could just reapply for the B2 to be honest. We thought as I am marrying a citizen it would be more technical than that

Do you think it's worth attempting the VWP before the B2 just incase I strike lucky?

Many thanks to you both for your advice. I really appreciate it. The members on this site helped me enormously a couple of years ago and I am immensely grateful.

Noorah101

So you are marrying a USC but you will both continue to live in the UK, right?

If you are not intending to immigrate to the USA, then your only 2 options are the VWP or a B-2, even if married to a USC.

But I must say, being married to a USC might make it harder to get your tourist entry to the USA, as you might be seen as having more immigrant intent, now that you're married to a USC. Whichever way you go, make sure you have a lot of proof that neither you nor your husband have any intent to immigrate to the USA.

Rene

debnet

Exactly.

That was the precise problem in the first place that caused my application to be denied as they believed I wanted to live in the States... despite a ton of evidence proving my intention to return.

Of course, it might also be easier as my future husband also has firm ties here now... maybe.

Thank you for your advice. I had no idea I could still apply for the B2 or Vwp.

jeffreyhy

Then you should have little trouble getting a new B2 visa unless your previous run-ins with CPB have created an excludability issue.

The usual reason for refusal of B2 visa applications - failure to demonstrate non-immigrant intent - should be easy for you since your spouse is not resident in the USA.

Regards, JEff