Ria123

I am in the states on an E2 visa. My son is on a gap year and after travelling a couple of times on the VWP, applied for a B2, so he didnt have the expense of returning every 90 days.
We were given info saying that the B2 can be used for members of the household, who do not qualify to be included on a parents non immigrant visa, and could continue to do so aslong as the primary non immigrant visa holder remained in the US.
My son applied for this in March and was denied under section 214b, proving ties with home country. The officer told him to stay for a couple of months, then reapply and you should be ok.
Anyway, he reapplied today and was refused under the same reason,even though he had a letter offering a place at uni for october (in London), utility bill with his name on it and a letter from us saying we were paying for his trip.
We are desperate for him to come over for the summer, would he be ok to use his VWP still? He has never over stayed and will have a return ticket within the 90 day period

crg

He needs to complete a new ESTA application and see if it's approved. If he is under 21, he can apply for an E2 and use that to visit. They will admit for 2 years, or until the 21st birthday whichever is sooner. Of course he must also be unmarried.

Ria123

Yeah, we could try for a new ESTA, didnt think of that. He is 22, so just misses the E2 inclusion, thanks

crg

The new ESTA is required because the answers changed. People have had mixed results following a visa denial, but enough people have been approved that the chances of success don't appear to be that bad.

meauxna

No, he *must* re-apply for ESTA with his new information. He can't travel on the current ESTA approval.

Steve_

That doesn't sound right to me, he's your son and he's under 21 from the sounds of it so he should be going for an E-2 dependent visa.

GeoffM

See post #3 - he's 22.

Ria123

I've just found out the guy who interviewed my son turned him down because he was refused before, he has also kept his passport. He gave him an unsigned, undated letter stating refusal code 214b, this don't sound right to me? I have made an appointment with a lawyer on Monday.

Marocco

You should get your son to post here directly. This is getting confusing.

ian-mstm

Please clarify... are you saying that a US immigration officer is holding his UK passport? For what reason? His passport is the property of the UK government... so this could be the start of a very interesting turn of events.


Good.

Ian

Ria123

Yep, the guy gave him his paper work back in his folder minus the passport, could be an over sight??? I have phoned the embassy but they refuse to comment! Will let you know what the lawyer says on Monday

Steve_

Oops, hmm, anyway if he's been formally denied a visa on lack of non-immigrant intent grounds that will go into his entry record so to answer the question, CBP will likely deny him entry too on the same basis under the VWP.

You need to get the issue resolved with the embassy obviously. All else fails, try going through pre-clearance in Ireland, that way he won't have to buy a long haul flight ticket back home at short notice which will cost $$$ if he gets denied entry.

Looking in the press and on here basically what this whole mess usually boils down to is that the embassy in London seems to be under some sort of directive not to issue a B-2 visa to anyone who can travel under the VWP, because they don't want people doing this to avoid using ESTA (even if they want to stay more than 90 days).

I got a B-1/2 visa here in Calgary with absolutely no problem whatsoever, although the consular officer did say to me if I hadn't been a Canadian LPR it would have been dealt with differently.

Although the OP says in the first post it was a denial due to lack of proof of abode, which is not necessarily the same thing. Add in parents live in the US that does usually equal lack of non-immigrant intent although his circumstances have changed since.

This is a problem I've seen mentioned on forums various times before, parents are in a non-immigrant category that can be renewed endlessly, usually E or TN and the kids grow up, have to leave and can't get back in again to visit. Or even more strangely, vice versa, parents enter US in E or TN, have kid who is born a US citizen or kid gets married to US citizen and does AOS, parents eventually have to leave and aren't allowed in because kid is a US citizen and CBP decide the parents don't have non-immigrant intent.

So-called (obviously inaccurately) "anchor" babies.

crg

Denial is much less likely if he gets another approved ESTA. A 214(b) visa denial doesn't automatically prevent ESTA approval or VWP travel.