Brucky

I want a letter to show to the immigration person for when I answer the question about how long I am staying in America for, just under 90 days...

Can anyone please have a read through and comment on if there is anything obvious we are missing please.

The letter is from my American friend, and I from England.

***
For the next 89 days (or less), I can be the sponsor for ***** of [home address] England.
***** is a family friend and taking a vacation break. He will stay at my home at no cost to himself. I have a car and will be able to transport him to and from the airport, in addition to any other sightseeing things we do. We intend to do only local things in the **** area. We will do some things with my family and friends like museums, picnics, going to the library, etc. I have friends travelling from **** who are also going to be on vacation at the same time and will do some sight seeing with us.
This is my information for your consideration:

· I own and live in my house and have owned it since ****.
· I have been at my full-time, Mon-Fri, job with **** since ****.
· I own a car.

Some paperwork is being attached to this letter to show a steady source of income and employment and housing. Additionally, income tax records to show that I have always paid my income tax since I first began to work in the **** area.

**** has a return flight already booked for **** though he may get homesick and decide to return to England earlier than the ****. We are both aware of the 3 month maximum allowance to stay in the USA on the UK waiver and will absolutely not exceed 89 days. He has a steady job to go back to and will want to return to his home in England with his parents.
**** is bringing more than enough money for this vacation; including cash, savings, and credit cards. When you put into account that all lodging and ground transportation is taken care of by me, it is clear he will be taken care of. We will also have some dinners with my family, which will further reduce his need for a lot of money. He also has enough money to pay for a change in his return ticket if he decides to fly home early.
Taking all of the above into account, I believe you can allow him to stay and enjoy a nice vacation break with his friends knowing that he will return to England on or before ****.

Respectfully,


****
Home Address Employer:
**** ****
Contact numbers:
****
ATTACHMENTS: W-4 Forms, last 3 years
Paystubs, last 3 months
Mortgage statement, last 3 years
Vehicle registration, current

Noorah101

Wow. Is such a letter really necessary for a less-than-90-day VWP visit? I didn't think it was, especially for someone from the UK.

Rene

ian-mstm

No, you don't! It's a total waste of time and energy.

Ian

Ray

Just get the ESTA and forget letters

Octang Frye

You will find in life, son, that it is generally not wise to offer more information than you need to.
It's a good interrogation technique. The interviewer is silent and lets the interviewee fill in the silence. He he.

And never trust the cops. Don't snitch or offer any information.

Wait, what? Sorry, got diverted. Um, a letter isn't necessary. Enjoy your trip.
Just a side note - 89 days is pushing it. What happens if your plane gets delayed?
Or you twist your ankle lifting your suitcase into the car and spent the night in the ER? Or the unpronounceable volcano erupts again. Not much of a buffer?

meauxna

Brucky, do you know what TMI means? That letter is TMI.

That letter is probably an invitation to return to the UK on the next flight.
And I agree with the honkbag about the 89 days (the letter also says three months, which is different).

crg

What kind of trips have you taken in the past? Ever had any problems crossing a border before?

scrubbedexpat099

No mention of the DVD collection

GeoffM

It sounds to me from that letter like you have virtually no money - that's a red flag to any immigration. Agreed with others, definitely too much information. There should be nothing wrong with stating that you'll be staying for 89 days, but then again you don't have to state that you WILL be staying for the full 89 days, only what your intention is. If you originally only intended to stay for a month but ended up staying for nearly 3, no problem. You're still within what you've been allowed. As long as you don't return a couple of days later for another 89 days then you should be fine.

Brucky

Whilst I appreciate the prompt replies, it saddens me to see the anger on this forum. I feel discouraged in asking any more questions I may have in the future

srefre

What anger?
I certainly didn't see any, just people saying the letter was unnecessary and OTT.

Perhaps you would fare better if you provided some background as to why you think a letter will be necessary.
All we know so far is that you think you need a letter to show and you want to ship your DVD collection to the US. How these events are connected might have significance to the answer you get.

Octang Frye

Anger? I don't see anger here. Slightly jaded people, perhaps.

Everyone is in agreement; there's no point in this letter and it doesn't offer you any benefit at all. If anything, it makes you and your friend look a little childlike.

But if you really want to, go ahead and show it at the POE.

Duncan Roberts

If somebody gave me that and I was evaluating them as a risk, alarm bells would go off. I would think you are trying to prove you will leave so hard that you must be planning to stay and have the resources of friends in the US who would be willing to house you, transport you and pay your way. I may even think you are in a relationship with the "sponsor" which would raise even more suspicion.

I also agree with others, no posts showed any sign of anger. However, if you think you need a letter like this it's unsurprising that you are more paranoid/naive than the average person and may think there is anger where there is none.

GeoffM

That shouldn't be a problem - I have friends who were forced to land in a foreign country for which they had no visa on day 1 of the airspace closure (just a few hours earlier...), and I bet there were a few who overstayed their welcome in the US at the same time. Can't do anything about Acts of [insert deity here].

Ask a question, get honest, factual answers: why complain that you don't like the answers that people have spent time answering?

crg

They can't do anything about it, but the people would still need a visa for all future trips. Overstaying is a violation of the VWP, regardless of the reason. There is no exception in the book for such things. You could get injured by a meteor strike, and end up longer than allowed. Unless you get permission for the extra time (up to 30 days) before you depart, you need a visa to be lawfully admitted again.

"Ask a question, get honest, factual answers:"

I didn't get the feeling that your guidance was honest. It seemed like you were encouraging the OP to just say he intended to stay for one month and changing the travel arrangements after entry. That didn't seem honest to me.