Stevie P

Hi, I'm flying out from the the U.K. to the states in September to activate my U.S. visa. However I need to return back to England afterwards. I'm wondering do I need to still set up an ESTA?
Any help is appreciated.

Twinkle0927

No, you don't. You will become a permanent resident upon arrival and have no further need for any visas for the USA ever again unless you abandon your residency.

BritInParis

ESTA is for those looking to enter on the Visa Waiver Program. Since you'll have a visa it's not required.

Stevie P

Thank you for the quick replies, that's great, really appreciate you taking the time to clear this up for me.

ubernathan

Nope. If Stevie is on a visa, it will [ETA: usually] have a timeout period. 'Permanent Residence' is more commonly referred to as a Green Card, which is not a visa. Even that needs renewing every 10 years. (Visa holders go through the 'visitor' immigration queue. GC holders go through the 'Citizens and LPRs' queue.)

Depending on the visa, Stevie may need to leave and reenter to renew the visa period. For instance, an L1 visa is initially valid for 5 years, but can be extended to 7. However, one may only remain in the USA for a contiguous period of 3 years. As I understand a short trip in and out of Canada suffices to break that contiguity.

'Permanent residency' and 'resident alien' are not the same thing.

It is correct that the ESTA thing is no longer needed, when you have a Visa.

tom169

What you said does not apply to Stevie P's situation.

His wife is a USC and he is entering on a CR/IR visa. He will be a permanent resident for immigration purposes upon entering the USA.

Please don't confuse things.

fbf2006

He is moving to the US on an immigrant visa, which is why the response that he becomes a permanent resident on entry was given.

ubernathan

That is not stated in the original post. You are answering a question that was not asked.

With the exception of some visas not having timeouts, what I said was correct.

fbf2006

lol okay then

tom169

Good job your POV is irrelevant to OP's question then.

ubernathan

Really?

fbf2006

Some people are here everyday or just simply remember the OP's backstory or did a quick look at his first ever post and noticed he was getting a CR visa as he's been married to a United States citizen for a bit. Everyone is not expected to know this so when another poster simply mentions an additional detail, there's no need to get all combative when all that's needed is a 'my bad.' Sheesh.

tom169

Yes, because you confused the entire situation with irrelevant details.

Twinkle0927's response to the question was IMO fine.

az2014

Totally agree with you. OP did not mention what visa they are using. Ignore the others that expect people to search peoples previous posts just to find impprtant info they did not bother to mention.

MidAtlantic

Time for the children to go back to their playpen. Stevie P got his answer in #2 &3.