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Urgent help needed - B2 or visa waiver?

Urgent help needed - B2 or visa waiver?

Old Apr 14th 2012, 1:57 am
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Default Urgent help needed - B2 or visa waiver?

I've been travelling back and forth to the US from the UK on business and holiday since Oct last year as I have fallen in love with a Brit who lives in California and has a Green Card. He is in the process of becoming a citizen. I have been with him in California since January.

My 3 month VWP is due to expire soon so I fly back to the UK on monday to go to the embassy to apply for a B2. I have proof of savings, address in the UK, letter from my employer saying I am taking a 6 month sabattical and my job will be waiting for me in Oct etc etc.

After reading the forums here I am really worried that my application for a B2 will be turned down. So do I go back to the UK for 2 weeks and then come back on another 3 month VW or do I stick with my appointment which, if approved, will give me 6 months?

Am stressing out hugely as I need to decide what to do before I fly back to the UK on monday!!
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Old Apr 14th 2012, 2:03 am
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Default Re: Urgent help needed - B2 or visa waiver?

No one can say for sure what you should do, but here are some general comments:

For best results, stay outside the USA longer than you were just inside. A return trip after only 2 weeks back in the UK can look like you're trying to live in the USA as a visitor. If you just spend almost 90 days in the USA, spend more than 90 outside before attempting another VWP visit.

If you apply for a B-2 and it's denied, you must then re-do ESTA and declare the visa denial, which can result in a denied ESTA, which means you won't be going back to the USA anytime soon. If your ESTA gets denied, it's best to wait 6 - 12 months before trying for ESTA approval again.

So, for your best results in traveling to the USA as a visitor:

1. Don't apply for a B-2
2. Spend more time outside the USA than inside.

No one can say for sure what will happen at your B-2 visa interview, nor what will happen at the POE with a VWP entry. It's all up to the ConOff and/or POE officer.

Rene
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Old Apr 14th 2012, 2:04 am
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Default Re: Urgent help needed - B2 or visa waiver?

Originally Posted by supercat68
Am stressing out hugely as I need to decide what to do before I fly back to the UK on monday!!
Why do you need to decide so soon? You can't stay in the USA longer than 90 days on this visit anyway, regardless of what your next step is. You can return to the UK, think about it some more, and then decide. You don't have to decide what to do by this Monday.

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Old Apr 14th 2012, 2:07 am
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Default Re: Urgent help needed - B2 or visa waiver?

Originally Posted by Noorah101
Why do you need to decide so soon? You can't stay in the USA longer than 90 days on this visit anyway, regardless of what your next step is. You can return to the UK, think about it some more, and then decide. You don't have to decide what to do by this Monday.

Rene
I fly back on Monday and my appointment with the embassy for a B2 tourist visa is on Wednesday. I had planned on flying back to the US on april 30th as I'm desperate to be with my boyfriend.
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Old Apr 14th 2012, 2:51 am
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Default Re: Urgent help needed - B2 or visa waiver?

Originally Posted by supercat68
I fly back on Monday and my appointment with the embassy for a B2 tourist visa is on Wednesday. I had planned on flying back to the US on april 30th as I'm desperate to be with my boyfriend.
I see, so you've already made the B-2 appointment? In that case, you might as well attend it, and see what comes of it. If you don't attend, it will be a denial anyway. Might as well go and see if it gets approved.

I repeat...if you've got the interview appointment already, it means you've already applied for the B-2 online. If you do not attend the interview, it will be counted as a visa denial, and you have to re-do ESTA, declare the visa denial, and get a new ESTA approval, before you can use the VWP again.

By already getting a B-2 visa interview appointment, you've effectively ruled out using the VWP in 2 weeks' time. Hopefully the B-2 will be granted and you won't miss out on 6+ months of traveling to the USA. However, if it doesn't work out that way, your boyfriend can come visit you until you can get ESTA approval again.

Rene

Last edited by Noorah101; Apr 14th 2012 at 2:54 am.
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Old Apr 14th 2012, 4:42 am
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Default Re: Urgent help needed - B2 or visa waiver?

I guess anything is possible, bit seems a very long shot.
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Old Apr 14th 2012, 9:08 am
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Default Re: Urgent help needed - B2 or visa waiver?

You are right to be stressing out because you haven't really thought this through very well.

Applying for the B2 visa has given you an added set of complications now. As Noorah already explained, if the B2 is denied it will invalidate your current ESTA and you will need to re-apply. Getting a new ESTA with a recent visa denial on your record could be difficult if not impossible. And if you don't turn up to the B2 interview it counts as a denial anyway.

To summarise, the only sure-fire legal way of you going back to the USA anytime soon now rests on you being granted the B2 visa on Wednesday. And frankly, if you tell the embassy that your reasons for wanting the visa are to spend longer time with your boyfriend in CA than the VWP allows, you will very quickly be coming away from Grosvenor Square empty handed.
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Old Apr 14th 2012, 2:11 pm
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Default Re: Urgent help needed - B2 or visa waiver?

Originally Posted by supercat68
I'm desperate to be with my boyfriend.
When people are "desperate to be with [a] boyfriend"... they make very poor decisions - such as the decision you've already made with respect to the B-2 visa.

Since you've already applied... if you cancel or don't show up, or you don't get it (because you're eligible to use the VWP), it will count as a denial. Once that happens - and it most likely will happen - you must update ESTA and declare the visa denial. That will likely result in ESTA being denied and you not being able to travel to the US for 6-12 months.

Respectfully, you were not thinking with your head but with your hormones. While you haven't jeopardized your entire future in the US for the sake of a fast return trip, you have made a tragic strategic error. Some prior research could have prevented this outcome.

Ian

Last edited by ian-mstm; Apr 14th 2012 at 2:21 pm.
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Old Apr 14th 2012, 5:35 pm
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Default Re: Urgent help needed - B2 or visa waiver?

Oh dear supercat - as Ian knows, I am not one for sugarcoating things hinny, and based on what you have typed you are going to be incredibly lucky to not only acquire your B2, but to also see yourself returning, in the near future, to Cali. If you are denied, the problems you have then caused yourself are many fold - as Rene has explained, you must re-apply for ESTA, checking 'yes' at the visa denial question, and ESTA is almost definitely going to be refused from anywhere between a few month to a year to permanently - see this link https://help.cbp.gov/app/answers/detail/a_id/1097. If only you had asked on this site before filling in the visa application, you more than likely would not have decided to opt for B2. My sister applied for her B2 (following advice and downright arguments between the two of us, that mother had to get in-between, when I tried to get her not to mainly because she had just brought her bony ar*e back from Fla). Sister had been out in Fla from Jan to Mar for 9 weeks and then gone again from May until August for just under 90 days and made the fatal decision to apply for B2 so she could go there for the winter - refused (under 214(b) immigrant intent but of course, as the embassy said she was intending to stay in Fla. She had no intention of living illegally in the US, she just enjoyed it so much she decided she wanted to snowbird there as she found it way too hot in the summer. Sis has UK ties up the whazoo - had been successfully self-employed, a retired, affluent, 57 year old, single, attractive lady, owns her own home outright, car, sufficient funds to maintain her stay in Fla and lives 2 doors away from our 'fit as butcher's dogs' adored parents - they are the very reason why she would never live anywhere else but two doors away from them but would luv 6 months away from our winter. No matter how much I told her not to go for it she constantly repeated she 'was not doing anything wrong'. Two years down the line she admits she 'went for it' far too soon after returning from Fla (the interviewing officer was concerned about her applying within weeks of returning from Fla). I fear that this may be one of the biggest issues you may face - the fact you have been back and forth since last October and you are applying for your B2 within 2 days of being back in the UK.

I sincerely wish you the very best and hope that I am 200% wrong and you breeze through the interview and get your B2.

Would you be so kind as to update this thread regarding the interview please.

Good luck to you.
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Old Apr 14th 2012, 8:21 pm
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Default Re: Urgent help needed - B2 or visa waiver?

Now I feel literally sick. So if I go to the embassy and with my bank statement showing savings of $40k, a 6 month travel itinerary, a letter from my employer saying I am returning to my job in October and a return flight booking, you really think I have no hope of getting the b2????
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Old Apr 14th 2012, 8:36 pm
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Default Re: Urgent help needed - B2 or visa waiver?

Originally Posted by supercat68
Now I feel literally sick. So if I go to the embassy and with my bank statement showing savings of $40k, a 6 month travel itinerary, a letter from my employer saying I am returning to my job in October and a return flight booking, you really think I have no hope of getting the b2????
Of course you have some hope. But they're going to see from looking in your passport that you've recently spent a lot of time in the USA. Now, even though you could have 90 days on the VWP, you're asking them for a visa to spend even longer in the USA. That doesn't look good.

What are you going to tell them when they ask you why you need the extra time afforded by a visa over and above what is allowed on the VWP?
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Old Apr 14th 2012, 8:37 pm
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Default Re: Urgent help needed - B2 or visa waiver?

Don't panic about it - a lot of people have been turned down for a B2 visa when eligible for VWP but there are people that have gotten them. Now that you know the odds are not necessarily in your favour, you can make sure you are as prepared as you possibly can be. Have a look what other successful applicants have done... On the other hand, your plan to come to the UK for 2 weeks and then go back to the US could've gone very badly as well and i'm sure its better for your future travel prospects to get turned down for a visa, than turned away at the border.

If you don't get the visa, it's still not the end of the world - you may not see each other much over the next year or so but he can visit you and it's definitely doable. Hopefully that won't be relevant though and your application will be successful - good luck!
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Old Apr 14th 2012, 8:47 pm
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Default Re: Urgent help needed - B2 or visa waiver?

I was going to say that I wanted to travel extensively around the US as opposed to just having 30 days as I have friends going to the us on their way to oz, weddings to attend and sporting events I want to go to. My ESTA is still valid currently but I've been here for 80 days on Vwp. I wasn't going to mention the fact I have a boyfriend here and I also have the lease on my flat for 1yr in the uk to show them. Should I reschedule the appointment and come back on the Vwp for another 60 days? I booked a holiday to Hawaii in June - can I still go there??
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Old Apr 14th 2012, 8:56 pm
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Default Re: Urgent help needed - B2 or visa waiver?

You are unlikely to be granted a visa just because you want to spend more time travelling in the USA. And as I said earlier, they will know that you've already spent 80-odd days in the USA and will have just got back. How can you possibly need more time there?

If you re-schedule the B2 appointment and return on the current ESTA you are only delaying the inevitable. In fact, the CBP officer at your POE will also know you've just returned to the USA having recently spent a long-ish period of time visiting. They might view that as being suspicious.

Your current ESTA won't be valid if you are denied the B2. And it's by no means certain you'll be authorised for a new ESTA if that happens. In that case, you won't be able to travel on your trip to Hawaii.

Why not return to the UK, re-schedule the B2 appointment (if you can) for sometime later in the year and just make the trip to Hawaii in June your next visit to the USA?
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Old Apr 14th 2012, 8:59 pm
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Default Re: Urgent help needed - B2 or visa waiver?

Originally Posted by supercat68
I was going to say that I wanted to travel extensively around the US as opposed to just having 30 days as I have friends going to the us on their way to oz, weddings to attend and sporting events I want to go to. My ESTA is still valid currently but I've been here for 80 days on Vwp. I wasn't going to mention the fact I have a boyfriend here and I also have the lease on my flat for 1yr in the uk to show them. Should I reschedule the appointment and come back on the Vwp for another 60 days? I booked a holiday to Hawaii in June - can I still go there??
What type of job do you have which allows numerous amounts of leave since last October (you have been in the US since January you say) and will also give you a 6 month sabbatical until October?

I should think this would be a major red flag - you don't appear to have strong ties with the UK at all.
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