This post involves questions about travel in to the US on the Visa Waiver program while our I-130 is in process.

Please excuse me if this post is a bit scattered brained... our circumstances are complicated and I'm going to do my best explain them AND make sense at the same time.

Long story short... I was hit by a car while crossing the street at 27 weeks pregant in July and had massive damage done to my ankle. (Damn traffic coming from the wrong direction!) Spent 20 days in hospital... recovering with a cast and reconstructive surgery while heavily pregnant, etc... Had our beautiful baby boy on October 20th... of course, still recovering from surgery and the injury... and just had another surgery on the 29th of Jan (the final one). By the way, Baby is absolutely perfect... a true blessing.

My husband hasn't been able to work outside the home since the accident because he's had to take care of me and our wee one. His family is no help in this matter. My family is heartbroken because they can't be there for us when we need them most - so we are going to the US on March 2nd to be with them and start the moving process BEFORE we have a finalised visa for my husband. We will be sending all our worldly posessions in boxes on the slow boat over the atlantic TOMORROW! (yikes...) The boxes will take 6 weeks to arrive. We'll beat them by 2 weeks even after they've had a 1 month head start! hehe. So we will be flying with 1 gimp (me), a 3 month old, 1 dog, 1 cat, 2 guitars and 3 suitcases. My poor husband!

We have return tickets for the 7th of May (changable dates, and tickets purchased). We will then return to the UK to complete the interview (and go to a wedding). From my research and lots of case details on this site I've seen that DCF in the USCIS London office takes about 5mo if all the paperwork is in order right away... so we expect that the general progress of the Visa would bring us to an interview in May... conveniently when my husband's brother is getting married... so we have return tickets to the UK in May. We are, however, emotionally prepared for delays if my husband to need to stay in the UK until his interview is done.

So after all this... here are my questions:

1) Has anyone ever been refused entry in to the US because they have a visa in process?
...We plan to explain our situation in full to the immigration officer if neccessary. The visa waiver program states that you must not intend to come and stay in the US... My husband doesn't intend to stay in the US at that time... we have plans to return to the UK to complete the Visa process. It also inicates that he must have a return ticket within 90 days (which we do). Although we will not have a house in the UK and neither of us have full time employment, my husband owns a company in the UK that will continue to trade no matter where we are, and we have 2 UK bank accounts, which gives us ties back to the UK. The people at the USCIS London aren't very helpful when I ask if there will be any problems. They say "there are no policies against travel in to the US on the Visa Waiver program, but your husband's entry will be at the discretion of the Immigration Officer". These words strike fear in to my heart!

2) Is there any reason that they will need my husband's passport before the interview date?
... since we will be "on holiday", his passport won't be available for them to see until we're in the country... unless a certified copy will do.

I know... I know... it's risky. I'm losing my mind about the possibility of us arriving in Minneapolis and having my husband be turned away. But surely the immigration officer will see the humanity side of our circumstances and give us the benefit of the doubt!
Anyone have any words of wisdom? Any relevant experiences?

Thank you all,

Theresa

Hi Tang

Sorry to hear of your misfortune...you couldn't make it up !!

I asked a similar question and have indeed read lately on this site that you can visit the US on the visa waiver program whilst a visa application is been processed providing you can prove that your husband is not planning to move there permanantly during that visit. I'm sure that the documentary evidence you have mentioned will be suffificient however it is ultimately down to the guy at the immigratrion desk ...............

Hope things work out for you....I know how depressing Hull can be at this time of year, Good Luck !

Sorry to hear about your accident *hugs*

I came into the USA 2 times with my daughter who is 4, they where fine and did not ask to see any evidence.... i said i was visiting my fiance. I brought along lots of evidence of my ties to the UK. It was all fine.

No your husband will just need the passport to hand in after you have been approved at interview.

Good Luck, if you need anymore advice, please feel free to IM me!

Mel

Aw, what a crap situation! I feel awful for you guys. I'm afraid I can't offer any advice. The only thing I could think of in that situation would be a letter from an employer and/or tenancy agreement, and you don't have either. I know it would be horrible, but what's the possibility of someone in your family helping you for a bit while he stays behind?

Also, I hope you don't mind me asking, how were you able to do DCF when (according to your signature) you've only lived here for a year and a half? I've been in the UK for a year and some months now (first on student visa living with hubby (then fiance) and now on limited leave to remain). We would love to do DCF, but it says on the London embassy website that I'd have to have lived here for two years. How did you get around it? Or is there something else to your situation?

EDITED: Okay, I think I'm doing some pretty bad calendar math. To make it clear, I've been here since the end of July 2005 and it looks like you've been here since the end of June 2005.

Hi, again. I looked at your profile and found your previous post. Looks like you just lucked out! Would you mind sharing what sort of package you put together and what your cover letter was like? PM me instead of replying if you'd like to share privately!

Tang and Margodarko - you are the two other cases which are so similar to ours as we live in the UK too and are doing the same as you except that we are not doing k3 - just I-130..

I suppose Tangy that you filed just before this thing about no more DCF - although everyone is confused about London as it has a USCIS office and not just an embassy or consulate...


and you were allowed to use a credit card whereas the email i got from USCIS London today says we cant use credit card - presumably ours will be just sent to Nebraska where the check (cheque) will be cashed - who knows - i don't...


and will the new ruling on consular filing affect an ongoing petition ? who knows ...

It's a bit weird as I have been on visa journey a couple of years now and by surfing around you can usually get a definitive answer from someone nearly always- but this present situation seems murky to everyone - so I guess we 3 (and maybe 1 or 2 more) are the test bed for this new directive on DCF...

ok - your question - I went in on visa waiver just after our AOS was abandoned and had no problem although I had misplaced my abandonment paperwork- I just told him quickly what happened and showed him my return ticket and all the times I had entered and gone back and been a good boy - he just shrugged and stamped me for 90 days -

If you are travelling together and both go through 'visitors' and he sees your uk residency and return tickets then I would bet heavily against you having a problem...

I don't know how well linked their computers are to USCIS petitions anyway - I suspect it's only red flagged people and overstayers - though I may be wrong...

I really thought I would be refused but it was a breeze... yes the risk is that you get refused and then next time you have to answer 'yes' to have you been refused ? - but I would bet on you getting through at this stage of the process - don't volunteer any information if it's not asked for but then answer it quickly and truthfully..

but it's for you to weigh the size of the risk and not me

alan

Theresa,
The major difference you are not allowing for here, between your story and others' experiences? That you are immigrating on this trip.

I think your circumstances are also different from the average person who actually IS immigrating. Bring plenty of evidence that he will be returning to finish his process, and hope for the best.

Thank you all for your responses. I do feel a bit better about entry in to the US now.

We will be bringing details from my husband's business and completed paperwork (DS-2001 and DS-230) to show the officers that we fully intend to return to the UK... Maybe we'll also have at hand the invitation for the wedding on May 11th that we plan to attend. (67 days from when we arrive) Plus, of course, we have the return tickets. But I can see how that would be less convincing with no supporting documents. We don't have any property in the UK and will be staying with my in-laws in the UK until we move... And my husband doesn't have employment other than his own business.

Can anyone think of any other documents we could show?

I guess we're telling ourselves that we're not actually "immigrating" until we return from the UK in May, once Roger has his Visa... but it's sort of silly for us to do so. I think it may be easier for us to wrap it around our brains that we're just going over in March to get things set up and ready for us for when we move for good in May. Ahhh the things we tell ourselves to keep us sane.

Hi Tang - I have been asking much the same question of late. Here's one thread on the issue:
http://www.visajourney.com/forums/index.ph...mp;#entry704658

It seems like the consensus is that you should bring proof to return if possible, don't ever lie, but also don't offer more info than necessary. Do you know where you will stay when you return to England for the wedding and interview? If you have lodging set up already for when you go back, you could bring evidence of that.

I would gather LOTS of evidence to prove your husband has no immigration intent. Forgive me for saying but I would think that convincing an officer when you have with you 1 dog, 1 cat, 2 guitars and 3 suitcases that you have no immigration intent will be pretty tough. I dont suppose there are many that take all that with them on vacation.

However, I wish you good luck!!

Other documents i can see are the invitation letters from US inlaws who want you there. Medical papers of your opperations, etc...And, as an important argument in my opinion, is the fact that because of the accident, and now, the convalescence, your husband's place is with you and the baby...Good luck and great convalescence!!!

Just to add to this...

My wife arrived this morning at LAX from Australia. The POE Officer asked her, her reason for visiting. She said... "To Visit my husband" exact words.

The POE Officer saw that she had been here in September, and since that time, why haven't I filed for her visa. My wife told her the situation and said that we did file and it's we're just awaiting word on what Sydney will do to pending approvals. The POE Officer asked her how long she'll be here for and she said 3 months. The POE Officer asked her what she does and my wife told her she does Accounting and showed her leave of absence. The POE Officer stamped her passport and said, "ok, remember, you can't work here". And that was it

My wife also had copies of both her mortgages (she has rental property in Australia), but they didn't ask for anything more. So if anybody has any questions whether they can travel with the VWP while waiting for their approvals... Yes, you can... but you definitely have to prove that you will return.

I live in Florida and she's flying from Los Angeles and I've already talked to her once she got out of Customs Inspection so she'l on her way here. I pick her up in an hour.

AWESOME! Glad to hear she got through ok. Best of luck!

My wife (U.S. citizen) and I are planning visiting the U.S. for a few weeks while we are waiting for our I-130 to be processed in Frankfurt. We got married in January.

What I was wondering, at passport control they have a section for U.S. citizens and one for foreigners. Last time we travelled together I explained to the POE officer that my (back then) girlfriend was travelling with me but had to go through the U.S. citizen section. Since we are married, would it perhaps be a better idea to walk up to a POE officer in the 'foreigners' section together? We are both living in The Netherlands currently, my wife has been here for the past 3.5 years (legal resident). I thought together we might be able to ease the mind of the POE officer more easily in case he/she thinks I want to become an illegal immigrant.

I'm sure most of the POE officers understand that it's not very likely that people from Western Europe (or other countries with a quality of life comparable to that of the U.S.) would want to become an illegal immigrant in the U.S. without any rights, benefits, medical care, insurance and so on.

I don't believe she can enter through the US Citizens line because she does not hold a US Greencard or US passport. Maybe someone else can enlighten us on this situation.

Im not an expert either but I agree I think you need at least a greencard to go through the US Citizens line. The thing that you have to keep in mind that if you're not a US Citizen then you will have to go through extra checks like biometrics and so on that citizens and green card holders dont have to and those lines may not have the facilities or (knowing the gvmnt) have competent ppl working them.

BTW his wife is the USC not him. . . . sorry I just thought I would point that out.

Exactly, also, we wouldn't go into the U.S. citizen line, but instead both go to the non-U.S. citizen line.

Anyway, we decided not go ahead with it since we got great news today : USCIS Frankfurt approved our I-130 (in 2 weeks!). Hope we will hear from the U.S. Consulate in Amsterdam soon. I didn't expect them to be this fast!

This is something I have never figured out.... I don't even know if they have explicit rules. One time after we were married and visiting the US, we entered at Minneapolis from Tokyo and I went to the citizen's line and my wife went to the foreigner's line. When it was her turn, the officer told her that if we are travelling together as a family (with our daughter who has dual-citizenship) we should go through the citizen line together. Then the next time we visited the US, this time arriving at Detroit, we went together through the citizen line and the officer yelled "Why is there an alien in my line!?" and she had to go over to the foreigner's line.

that stinks... One time I was in Chicago and the lines explicitly said "Citizens Here" "Non-citizens Here". After the citizen line went through quickly, the officers yelled at us from theri booths to come over and why the heck we weren't coming... most of the foreigners weren't budging for fear of loosing their place in the line I suppose and also because the signs were so clear, and what the officers were yelling wasn't.

The last time we visited the US we had no idea what line we were supposed to be in. My husband is Australian. We asked one of the officers directing traffic and were told to go through the US citizens line because we were travelling together as husband and wife. So that is where we went. They fingerprinted my husband, asked a few questions about our trip and then told to have a nice visit. This was at LAX.

But hey! who knows...the next time we visit, we might have to do something different. Consistency would be nice!

That is my experience with LAX as well. Of course, they have the biggest POE in the western half of the US. They are used to it.