Good advice needed please

[chester71 0]

Please can someone help us with some good, solid and reliable advice if possible?. In August I met the lady of my dreams, My soul mate and all being well my future wife. I'm due too fly out at the begining of November to be with her. I'm going for 90 days but we're planning on getting married at the end of December. I haven't applied for a fiancee visa as we've been told that they can be quite complicated, I don't know how true that is. We've kept all emails etc to prove that our relationship is valid and don't plan on getting married until after 40 days of me being there. The other problem I fear the most is that I don't have a clean record, I've never been to prison and only had two fines and a caution, however one of the offences was for possesion of a small ammount of cannabis and I was fined for it. I was only charged with possesion and NOT possesion with intent to supply and that was nearly 12 years ago and I've not touched any drugs since. We are pulling our hair out with concern as we obviously want to get married and do everything by the law so I can live and work as a U.S citizen. My future wife to be has a good job and can support me etc until I get the green light to work. So are we going about this the right way or should we apply for a fiancee visa? Will my record effect any future decision of citizonship? If we marry before I'm due to leave am I allowed to stay beyond the 90 days? My flight is booked and I answered no to all the questions on the ESTA form which has been approved. I'm worried about the above questions and that I may even be turned away at point of entry. Please help as I would like to get a good and worry free nights sleep before I leave lol.

Thank you very much for any help given.

[chester71 0]

P.S

Perhaps I should also add that I'm a U.K citizen and never been to the U.S before.

Thank you very much for any help given.

Edited October 7, 2011 by chester71

[jkminney 30]

Please can someone help us with some good, solid and reliable advice if possible?. In August I met the lady of my dreams, My soul mate and all being well my future wife. I'm due too fly out at the begining of November to be with her. I'm going for 90 days but we're planning on getting married at the end of December. I haven't applied for a fiancee visa as we've been told that they can be quite complicated, I don't know how true that is. We've kept all emails etc to prove that our relationship is valid and don't plan on getting married until after 40 days of me being there. The other problem I fear the most is that I don't have a clean record, I've never been to prison and only had two fines and a caution, however one of the offences was for possesion of a small ammount of cannabis and I was fined for it. I was only charged with possesion and NOT possesion with intent to supply and that was nearly 12 years ago and I've not touched any drugs since. We are pulling our hair out with concern as we obviously want to get married and do everything by the law so I can live and work as a U.S citizen. My future wife to be has a good job and can support me etc until I get the green light to work. So are we going about this the right way or should we apply for a fiancee visa? Will my record effect any future decision of citizonship? If we marry before I'm due to leave am I allowed to stay beyond the 90 days? My flight is booked and I answered no to all the questions on the ESTA form which has been approved. I'm worried about the above questions and that I may even be turned away at point of entry. Please help as I would like to get a good and worry free nights sleep before I leave lol.

Thank you very much for any help given.

You can't enter the U.S. with the intention of getting married and staying if you are coming on a visitor visa. Since you've now said that's your plan we will advise that if you DO get married you will need to leave, go home, and file the for a CR-1.

[Inky 1,110]

Fiance visas are not complicated, all you do is fill out the form and supply relationship evidence.

You will have to return back to the UK after the marriage and file for a spousal visa.

If your intention is to stay in the USA after marriage and adjust your status that is immigration fraud.

[Casprd 167]

First off, you can not come here as a visitor with the intent to get married and stay. You can however come here, get married, file for a CR-1 and stay until your I-94 is about to expire and then return to the UK for the interview. Even though people do this and get away with it, your case already has a big red flag with the drug conviction so compounding that with immigration fraud is throwing gas on the fire.

Second, having a previous drug conviction will cause problems with getting a tourist visa, you are ineligible to use the VWP because of the controlled substance conviction. You need to read up on the VWP and ESTA about this. You definitely don't want to misrepresent anything on these or try to slip past because that will be part of your permanent record when applying for your immigrant visa later. Also, the past drug use will cause a problem with getting approved for an immigrant visa. I can't remember the exact restrictions but I believe 1 conviction was something like a 2 year ban (maybe 3) and more than one is a lifetime ban. Again, I'm going from memory so I may have the numbers mixed up. Whatever you do, DO NOT misrepresent anything on the forms for the tourist visa or the immigrant visa as that will guarantee a lifetime ban

Your case has enough road blocks to it that you really need to consult an immigration attorney.

Edited October 7, 2011 by Casprd

[Boiler 43,634]

What was the ESTA question re drugs?

And how much drugs were involved - weight.

[Mike&Rach 0]

If you could just go over, get married and stay don't you think we would have all done that. Do it the proper way, either get married come back and file or file for the K1. It isn't complicated, it can be a long process but there is lots of info how to do it.

[chester71 0]

Thank you very much everyone for your advice. Let me please point out that neither myself of girlfriend ever had any intention of doing anything illegal even if it may came across as so. This is alien territory to me as I've only ever been outside of the UK once in my entire life!! I'm sure I only got caught with 27.3 grams of cannabis although as it was so long ago I'm not a 100% certain and I believe it states that its ok to answer no on the moral turpitude question if it was less than 30? I've been doing lots of research online regarding this issue. Other than that I was totally honest when filling out the ESTA form. So if I manage to get into the U.S without being deported can I then apply for a fiancee visa on arrival? If so does this extend my stay in any way? If not then obviously I will leave on my 90th day.

Thank you all again.

[NigeriaorBust 4,087]

If you come on VWP and overstay by even a day you can NEVER use it again. Since you have stated your intent to get married on a forum that is monitored at times by immigration ( VJ has even been mentioned in interviews ) it would be unwise to try to claim you didn't intend to marry when you arrived ( lying to immigration could lead to a lifetime ban ) Have you ever met before ? If so you could start the K1 now and cut some time off the processing. Otherwise intend on visiting and returning and then you can visit again during the process.

[wee carrington 33]

I don't know if you have really looked into a K-1 visa, but here is a link to the government website. Maybe have a look over it and if you have any questions there's a lot of really knowledgeable people on here to give you some advice.

http://travel.state.gov/visa/immigrants/types/types_2994.html#1

Edited October 8, 2011 by Mrs GH

[chester71 0]

We haven't made any solid plans to get married these are just ideas at the moment as I said neither of us want to do anything illegal as we all have far too much too lose should it go wrong. We've not met yet but we must spend a good 8 hours plus per day on the web cam. Does this effect any possible applications for the fiancee visa?

Can't thank you all enough for your help.

[Nich-Nick 3,353]

We haven't made any solid plans to get married these are just ideas at the moment as I said neither of us want to do anything illegal as we all have far too much too lose should it go wrong. We've not met yet but we must spend a good 8 hours plus per day on the web cam. Does this effect any possible applications for the fiancee visa?

Can't thank you all enough for your help.

You have to meet in person and show proof to start the fiance visa. So when you go on you trip make a plan to gather evidence. Save your boarding pass to the US. Make a credit card charge in her town or withdraw money from a machine that clearly shows her town name and the date. Or both make charges in the same store minutes apart. Best Buy is a great place because it will print your names on the receipt as well as city, date, and time.

And use your time to evaluate how attracted and committed you are in person. How do you like her house, town, pets, food, climate, friends, relatives?? How many things do you disagree on? Do you get into arguments? Can you trust each other? Can you stand each others habits? Lots to consider before you can know you'll be happy with her and America for the long haul.

[chester71 0]

Lots to consider I agree, But there are good things we have going. I've met her children and family on web and we all get along fantasticly well. I've never been married and my girlfriend has been once and always said she wouldn't do it again lol until we met. Even the children have never accepted anyone that she's dated since but have taken to me in a big way same with her mum. We have so much in common it's quite scary! The town is beautiful and the climet is right up my street as I love the sun!!!. We're well aware that theres a big difference between a web relationship and the real deal, we've never had a bad word to say to eachother as yet. So I'm hoping that theres a solid base too build on from that. Thank you for your tips thats very useful to know. Does that mean we can file for a fiancee visa when I arrive? If they let me in that is lol.

Thank you all again.

[wee carrington 33]

Lots to consider I agree, But there are good things we have going. I've met her children and family on web and we all get along fantasticly well. I've never been married and my girlfriend has been once and always said she wouldn't do it again lol until we met. Even the children have never accepted anyone that she's dated since but have taken to me in a big way same with her mum. We have so much in common it's quite scary! The town is beautiful and the climet is right up my street as I love the sun!!!. We're well aware that theres a big difference between a web relationship and the real deal, we've never had a bad word to say to eachother as yet. So I'm hoping that theres a solid base too build on from that. Thank you for your tips thats very useful to know. Does that mean we can file for a fiancee visa when I arrive? If they let me in that is lol.

Thank you all again.

If you plan on getting married December 2011 then NO you will not be able to file for a fiance visa when you arrive in the US.

[Boiler 43,634]

B) Have you ever been arrested or convicted for an offense or crime involving moral turpitude or a violation related to a controlled substance; or have been arrested or convicted for two or more offenses for which the aggregate sentence to confinement was five years or more; or have been a controlled substance trafficker; or are you seeking entry to engage in criminal or immoral activities?

And you answered no?