3rd Visit on VWP

[ABenny 0]

Hey guys,

In about a month, mid-July, I'll be flying to the USA from New Zealand (long flight...) and I am quite paranoid I'm going to be turned back at the border.

I'm going to be visiting my girlfriend for an 'avoid the winter' holiday but on top that I'm going to be helping my girlfriend sort out a NZ visa, a pet passport for her dog (incredibly difficult coming to NZ) and help her pack for her trip back to New Zealand with me.

My two visits so far were:

- October 15th to October 31st 2012, 16 days (this included a 4 day extension because original flight was scheduled when Hurricane Sandy hit)

- March 7th to June 1st 2013, 86 days

I met my girlfriend on the first trip when I travelled over with a friend for another friend's wedding. The second trip was for both a holiday after a horrible few months at my old job during our summer and to live with my girlfriend after a 4-5 month 'Skype' relationship to see whether we loved each other in person as much as we did online (we do if you want to know, actually more than we both expected).

The length of the second trip was trying to make the cost of the flights worth it due to the massive distance & flight time from New Zealand to USA and also to give us enough time to see if we were happy 'living together'.

This third trip will be long as well, as she will be needing my help to research, organise and tell her how to apply for NZ visa/pet passport since her job sees her gone for more than 11 hours a day and the longer & earlier i get to see her, the better!

So far I will be bring a copy of the emails I've been send back and forth with the pet transporter about the transportation of my girlfriends dog, the emails I've been sending to my girlfriend about her renewing her US Passport & applying for NZ visa and a picture of my very old grandma & myself (will this help in anyway, or should i forget about it?)

So with all that in mind, how do you think I could go about improving my chances of a smooth, or at least a passage, through customs?

Thank you for your help and time,

Adam

[Boiler 45,663]

I'm going to be helping my girlfriend sort out

-a NZ visa

-a pet passport for her dog

help her pack for her trip back to New Zealand with me.

How long do you envisage that taking?

[CC90 90]

So it seems like you just left?

There's nothing you can do to help your chances really. It's completely at the discretion of whoever inspects you, but your 86 day stay just for another 86 day stay is not the way the VWP is supposed to work. You'll have some assumptions to overcome for sure.

What's the status of your return ticket? This will be looked at pretty seriously. I'd be open to the possibility of not receiving 90 days.

Leave the e-mails at home; this will hurt you more than help you. It's highly unlikely they'll be given any consideration as they're just plain pieces of paper with text that anyone could have typed up. You have to avoid raising suspicion that you'll end up marrying her while you're here. Evidence of a close relationship (particularly with words like "seeing how we live together") does not help this. I know this is not in your plans, but they hear it all the time.

[ABenny 0]

How long do you envisage that taking?

The NZ Visa and packing for the trip are the easy part, shouldn't take more than a week or two. Now the pet passport is a different story, could potentially take up to 1 1/2 to 2 months with several vet visits and a lot of paper work.

So it seems like you just left?

There's nothing you can do to help your chances really. It's completely at the discretion of whoever inspects you, but your 86 day stay just for another 86 day stay is not the way the VWP is supposed to work. You'll have some assumptions to overcome for sure.

What's the status of your return ticket? This will be looked at pretty seriously. I'd be open to the possibility of not receiving 90 days.

Leave the e-mails at home; this will hurt you more than help you. It's highly unlikely they'll be given any consideration as they're just plain pieces of paper with text that anyone could have typed up. You have to avoid raising suspicion that you'll end up marrying her while you're here. Evidence of a close relationship (particularly with words like "seeing how we live together") does not help this. I know this is not in your plans, but they hear it all the time.

Yeah, I have only been home for 10 days so far. As far as tickets go, I hope to book them in the coming week after I had heard from the very helpful people on this forum.

Would proof of booking and payment for a quarantine facility for the dog in New Zealand (a requirement of pet transport) help at all, or is it entirely up to whoever inspects me?

Also, would pushing the date back a bit and/or decreasing the length of my stay help? If so, to what extent?

Thanks everyone, you've already been incredibly helpful.

[Penguin_ie 5,994]

It's entirely up to who inspects you. It's great that you wan to help your girlfriend, but the CBP officers will argue that you really do not need to be there for all of this- a lot of the research you want to do can be done over email or phone, for example.

I do think you will be let in, but as mentioned above you may well not get the full 90 days. Since you were in the USA for almost the full 90 days, and then out only about 45 days, it is very possible that you will only get 45 days- ie the amount of time you were out of the country. Showing proof that this will be your last visit for a while may help- such as the arranging of a visa for your girlfriend, the dog's pet passport being arramged etc. Also, reasons you will return home independant from the girlfriend- what will you do for work when back home (and how you can afford not to work and do these expensive trips to the USA), family connections, bills and lease still active in NZ etc.

Edited June 11, 2013 by Penguin_ie

[Boiler 45,663]

http://www.biosecurity.govt.nz/files/ihs/guidance-catdog.gen.pdf

This is what you need for the dog. Does not seem that onerous.

Many people use pet relocation services, that would see ideal in this case.

[CC90 90]

Would proof of booking and payment for a quarantine facility for the dog in New Zealand (a requirement of pet transport) help at all, or is it entirely up to whoever inspects me?

Also, would pushing the date back a bit and/or decreasing the length of my stay help? If so, to what extent?

Nobody can tell you. The only "rules" in these cases are the agents' intuitions. Unsolicited documents are hardly ever looked at in a way that benefits you.

As Penguin said, if your only argument is to help your girlfriend, their counterargument is going to ask why you can't do this from NZ. That's a tough question to answer.

All that said, as Penguin noted, I suspect that you'll probably be let in after some discussion -- but quite possibly not with 90 days. On the other hand, it might be nothing and a warm "Welcome to the US."

The good news is that your nationality isn't high risk, but none of us have crystal balls.

Let us know how it goes.

Edited June 12, 2013 by CC90

[tilltill 3]

I think you wont have a problem getting in, but like they said, its up to whoever deals with you if you will get 90 days. Although I never had long stays before I married my hsband, I flew to the states every 6 weeks for 2 weeks. Now I think that is excessive and never had a problem! i honestly wouldnt even mention the GF!! You proper look like an immigration risk right there!! That is dodgy as anything. Just tell them what you told us! You wanna avoid the winter!!!! OR get a B2 visa like I did. Mine was for a different reason but its a 6mnth entry at a time!

[Ketsuban 1,034]

i honestly wouldnt even mention the GF!! You proper look like an immigration risk right there!! That is dodgy as anything. Just tell them what you told us! You wanna avoid the winter!!!! OR get a B2 visa like I did. Mine was for a different reason but its a 6mnth entry at a time!

I think your response is very unhelpful.

First off, purely mentioning a boyfriend or girlfriend in the States when at a POE is not so much a red flag as much as you seem to believe. Combined with other scenarios, it would be, such as no job back home, no money, lengthy stay, previous overstay etc. If they were to question you further about your motives for visiting, or who you were staying with (they do call people to verify sometimes) and it then came out you had a girlfriend/boyfriend, your credibility would be shot because you've lied to them already. And do I need to remind you the penalty of misrepresentation at a POE? Sometimes it's not just denied entry. It's denied entry with a ban on returning even with a visa.

The best policy is to be honest. If you are doing nothing wrong then you don't need to lie.

Second, many people from VWP countries will be insta-denied a B2 because of the very fact they are from a VWP country. People who aren't retired would need a really good reason as to why they would need more than 90 days to vacation in the States at a time. What's more, once they are denied this visa, the ESTA becomes unusable for a few months or years, possibly permanently depending on the person.

Edited June 24, 2013 by Ketsuban