SleepySpyder

It looks like ESTA will be impossible. The next step is to try to be approved for the B-2 then. She doesn't have a job because she recently left her job. She doesn't own property because she lives in an apartment with her mother. Is the fact that we've got through so many hurdles and spent so much money to do everything legally evidence that will help her case? She flew here originally for $2000 so we could meet in person to meet the requirements before I could sponsor her. Then we traveled to the UK twice to follow their marriage laws. We had to live in the same county for 7 days to establish residency, then give notice to the government for the marriage. Then we each went back to our home countries, waited to be approved by the UK Home office, then returned to the UK for a week, got married and each went home again. Going through all this and spending so much money to follow all the rules would be wasted if she tried to commit fraud on a B2. So it would be silly for her not to return to Japan. She also needs to return to Japan for her appointment for the CR1. Our end goal is for her to be here legally, so why would we want to commit fraud on a B2? She has also traveled to other countries including the US and returned (US, UK, China, Hong Kong). That all seems like evidence they should consider

Update, we just checked her I-94. She was only admitted until Jan 30th, and left Feb 2 at 00:20 AM And they marked her departure as Feb 2nd on the i-94

She doesn't remember getting an exit stamp. We just found out b2 visas take at least 6 months and up to 10 years to get, so that's not an option. From what I understand, applying for ESTA doesn't mean you get in and it's up to the individual customs people when you arrive to turn you away ir let you in. Which seems silly and wasteful.

My fiance traveled to the US on the VWP to live with me for 90 days last year on Nov 3rd until Feb 2. She ended up overstaying by 1.5hrs because the covid test we got wasn't accepted and she had to get a new one and a new flight. The soonest was at 1:30am Feb 2nd. So by the time she boarded, she overstayed an hour. I contacted customs as you are supposed to in the case of an overstay while she was on the plane and they said we did the right thing, and she will just have to explain the situation at the embassy during the visa interview. We traveled to the UK and got married there in May and then submitted the I-130. She wants to visit while we wait. Would she be allowed to us the VWP again or does she need to get a B-2?