I am really upset at people marrying on VWP!!!!!!

[ikarus 1]

the post reminds me of the following story....

"A NY Times article describes how Domenico Salerno, an Italian was jailed by the US government for 10 days after coming to the US to see his American girlfriend and her family."

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/14/us/14vis...exprod=facebook

He was a carefree Italian with a recent law degree from a Roman university. She was “a totally Virginia girl,” as she puts it, raised across the road from George Washington’s home. Their romance, sparked by a 2006 meeting in a supermarket in Rome, soon brought the Italian, Domenico Salerno, on frequent visits to Alexandria, Va., where he was welcomed like a favorite son by the parents and neighbors of his girlfriend, Caitlin Cooper.

But on April 29, when Mr. Salerno, 35, presented his passport at Washington Dulles International Airport, a Customs and Border Protection agent refused to let him into the United States. And after hours of questioning, agents would not let him travel back to Rome, either; over his protests in fractured English, he said, they insisted that he had expressed a fear of returning to Italy and had asked for asylum.

Ms. Cooper, 23, who had promised to show her boyfriend another side of her country on this visit — meaning Las Vegas and the Grand Canyon — eventually learned that he had been sent in shackles to a rural Virginia jail. And there he remained for more than 10 days, locked up without charges or legal recourse while Ms. Cooper, her parents and their well-connected neighbors tried everything to get him out.

Mr. Salerno’s case may be extreme, but it underscores the real but little-known dangers that many travelers from Europe and other first-world nations face when they arrive in the United States — problems that can startle Americans as much as their foreign visitors.

[Kez/JWolf 6]

I am talking about my own experience.

I personally know people married on VWP and I think it's not fair what they did (they came with the intention of getting married and jumped the system in purpose).

I don't want to judge all the people doing this, I judge from what I saw with my own eyes.

Please leave me the right to be upset since I am not able to see my love because of our decision of doing things the "right" way or maybe I should say doing things in one of the possible ways...maybe the worst one...

I am not here to judge anybody and I don't want to hurt the feelings of anybody, I only want to say loud how I feel!

Everyone has the right to their own opinions. You have the right to feel mad at people who you feel are abusing the system.. What you don't have the right to do is judge everyone doing AOS from a VWP/Tourist visa as if they all planned to commit visa fraud.

They are using a legal route afforded to them under immigration law. they do not deserve to be tarred with your Visa fraud brush, by all means be angry but don't make public statements unless you know the law and know all the facts of the people involved.

[defunct 0]

Ack! This could have been an interesting debate until giant bold text made my eyes bleed.

[pushbrk 13,125]

I am talking about my own experience.

I personally know people married on VWP and I think it's not fair what they did (they came with the intention of getting married and jumped the system in purpose).

I don't want to judge all the people doing this, I judge from what I saw with my own eyes.

Please leave me the right to be upset since I am not able to see my love because of our decision of doing things the "right" way or maybe I should say doing things in one of the possible ways...maybe the worst one...

I am not here to judge anybody and I don't want to hurt the feelings of anybody, I only want to say loud how I feel!

You have the right to be upset about anything you want. However, this is a public forum dealing with immigration. Marrying on the VWP is legal. If you want to complain about something illegal here, please use a description of something illegal instead of something legal.

[EtherealVocalist 0]

Ack! This could have been an interesting debate until giant bold text made my eyes bleed.

OMG - This is funny. ( Love hurts )

Edited February 19, 2009 by EtherealVocalist

[ACINLOVE 2]

Dear Gary,

this is what I also wrote: "As a citizen of a country partecipating at the VWP I am upset for all the people who need a visa to go to the State and us....lucky people...we jump the system. Maybe I should say that I am stupid because I had the opportunity to stay in the US with my love and instead I chose the honest way...."

[AnnexoxShay 1]

I think everyone has at some point thought of ways to get around the waiting waiting waiting ... as each day turns to weeks, months, years its gets increasingly frustrating ... then on top of all the waiting you have the expenses associated ...

Shay and I thought about getting married when he was here and then applying for K3 (is it?) if he extended his stay one more week we could have done it (we have a 6 week waiting period for marriage licence) and we wouldnt have broken any laws... prob with that was he didnt want to leave me behind when he returned to the US.

Im glad we did it the right way ... its taken a lot longer sure but in a month or two we can go ahead and make our plans and not worry ... Until AOS that is, then the fun begins all over again

Im not bothered about the VWP people ... Im more worried about the people who put in fraudulant petitions just to get a greencard because everytime one of those goes thru it makes people who have waited, wait just that little longer ... and looked at just that little closer, especially ones from certain countries... Not like Im going to loose sleep over it but I'd be lying if I said it didnt make my blood boil .. but you know at the end of the day your just a number, they cant see into your soul and see if your genuine or not ...

[Gary and Alla 3,694]

Dear Gary,

this is what I also wrote: "As a citizen of a country partecipating at the VWP I am upset for all the people who need a visa to go to the State and us....lucky people...we jump the system. Maybe I should say that I am stupid because I had the opportunity to stay in the US with my love and instead I chose the honest way...."

No, not stupid. It was just your decision. We made ours based on our circumstances. If I could have stayed in Ukraine while we waited I would have but WE decided it better for me to stay here and prepare our home (which I say I did really good, Alla does not always agree) If Ukraine was a VWP country, maybe she would have come and stayed here and only returned for her interview, I do not know. I would have been afraid to "jump the system", but that is just me. I am always certain the pendulum will swing around and I will be the poster boy for stamping out VWP abuse, my mom will see me on America's Most Wanted and fall over dead from shame. (My mom really loves Alla but kept asking me "Are you SURE this is legal?") LOL

I just don't upset myself over what other people do (unless it is like, REALLY stupid and then they blame someone else for it, yikes, makes blood squirt from my eyes!) I have so much to do to keep my own a$$ afloat. Anyway, hey, we are together and some people are mad at ME (moi? Ne pas moi!) because we got our NOA2 in 58 days So, what the heck. But thanks for your consideration.

[Badgerella 5]

I can't get upset at people who marry on VWP or any other visa, there are other things that annoy me a lot more. I would actually encourage anyone and everyone who has an opportunity to do so, to cut down the wait time and just do it the way that's fastest. Why? Because it works.

The immigration system itself.. that's another story and I don't feel like getting into that one, at all.

[Ellie-and-David 38]

I admit it, I thought about doing it that way. VWP, marry, adjust, stay.

I am in love and during my period of irrational thinking would have done anything...ANYTHING to stay with my partner at the time. The separation (as many of us know) is pure hell and if I could have gotten away with doing it, I would have.

I probably could have gotten away with it..... BUT, I personally, had too many things to tie up here and didn't want to be a state of limbo whilst I gave all of my life up. I will be honest here. If I didnt have so many ties to home, a job, house, family etc I would have stayed and not come home if it was at all possible.

I'm not mad at the people who do do it, even though I am doing it the right way. I'm mad at a system that takes so long to process these applications and issue visa's. I am mad at the men and women who appear to marry, not for love......but for a greencard (and there seem to be many of these on VJ)

I cant be mad at those that play the system to be with someone they GENUINELY love.

And for now......i'll continue waiting....and just be so grateful that I am a national of a country lucky enough to participate in the VWP scheme at all.....and that in 2 weeks i get to go check out my new home town. So many people here on this website do not have that luxury.

~Ellie

[missmissy 38]

Im not bothered about the VWP people ... Im more worried about the people who put in fraudulant petitions just to get a greencard because everytime one of those goes thru it makes people who have waited, wait just that little longer ... and looked at just that little closer, especially ones from certain countries... Not like Im going to loose sleep over it but I'd be lying if I said it didnt make my blood boil .. but you know at the end of the day your just a number, they cant see into your soul and see if your genuine or not ...

I have to agree with this poster - in my opinion, the fraudulent petitions are slowing down the system tremendously.

My SO was denied entry in October and can't get back in the country until he has the visa. During the time he has been gone my mom was diagnosed with a terminal illness, my dad was diagnosed with cancer (treatable, thank GOD) and right now, it is impossible for me to move back to Europe and he can't get back here to be with us. They want to see him again before things get grim.....and there isn't any thing that can be done. If I had known what was going to happen, we would have married last time he was here instead of thinking we had plenty of time to plan and go through the system. You just never know what life wiil throw at you.

[Minya's wife 25]

I am talking about my own experience.

I personally know people married on VWP and I think it's not fair what they did (they came with the intention of getting married and jumped the system in purpose).

I don't want to judge all the people doing this, I judge from what I saw with my own eyes.

Please leave me the right to be upset since I am not able to see my love because of our decision of doing things the "right" way or maybe I should say doing things in one of the possible ways...maybe the worst one...

I am not here to judge anybody and I don't want to hurt the feelings of anybody, I only want to say loud how I feel!

Life's not fair. I'm sorry, but as you're sitting there boohooing about your fate, you (as a couple) are more privileged than many of the VJ couples here. The fact is that VWP(which as you state you used several times before to visit your 'love') is available to only a small %-age of foreign nationals. So should those who do not have VW privileges be on here size 5 typefacing up a storm because they can't even freely visit their love?

Who's stopping you from seeing your love? You still have your VWP privileges, your love can come visit you....the two of you can go to a 3rd country and vacation? Don't be so dramatic!

[Chica Yeyé 41]

I absolutely puffy heart Minya's Wife

[Minya's wife 25]

Right back at you Len

[Chica Yeyé 41]

Right back at you Len

aaawwww tkx