How long (and how often) can I visit USA without a visitors visa?

[caco 0]

Hello everybody!

I would like to know how long i have to wait before i can go again in America? I ask this question because the last time I went, in october, they gave a red sign and i spent 2 hours in the immigration office where they told me I came too many times to America without a visa!! So i would like to know if people in the same situation or have been in the same situation know the answer or know if I need a visitor visa to go back again! I was under the impression that I could visit for 6 months a year as long as I stayed in my country the other 6 months. Despite research i have done online... I have been unable to find a definite answer. How often can I visit and how long can I stay? I am asking this because I have a boyfriend in America. I am from France.

Here is how long I have stayed so far:

Aug 2009- 3 weeks

Dec 2009- 1 week

Feb 2010- 1 week

March thru June 2010 (stayed 3 months)

Oct thru Dec 2010 (stayed 3 months)

thank you

C

[YuAndDan 153]

VWP is for visiting every so often, they flagged you, so more than likely you will need to apply for a tourist visa the next time.

VWP allows for up to a 90 day visit, visiting several time in a year's time and it starts looking like you intend to immigrate.

Moving to Tourist visa forum...

[Brother Hesekiel 2,236]

So far you didn't do anything wrong. But every time you arrive at a US airport and they screen your machine-readable passport, they see your history. Twice now you have been here for 3 months, and since few people who have to work for a living can afford such a long and expensive vacation, they may wonder why you are coming so often and for so long.

I don't have the answer for that, but perhaps you do. Perhaps you are a multi-millionaire and don't have to work for a living. If so, bring documentation that you stay in the most expensive 5-star hotels, show that you have a few hundred thousand dollars cash in your travel account and I'm sure they will let you through.

But perhaps you have a girlfriend in the US. Perhaps you stay with her and thus don't need to spend much money. Perhaps you are unemployed right now. In that case you are an immigration risk and they may reject you the next time you show up earlier than they think is appropriate.

There are no firm rules on coming and leaving. It's ultimately up to the CBP officer at the airport. Since you have been in "secondary inspection" now, they will not look in the other direction if you arrive too early. Understand, too, that in order to get a B2 visa approved, you better have strong ties to France and show that there's no reason why you wouldn't come back once the party is over. If they deny your B2, you cannot use the VWP again. That would be the end of your America adventure.

[YuAndDan 153]

So far you didn't do anything wrong. But every time you arrive at a US airport and they screen your machine-readable passport, they see your history. Twice now you have been here for 3 months, and since few people who have to work for a living can afford such a long and expensive vacation, they may wonder why you are coming so often and for so long.

I don't have the answer for that, but perhaps you do. Perhaps you are a multi-millionaire and don't have to work for a living. If so, bring documentation that you stay in the most expensive 5-star hotels, show that you have a few hundred thousand dollars cash in your travel account and I'm sure they will let you through.

But perhaps you have a girlfriend in the US. Perhaps you stay with her and thus don't need to spend much money. Perhaps you are unemployed right now. In that case you are an immigration risk and they may reject you the next time you show up earlier than they think is appropriate.

There are no firm rules on coming and leaving. It's ultimately up to the CBP officer at the airport. Since you have been in "secondary inspection" now, they will not look in the other direction if you arrive too early. Understand, too, that in order to get a B2 visa approved, you better have strong ties to France and show that there's no reason why you wouldn't come back once the party is over. If they deny your B2, you cannot use the VWP again. That would be the end of your America adventure.

End of the adventure, unless have a fiancee in the states petition for a K-1, then the denied B-2 or VWP will not matter. Or perhaps have US Citizen visit France and marry there and then apply for a spouse CR-1 visa. There are other ways to continue the adventure beyond the denied visitor's status.

[Boiler 45,525]

The issue revolves around the question of where you are living, a B2 does nothing to help that.

A B2 denial does require you to update ESTA, that may or may not have issues for future VWP use.

Edited April 7, 2011 by Boiler

[brian-and-aurore 1]

Dear C,

I am myself from France and lately I've been spending more time in the US than in my home country. Indeed, I have an american fiancé.

There is no such thing as "stay as much time in your country than in the US" (the travel.gov website is a great resource), not more than there is a limited number of visits that you are allowed each year (same website). It all depends on how the CPB officer slept the previous night. I know it sucks, but you may want to find a port of entry that is smaller. For instance, I find JFK to be absolutely horrible (hassle, so many people, the officers always looking for sketchy people, etc.) whereas BWI (Baltimore, where my fiancé lives) has the smoothest port of entry I have ever experienced.

Did the problem rise when you said you were visiting your boyfriend ? This is what happened to me. As soon as I had said "fiancé", the lady waved my passport in the air and another police lady came to escort me. I was pulled in secondary inspection too, but the officer was nice enough to tell me that it is just to verify some information and that I wasn't facing any denial or ban whatsoever.

Remember that it's a big deal for them to deny someone who's citizenship country is a member of the VWP agreement. Unless you tell them that you actually intend to marry your boyfriend on US soil (without the appropriate visa) or that you DO work illegally in the US (or that you're looking for a job, since it's unlawful to do so under VWP legislation), all they can do is give you a hard time. Scare you a little bit to spice up their day. Sad but true.

Now, it's extremely easy to get a B1/B2 visa in Paris. If it reassures you to hold one, you may want to consider applying for it.

And every time you cross the border, do not give them any information they don't ask for. If you're a student in your home country (like me, but I get my classes online so that I can travel), wait for them to ask what you do for a living. If they ask you "are you going to marry your boyfriend", always answer "not on this visit, we will apply for the appropriate visa when we want to do so". If you're told that you need a visa to come back (which is wrong), answer that you were told at the embassy that there was no use delivering you one since you don't intend to stay more than 3 months in a row in the US, which is served by the qualities of the VWP.

Now if it helps you, I was told by my nice CPB officer than every time I will come back on my VWP I will be pulled in secondary inspection, but again just to verify that I will depart the US at the end of my allowed days.

He also wrote down on my passport the date I need to depart (as a friendly reminder), even though I had told him I was only staying three weeks (I ended up changing my plane ticket because my K1 visa was delayed) and I could totally sense him telling me that I *should* use all my days, as he didn't think my visa would be ready on time because of the huge backlog in the service center.

Last summer, I was also pulled into secondary inspection coming back from Canada (on land) since my visa had expired during my trip. The CPB - probably on his daily power trip - gave me a hard time as well, implying all sorts of things such as my intent to stay illegally and bla bla - to be honest I thought I was going to burst into tears) but he had no reason to deny me. I told him I had purchased my return plane ticket already, which was true, and that I could show him (he didn't fuss looking at it). He had to stamp my passport for the required 3 months since our countries have an agreement, which he did. And he had to watch me go because I hadn't done anything wrong.

My only tie to France is my university. I don't have a house, not even a car, and a ridiculously small amount of money on my bank account. But each time I travel on my VWP I ask my fiancé to write me a letter of "financial support" in which he states that he will be covering for any expenses while I am staying with him in the US. Officers never asked to see it.

Walk in and out with confidence. You are not doing anything wrong.

[Harsh_77 718]

Dear C,

I am myself from France and lately I've been spending more time in the US than in my home country. Indeed, I have an american fiancé.

There is no such thing as "stay as much time in your country than in the US" (the travel.gov website is a great resource), not more than there is a limited number of visits that you are allowed each year (same website). It all depends on how the CPB officer slept the previous night. I know it sucks, but you may want to find a port of entry that is smaller. For instance, I find JFK to be absolutely horrible (hassle, so many people, the officers always looking for sketchy people, etc.) whereas BWI (Baltimore, where my fiancé lives) has the smoothest port of entry I have ever experienced.

Did the problem rise when you said you were visiting your boyfriend ? This is what happened to me. As soon as I had said "fiancé", the lady waved my passport in the air and another police lady came to escort me. I was pulled in secondary inspection too, but the officer was nice enough to tell me that it is just to verify some information and that I wasn't facing any denial or ban whatsoever.

Remember that it's a big deal for them to deny someone who's citizenship country is a member of the VWP agreement. Unless you tell them that you actually intend to marry your boyfriend on US soil (without the appropriate visa) or that you DO work illegally in the US (or that you're looking for a job, since it's unlawful to do so under VWP legislation), all they can do is give you a hard time. Scare you a little bit to spice up their day. Sad but true.

Now, it's extremely easy to get a B1/B2 visa in Paris. If it reassures you to hold one, you may want to consider applying for it.

And every time you cross the border, do not give them any information they don't ask for. If you're a student in your home country (like me, but I get my classes online so that I can travel), wait for them to ask what you do for a living. If they ask you "are you going to marry your boyfriend", always answer "not on this visit, we will apply for the appropriate visa when we want to do so". If you're told that you need a visa to come back (which is wrong), answer that you were told at the embassy that there was no use delivering you one since you don't intend to stay more than 3 months in a row in the US, which is served by the qualities of the VWP.

Now if it helps you, I was told by my nice CPB officer than every time I will come back on my VWP I will be pulled in secondary inspection, but again just to verify that I will depart the US at the end of my allowed days.

He also wrote down on my passport the date I need to depart (as a friendly reminder), even though I had told him I was only staying three weeks (I ended up changing my plane ticket because my K1 visa was delayed) and I could totally sense him telling me that I *should* use all my days, as he didn't think my visa would be ready on time because of the huge backlog in the service center.

Last summer, I was also pulled into secondary inspection coming back from Canada (on land) since my visa had expired during my trip. The CPB - probably on his daily power trip - gave me a hard time as well, implying all sorts of things such as my intent to stay illegally and bla bla - to be honest I thought I was going to burst into tears) but he had no reason to deny me. I told him I had purchased my return plane ticket already, which was true, and that I could show him (he didn't fuss looking at it). He had to stamp my passport for the required 3 months since our countries have an agreement, which he did. And he had to watch me go because I hadn't done anything wrong.

My only tie to France is my university. I don't have a house, not even a car, and a ridiculously small amount of money on my bank account. But each time I travel on my VWP I ask my fiancé to write me a letter of "financial support" in which he states that he will be covering for any expenses while I am staying with him in the US. Officers never asked to see it.

Walk in and out with confidence. You are not doing anything wrong.

Just an FYI - officer at POE does not have to stamp coz you are coming from VWP country.

They would be little easy with ppl coming from VWP, since living standards are kinda same in both countries and they dont expect these ppl overstaying their visa.

Officer does not have to give any special reason nor (s)he is required to give any extra justification why he rejected someone from VWP country.

When you go thru immigration they look at you as they look at anyone else who is coming from any other country.

[Boiler 45,525]

Hard time

That would be being detained and sent back on the next flight.

If you are lucky you will be able to withdraw your application for admittance rather than be deported.

[caco 0]

Thank you Brian-and- aurore!! It helps me a lot!!

Can you tell me more about classes online! i think i will be interesting about that!

GOOD LUCK FOR YOU TOO!!!!!

[villaspurs 65]

There is no obligation to let people from VWP countries into the States. The agent at your POE makes that call, and they can decide to send you back on the next flight (or detain you, which seems much worse).

[brian-and-aurore 1]

I apologize for those who didn't understand my post well. I will clarify here :

I meant "he had to stamp me BECAUSE I didn't do anything wrong" not because I am from France (however I do think that it's much easier crossing when coming from France than from many other countries) and that he had to give me three months BECAUSE it's part of the agreement (ie. he can't decide to just give me a week or two) : the analogy here is "I didn't do anything wrong, therefore I shall not be denied entry on my VWP".

VWP is made for as many visits as you want per year, each of the visits lasting less than 90 days. If one intends to stay less than 90 days and holds an electronic passport, the Embassy will not issue a B1/B2 visa.

Such thing as "trying to game the system" would be not respecting the rules under the VWP regulation (which are, for example, not looking for a job, not getting a job, not getting married with intent to adjust status from there, bla bla) and by no means "using your VWP too often" since there is no law about how often you can use it.

I maintain that it's a big deal for them to send someone back home : why would two country (getting along very well) suddenly decide to create problems by denying someone "for no reason" ? Plus, it creates paperwork and they have more important matters to deal with. Of course, the law reads that they are not obliged to give you a reason - it's just a protective measure held in case they "smell" something fishy.

I truly have never heard nor read about ANYONE who has been denied coming from France to visit their boyfriend/fiancé for other reasons that :

1. admitting illegal work on US soil

2. admitting intent to marry on US soil without a K-visa (with or without intent to adjust status from the US).

[Boiler 45,525]

Hardly scientific, but I would say I have seen one a week VWP refusal. On average.

I can only remember one from France, perhaps the Entente Cordial applies?

Obviously the vast majority of VWP entries have no issue whatsoever, if you start making multiple 90 day 'visits', you will be caught out sooner or later.

[Harsh_77 718]

-

I apologize for those who didn't understand my post well. I will clarify here :

I meant "he had to stamp me BECAUSE I didn't do anything wrong" not because I am from France (however I do think that it's much easier crossing when coming from France than from many other countries) and that he had to give me three months BECAUSE it's part of the agreement (ie. he can't decide to just give me a week or two) : the analogy here is "I didn't do anything wrong, therefore I shall not be denied entry on my VWP".

VWP is made for as many visits as you want per year, each of the visits lasting less than 90 days. If one intends to stay less than 90 days and holds an electronic passport, the Embassy will not issue a B1/B2 visa.

Such thing as "trying to game the system" would be not respecting the rules under the VWP regulation (which are, for example, not looking for a job, not getting a job, not getting married with intent to adjust status from there, bla bla) and by no means "using your VWP too often" since there is no law about how often you can use it.

I maintain that it's a big deal for them to send someone back home : why would two country (getting along very well) suddenly decide to create problems by denying someone "for no reason" ? Plus, it creates paperwork and they have more important matters to deal with. Of course, the law reads that they are not obliged to give you a reason - it's just a protective measure held in case they "smell" something fishy.

I truly have never heard nor read about ANYONE who has been denied coming from France to visit their boyfriend/fiancé for other reasons that :

1. admitting illegal work on US soil

2. admitting intent to marry on US soil without a K-visa (with or without intent to adjust status from the US).

You have some misconception about VWP, just coz you think you did not do anything wrong means officer at POE has to give you a 90 day stamp is not correct, he can stamp as short as a week as well.

Since you come from VWP country does not give you any special rights, only thing is that USCIS does not require you to apply for tourist visa, if you want to travel for less then 90 days as tourist "AS TOURIST"

Also VWP is not designed for as many vist as you want in a year.