Immigration Sucked Today!

[Dani89 0]

I (US citizen) and my partner (British Citizen) have already filed our petition for the K1 visa to marry in the states and have already received our NOA1.
He has been staying with me for the past 3 months in America within his legal time frame.

Today we flew to the UK (I am staying for the 6 months I am entitled to) and I had loooooaaads of evidence to say that yes we will be marrying in America. I had letters from friends and family confirming the marriage to be in the states, receipts for the petition I filed, photographic evidence of us being together, boarding cards, more letters... I had evidence that I have free accommodation and food in the UK as well as a return ticket. Even after all of this I was still detained for 6 hours in immigration and nearly deported. During my second interview I just told them "I don't know what more I can show you!" I had everything I could think of to prove I was not going to overstay, as well as my extensive traveling record where I have never overstayed anywhere. I also have a clean criminal record! Oh and they said I had more than enough savings, but that despite all of this I "might still overstay."

It was a horrible experience being told to say goodbye to your partner because you will most likely be sent home later that day. I felt like I was being punished for a crime I wasn't even going to commit. Luckily (THANK GOD) they let me through in the end, but it was by the skin of my teeth. I've been feeling awful all day despite having gone through in the end. I feel like I've done something wrong when in reality we are just trying to do the right thing.

All of this ####### really frustrates me. I personally know of a couple people that have easily taken advantage of things and managed to stay in countries they wanted to stay in. All so easy it seems for them, yet for me it's all this hassle to try and do whats right! I'm tempted to just cancel the K1, marry with him on a tourist visa in the states (we want to marry in the states) and sort out a spouse visa for the UK. or give up and just both go to New Zealand lol. I just want to live happily and legally with my partner the easiest way we can.

Anyway I just wanted to warn anyone out there who plan on doing the same thing. bring LOTS of evidence!!! oh and it may seem like a waste of money if you don't need to apply for a tourist visa, but it does help to go ahead and pay for your tourist visa, though it still doesn't guarantee entry. I guess immigration likes it when you line their pockets. Or you can just say you're only staying for a week seeing friends lol.

[Darnell 8,478]

I say go to New Zealand.

[lynndy38 64]

I am so sorry you had that experience in the UK.......they are trying to come down harder on folk that may not have any intention to leave seeing as immigration issues are huge in the UK right now. Problem is they're going after the wrong people. I hate that you was treated like that in my home country. I have to say I always had a hard time at POE in Raleigh NC so i know how horrible it is........please try and enjoy your visit anyway,so glad they finally saw sense and allowed you entry

[Dani89 0]

I am so sorry you had that experience in the UK.......they are trying to come down harder on folk that may not have any intention to leave seeing as immigration issues are huge in the UK right now. Problem is they're going after the wrong people. I hate that you was treated like that in my home country. I have to say I always had a hard time at POE in Raleigh NC so i know how horrible it is........please try and enjoy your visit anyway,so glad they finally saw sense and allowed you entry

Thank you. I do love the UK and to be fair the staff at immigration were really nice people. I don't blame them for doing their job, but I think the system is a little screwy. Sometimes it does feel like everything is against you when you do the right thing. My partner also had issues going through immigration on the USA side when staying with me for 3 months. The staff there were total butt heads though!

[NickD 202]

Somehow, we didn't have that problem, wife was working for Johnson & Johnson, the Bandaid people in Venezuela as an executive assistant ot the general manager. It was because of him, we met. Immigration was a common thing for the them as they were shifting executives constantly all over the world. Was going to do this myself, but got lost in a hurry. But I got the name of a top US immigration firm and talked to them over the phone. We agreed to a fixed flat fee, and for guidance, so it was quite low. Wife also knew all the people working at the US consulate in Venezuela.

We did file a G-28N so that law firms name was on all of our applications with all the evidence they required. While I did bring all the originals along during our AOS, that was the best part of our journey, they didn't even want to see that evidence. We attended our AOS without any attorneys present, just the three of us. Guess they don't want to fool around with one of the top immigrantion law firms in the USA.

Now during the ROC and citizenship stages, we did that ourselves, our attorny didn't want to handle these phases, but did review our applications and evidence at no extra charge, but his law firm name was not on our applications. This is when we ran into all kinds of problems. Something about our government, they love to pick on individuals. But when I called him, he suggested we contact our senators office, he solved those problems quickly.

It's not fun being an individual.

[The Mean Lady 604]

I (US citizen) and my partner (British Citizen) have already filed our petition for the K1 visa to marry in the states and have already received our NOA1.

He has been staying with me for the past 3 months in America within his legal time frame.

Today we flew to the UK (I am staying for the 6 months I am entitled to) and I had loooooaaads of evidence to say that yes we will be marrying in America. I had letters from friends and family confirming the marriage to be in the states, receipts for the petition I filed, photographic evidence of us being together, boarding cards, more letters... I had evidence that I have free accommodation and food in the UK as well as a return ticket. Even after all of this I was still detained for 6 hours in immigration and nearly deported. During my second interview I just told them "I don't know what more I can show you!" I had everything I could think of to prove I was not going to overstay, as well as my extensive traveling record where I have never overstayed anywhere. I also have a clean criminal record! Oh and they said I had more than enough savings, but that despite all of this I "might still overstay."

It was a horrible experience being told to say goodbye to your partner because you will most likely be sent home later that day. I felt like I was being punished for a crime I wasn't even going to commit. Luckily (THANK GOD) they let me through in the end, but it was by the skin of my teeth. I've been feeling awful all day despite having gone through in the end. I feel like I've done something wrong when in reality we are just trying to do the right thing.

All of this ####### really frustrates me. I personally know of a couple people that have easily taken advantage of things and managed to stay in countries they wanted to stay in. All so easy it seems for them, yet for me it's all this hassle to try and do whats right! I'm tempted to just cancel the K1, marry with him on a tourist visa in the states (we want to marry in the states) and sort out a spouse visa for the UK. or give up and just both go to New Zealand lol. I just want to live happily and legally with my partner the easiest way we can.

Anyway I just wanted to warn anyone out there who plan on doing the same thing. bring LOTS of evidence!!! oh and it may seem like a waste of money if you don't need to apply for a tourist visa, but it does help to go ahead and pay for your tourist visa, though it still doesn't guarantee entry. I guess immigration likes it when you line their pockets. Or you can just say you're only staying for a week seeing friends lol.

While you may feel you had a lot of evidence, your evidence is not necessarily that strong.

It's the fact that you have no job and no home to return to.

Those are some of the BIGGEST ties.

Saying you're staying for a week seeing friends would be a lie.

Do not encourage lying.

[Dani89 0]

I do have a home to return to and 2 jobs (and had paperwork to support this) so yes I do feel I had plenty of strong evidence.

And obviously lying is a bad thing which is why I just told them the truth straight up. If I had known I would have to go through that experience though then yes I would have lied. At the end of the day I'm not doing a single thing wrong. I'm just not the filthy rich foreigner the government from both sides seem to love.

[The Mean Lady 604]

Well, you didn't mention you showed them proof of a job and a lease/mortgage so that's very strange.

Regardless, encouraging anyone to lie is against the TOS so please do not do it.

[Dani89 0]

Yes I had letters from my employer as well as my contract and payslips as well as pay I will be receiving while I am out here. And proof of my address etc in the states as well as evidence of my family being rooted in Florida which is where and why I want to marry there. That way when I talked about marrying in Florida they wouldn't think I was just pulling that state out my ###.

I don't know if I mentioned this above, but I also brought copies of everything that I had sent off with my petition form from the states. This way they could review exactly what I had sent off as well as having evidence to back up our genuine relationship. I kept it all in its own folder and told them if they wanted to see what I sent off for our visa they were welcome to look through it. I also had notes on the K1 process in there which REALLY helped my case as the immigration officers didn't understand the K1 process. That surprised me, but I suppose they have a ton of stuff to memorise on the UK end of things.

and I'm not telling people they should lie to the TSA I am simply sharing my experience and giving couples here a heads up if they are planning to stay for the total 6 months with their partner. I'd rather lie than be deported and spend half a year away for a crime I wasn't going to commit, but that is just me and thankfully I haven't ever had to lie to them. I think people here can think for themselves what they want to do. Hopefully my experience will help them in collecting even more evidence than I had that could help them through. For example the tourist visa! I was told that if I had paid for a tourist visa then I would have stood a better chance even though it was not a requirement for me.

So couples out there planning on visiting for 6 months. Please just spend the money for the tourist visa. and if you can I'm sure a wedding date would help your case as well. Especially if you can have a venue booked or something. Although I personally haven't booked anything for the wedding because anything could happen to delay our visa.

[The Mean Lady 604]

You'll find yourself a lot worse off if they catch you lying.

[Dani89 0]

which is why I haven't lol I was nothing but honest throughout the whole process.

[Ketsuban 1,034]

Yes I had letters from my employer as well as my contract and payslips as well as pay I will be receiving while I am out here. And proof of my address etc in the states as well as evidence of my family being rooted in Florida which is where and why I want to marry there. That way when I talked about marrying in Florida they wouldn't think I was just pulling that state out my ####.

I don't know if I mentioned this above, but I also brought copies of everything that I had sent off with my petition form from the states. This way they could review exactly what I had sent off as well as having evidence to back up our genuine relationship. I kept it all in its own folder and told them if they wanted to see what I sent off for our visa they were welcome to look through it. I also had notes on the K1 process in there which REALLY helped my case as the immigration officers didn't understand the K1 process. That surprised me, but I suppose they have a ton of stuff to memorise on the UK end of things.

and I'm not telling people they should lie to the TSA I am simply sharing my experience and giving couples here a heads up if they are planning to stay for the total 6 months with their partner. I'd rather lie than be deported and spend half a year away for a crime I wasn't going to commit, but that is just me and thankfully I haven't ever had to lie to them. I think people here can think for themselves what they want to do. Hopefully my experience will help them in collecting even more evidence than I had that could help them through. For example the tourist visa! I was told that if I had paid for a tourist visa then I would have stood a better chance even though it was not a requirement for me.

So couples out there planning on visiting for 6 months. Please just spend the money for the tourist visa. and if you can I'm sure a wedding date would help your case as well. Especially if you can have a venue booked or something. Although I personally haven't booked anything for the wedding because anything could happen to delay our visa.

The TSA deal with security before boarding a flight. The border force of each particular country is who you encounter when you arrive in said country, and they have vastly more powers.

I think you were singled out because you're staying for such a long time.

A girl I met on the way to Ohio was on her way back from a 5 month trip to the UK to visit her fiancé. She stayed in America for literally a month, then flew back to the UK for a 6 month visit.

She was detained for 3 hours and eventually let in, but they won't let her into the country any more without a visa. I'm not sure if Americans are usually denied entrance visa-free after being denied entry on one occasion, but those were her words.

What was different in her case however was a lawyer she saw told her to take evidence she wanted to go to school in the UK. Not a school visa, but actually implicate herself as an overstay risk on a normal visa-free visit.

So my advice to everyone is if you want to use a lawyer for anything, please make sure they actually went to law school.

[Dani89 0]

The TSA deal with security before boarding a flight. The border force of each particular country is who you encounter when you arrive in said country, and they have vastly more powers.

I think you were singled out because you're staying for such a long time.

A girl I met on the way to Ohio was on her way back from a 5 month trip to the UK to visit her fiancé. She stayed in America for literally a month, then flew back to the UK for a 6 month visit.

She was detained for 3 hours and eventually let in, but they won't let her into the country any more without a visa. I'm not sure if Americans are usually denied entrance visa-free after being denied entry on one occasion, but those were her words.

What was different in her case however was a lawyer she saw told her to take evidence she wanted to go to school in the UK. Not a school visa, but actually implicate herself as an overstay risk on a normal visa-free visit.

So my advice to everyone is if you want to use a lawyer for anything, please make sure they actually went to law school.

Wow! That's really terrible! :/ I have a feeling that I will not be visiting the UK again without some sort of visa. I did use to live here (how I met my fiance), I studied for 5 years under UK student visas. So I do have strong ties to the UK and visited twice since I graduated in 2011. In my opinion that is a pretty extensive history of coming and going. so I did bring along my college/uni degrees and awards to prove that I did study and worked hard so I wasn't using the visas as a way of coming and going. I wasn't sure if they WOULD think that, but I thought better safe than sorry! I also brought boarding cards/e-tickets to prove I had never overstayed and always left when my tickets said I would.

I guess that sort of history doesn't help compared to someone who might be visiting for the first or second time. I am honestly just trying to do things the legal and correct way but also trying to stick together as much as we can before we might need to part. It's also nice being able to see friends and his family while I am here! Anyway, I think coming back for a visit in the future would be pushing it without applying for a visa, if we plan to visit anytime soon after our marriage, just because of the amount of times I have visited. (I also am not sure if you need a special visa for visiting as the spouse of a british person?)

I'm surprised they let that girl in after just spending 1 month in USA after 5 months in the UK! I thought if say you spend 5 months in the UK then you need to spend at least the same amount of time outside of the UK before you can have another extensive visit.

[Ketsuban 1,034]

Wow! That's really terrible! :/ I have a feeling that I will not be visiting the UK again without some sort of visa. I did use to live here (how I met my fiance), I studied for 5 years under UK student visas. So I do have strong ties to the UK and visited twice since I graduated in 2011. In my opinion that is a pretty extensive history of coming and going. so I did bring along my college/uni degrees and awards to prove that I did study and worked hard so I wasn't using the visas as a way of coming and going. I wasn't sure if they WOULD think that, but I thought better safe than sorry! I also brought boarding cards/e-tickets to prove I had never overstayed and always left when my tickets said I would.

I guess that sort of history doesn't help compared to someone who might be visiting for the first or second time. I am honestly just trying to do things the legal and correct way but also trying to stick together as much as we can before we might need to part. It's also nice being able to see friends and his family while I am here! Anyway, I think coming back for a visit in the future would be pushing it without applying for a visa, if we plan to visit anytime soon after our marriage, just because of the amount of times I have visited. (I also am not sure if you need a special visa for visiting as the spouse of a british person?)

I'm surprised they let that girl in after just spending 1 month in USA after 5 months in the UK! I thought if say you spend 5 months in the UK then you need to spend at least the same amount of time outside of the UK before you can have another extensive visit.

What may have been your problem then was that you were showing them strong ties to the country you were intending to visit. What you generally want to do is not look like the UK is/was your home.

[Dani89 0]

What may have been your problem then was that you were showing them strong ties to the country you were intending to visit. What you generally want to do is not look like the UK is/was your home.

Yes I have been told not to show you have ties in the UK because it will suggest you want to stay. I brought those things as a backup in case my history was brought up or anything. Everything that I initially wanted to show regarding the K1 visa, finances, and accommodation was kept in one folder that I gave to the officer. Another folder contained everything about me from America, another folder was for everything I had sent off with the petition and also photographs supporting our relationship, and then my last folder had things from my past studies. In the end they did not even see my certificates until the final interview. They told me that lots of couples try and come in like this and that it is very rare they are ever let in.

I'm not sure what piece of evidence really convinced them, but I am really thankful they let me through. The officer interviewing me said that she did feel confident in me, but it was all down to her chief executive officer (i believe) to make the final call and that she wasn't confident that he would accept everything. I never saw whoever it was she kept going to see, so I don't really know what made him say okay go ahead. For another couple I am in touch with it was the NOA1 that was the best piece of evidence for them.