UK citizen with 90 day visa - got turned away by USA at airport for no workers visa?

[Shottayut 15]

23 own your own home. Point me to that forum haha

[N-o-l-a 7,167]

6 minutes ago, Shottayut said:

23 own your own home. Point me to that forum haha

 

I was 27, but there are fair number of people in my town who purchased a home in their early 20s.  Houses here can range from 20k-100k for a starter home.  Easy to do if you have a steady job.

 

OP, you are more like Generation Z than a Millennial.  Most of us millennials are in our 30s at this point.  You are right at the tail end of our cohort.  

[Shottayut 15]

3 minutes ago, N-o-l-a said:

 

I was 27, but there are fair number of people in my town who purchased a home in their early 20s.  Houses here can range from 20k-100k for a starter home.  Easy to do if you have a steady job.

 

OP, you are more like Generation Z than a Millennial.  Most of us millennials are in our 30s at this point.  You are right at the tail end of our cohort.  

Where is here? I've got a steady job but I'm kinda getting my life back on track starting from scratch.

[N-o-l-a 7,167]

2 minutes ago, Shottayut said:

Where is here? I've got a steady job but I'm kinda getting my life back on track starting from scratch.

 

The upper Midwest.

 

Only hotdish lovers need apply.

Edited November 29, 2017 by N-o-l-a

[yuna628 9,677]

2 hours ago, Jennifer W said:

Thanks for our your comments sticking up for us. 

 

I really think a part of it is a generational thing. These days with social media millennials meet all the time online. We videochat often and are on call pretty much all day every day. I know its not the same as meeting in real life but it's certainly not like we are complete strangers just getting married. We spend every second we can together. I am also a good just of character and I can assure everyone he has no shady intentions.

 

Yes I have a stable job, family here, car, house, etc... I haven't traveled outside of the US in 15+ years and he had never been here - so yes I agree we were naive with the rules but we honestly just didn't think it would be such an issue. He thought it would be a similar experience as when he went to Canada.

 

We will work through this and will meet either in the UK or Canada soon. 

 

Trust me we have heard the "wait and get to know each other" argument from literally everyone we know. 

 

It is just different for us and we will find a way to work it out - just smarter next time.

 

Thank you everyone !

My husband and I were introduced by a mutual friend via old school social media... on a forum just like this. I'm old enough to remember the times before any messaging platform and social media as it is today did not exist.. and all you had were chatrooms. And as I said we were young then too...and very good friends chatting every day just like you do with your bf, but I knew the moment I physically met him that he was the guy I wanted to marry. Despite that we knew that we weren't ready, logistically and financially then. There was no doubt to our feelings and what we wanted, but the rest of life wasn't ready for us. It wasn't a get to know one another type thing.. we 'knew' instantly in fact... but that's besides the point. If you know he's the one that's absolutely fine, but it's everything else you've got to consider. Financially speaking, we used a cosponsor, but we also had worked for years with significant savings.. and even then it was difficult when health insurance was involved. Despite difference in ages, I can assure you that a lot of us on this forum probably met their s/o the same way..

 

Wish you two best of luck.

[Shottayut 15]

6 minutes ago, N-o-l-a said:

 

The upper Midwest.

 

Only hotdish lovers need apply.

Like north Dakota ? I lived in Colorado a while

[N-o-l-a 7,167]

2 minutes ago, Shottayut said:

Like north Dakota ? I lived in Colorado a while

 

Like the upper Midwest.  ND, SD, MN, WI.    Colorado is nowhere near here and tends to be more expensive and warmer.

[Shottayut 15]

A friend of mine just moved to WI I wonder what that market is like 

[britishandusa 446]

I'm also around the same age as you. I'm 21 and my fiance is 23. We are young and we did meet online at first. We've met several times in person and I've visited his home not too long ago. I am planning to go to England again this December. We filed for a K1 in June after meeting four times (two weeks per visit). We both did a TON of research prior to filing for a K1 and had a lot of talks about where this relationship was going. It's almost been a year now since we've met. At this rate, we've seen each other six times in person.

 

I highly highly highly recommend getting to know him first before doing anything. Spend a lot of time together and talk things through. Even though the UK speaks English, it's very different form of English. There are a ton of times where my fiance and me would argue only to find out it was a language barrier. Online is VERY different from in person. It took a lot of long night talks and research to get to where we are now and we'll hopefully be seeing NOA 2 very soon.

 

I wish you the best on your journey.  

[JoannaV 174]

When I was 19, I Skype'd for a few weeks in January with a dude.  (We'd sent a couple of messages over the previous couple of months.) We decided we would marry. I read up on the immigration laws and we ended up deciding that we would marry in July in the US, after which I would return to the UK and apply for the spousal visa. I bought my plane tickets for that first meeting, I think it was for three weeks and we'd marry after two.

As it turned out, I actually was able to travel to the US twice before using those July plane tickets for my third wedding visit. But I obviously understand your position. ;-) (Although I hope that is not how my kids end up marrying! Lol!)

 

Given the situation y'all are now in, I think it best to focus on arranging a meeting that is just a meeting, not a wedding. (If you happen to end up meeting somewhere where marrying would be easy, then you could bring any necessary documents just in case.) And your boyfriend should reestablish some kind of life in the UK. In the grand scheme of a lifetime, you can still be together pretty soon. So make the most of this time before then when you are unavoidably apart. There is time for him to achieve some kind of short-term goal before he gets his US visa - whether educational, job-related, or even hiking around the country and couch-surfing!

 

[AshMarty 360]

30 minutes ago, britishandusa said:

I'm also around the same age as you. I'm 21 and my fiance is 23. We are young and we did meet online at first. We've met several times in person and I've visited his home not too long ago. I am planning to go to England again this December. We filed for a K1 in June after meeting four times (two weeks per visit). We both did a TON of research prior to filing for a K1 and had a lot of talks about where this relationship was going. It's almost been a year now since we've met. At this rate, we've seen each other six times in person.

 

I highly highly highly recommend getting to know him first before doing anything. Spend a lot of time together and talk things through. Even though the UK speaks English, it's very different form of English. There are a ton of times where my fiance and me would argue only to find out it was a language barrier. Online is VERY different from in person. It took a lot of long night talks and research to get to where we are now and we'll hopefully be seeing NOA 2 very soon.

 

I wish you the best on your journey.  

This made me laugh because I joke with ppl that half of our marriage is repeating "what did you say" to each other. Or the time I was talking about a "pack and play" for kids and my husband and I discussed it for 45 minutes until he realized it was what they call "port a cott" in Australia 😂😂😂 I joke we both speak English how can this be so difficult. 

Edited November 29, 2017 by AshMarty

[Andsco 89]

17 hours ago, Jennifer W said:

yes i understand that - but then what is the easiest way for us to even meet? see this is the problem... 

 

we have been skyping for 5 months. for a k-1 we would need to have proof of having met within 2 years.

so i would still need to go to the UK, provide proof i've met him, then apply for a k-1 visa? 

Hey!

First, that's actually not true. My husband and I knew each other for less than 2 years by the time he asked me to marry him. We traveled a lot together and we visited each other in both countries. 

With that said, if you have enough evidence of having a relationship with him (pictures, visits to each other, trip plane tickets, hotel stay with him..) and you have a job where you make the min. amount required, I would go ahead and apply for visa. The only problem is that first you have to find out if he was banned or just told him to withdraw or what. Besides that he might have a little problem at the interview since he tried to come to the US and work/stay illegally. 

[Comic 66]

For future reference for when you are asked questions in life or when it comes to immigration purposes, don’t ever answer questions you was never asked

[N-o-l-a 7,167]

39 minutes ago, Andsco said:

Hey!

First, that's actually not true. My husband and I knew each other for less than 2 years by the time he asked me to marry him. We traveled a lot together and we visited each other in both countries. 

With that said, if you have enough evidence of having a relationship with him (pictures, visits to each other, trip plane tickets, hotel stay with him..) and you have a job where you make the min. amount required, I would go ahead and apply for visa. The only problem is that first you have to find out if he was banned or just told him to withdraw or what. Besides that he might have a little problem at the interview since he tried to come to the US and work/stay illegally. 

 

They've never met in person.  The requirement of I-129F is having met in person in the last 2 years.  They absolutely can not apply for an I-129F or I-130 at this stage and be approved.

[Jaquelly 1,647]

If a group of people who have gone through this process are telling you that you need to meet the person you're about to marry before you try to elope, they're doing it because it's the sensible thing to do.

 

The work that goes into any immigration process is emotionally and financially draining. You have to be absolutely sure that you're ready to sacrifice your sanity and Starbucks before you sponsor someone you haven't even eaten dinner with. 

 

I think I speak for the majority of people here when I say that we all love our SO's but there's no way in heck we would have started our individual processes without meeting in person and taking the time to save money and prepare.

 

Now, you say that financially you can't take trips back and forth. Sorry, that's not good enough. Get a second job.  Get a third job. Start doing flight point surveys for American Airlines. If you've got good credit, consider applying for a card that gives miles. Make HIM do the same. He lives at home and quit his job? How's he going to help you when you start this process? If you can't fly out there, I promise that you're going to have a harder time navigating these waters.

 

I apologise because I'm not that sympathetic with your situation. You've tried to circumvent the process that so many of us are going through to do this the correct way, and instead of taking a step back to breathe and look at this with the perspective of people who've been there/are STILL there, you're just trying to get married ASAP,  regardless of any advice we have.

 

Give it some thought. When you think you're ready, download the forms you'll have to send in. Fill out as much as you can about him - without asking him. Ask him to do the same for you.

 

I think you'll be surprised with how much you have to learn about each other. It's not a bad thing. 23 and 21. You're not even old enough to rent cars. Enjoy the romance. Good luck.