Not sure where to post - ESTA revocation

[CadillacGirl_1966 0]

Hi everyone so this is my first post. My fiance and I were looking to file for the K1 soon, but he was coming over here  to visit for christmas. A few days ago, everything was fine. Last night he missed his flight to dublin from manchester because of weather so he had to stay the night in dublin and get a flight to LAX the next morning. He goes in to the immigration in dublin and they deny him... They tell him his ESTA has been revoked and to go to the US embassy in london. They would not tell him why.. 

 

We dont know what to do. In order to go to the embassy he has to have an appointment and he cant get one unless he applies for a visa? But some people are telling us if he applies for a regular visitors visa and gets denied that itll go on his record and look bad. Yeah, we did get engaged back in september.. But we had no intentions of circumventing the system. We were going to soon file for the K1 as soon as I could get the money together. We did want to consult an immigration lawyer first to see how to go about doing that.

 

There are several things at play that could have affected this, but again we dont know why and they wont tell him anything. I work as a webcam model online so basically I am a sex worker, but nothing I do is illegal and I have never been associated with anything illegal. Neither of us have criminal records. He has a long history of coming to the US for decades and he has never had a problem. He can prove that he has no intentions of just staying as his livelihood depends on him travelling around the world doing shows (he is a musician). He does have a lot of enemies that would love to hurt him in any way they can so we don't know if someone has reported him or me for something but we have not done anything wrong. I am so utterly devastated as now he will not be here for christmas and I worry he's not going to be able to come back. I am going to contact a lawyer tomorrow but I wanted to post here and maybe get some opinions. Any info is greatly appreciated, I wasnt sure where on the forum to post this so admins please move it if necessary. 

 

 

[Crazy Cat 41,908]

1.  How often did he travel in and out of the US? Has he ever been pulled into secondary screening? Maybe they think he has abused his ESTA privilege.

2.  What you do for a living is a non issue...period.

3.  Being denied for a visitor visa would have zero effect on a future K-1 or CR-1 visa.

[gregcrs2 1,778]

Could be as simple as having made too many trips to the USA.

[Villanelle 4,122]

Im sorry he was denied entry. If there is no criminal record it was probably because of his frequent trips or they suspected immigrant intent. What questions did they ask him? Any other info you have?

 

Anyway, Im going to recommend you guys get married and do the CR visa. Check the tabs at the top of VJ for a comparison chart of the K vs the CR. As well as guides on how to file each one. WIth the CR he can travel and work immediately upon entering the US with the K hes going to be stuck in the US for months without being able to leave or work and even drive.

 

Your job is not an issue. As long as you file taxes and report all your income you should be fine.

[milimelo 4,487]

Pretty sure the OP closed her account after getting some questions on her other thread. 

[Boiler 45,571]

What other thread?

[SusieQQQ 11,586]

In case OP is actually still around, her fiancé needs to contact the London embassy to ask how to get in. It is possible to visit an embassy without a visa appointment, but (in my experience) you need to have spoken to someone who will tell you what to tell the security guard (in my case it was that I was to meet with X within a specified time period, for example).

[Boiler 45,571]

Unless things have changed you call the Center in Scotland but that is outsourced.

 

Consulate handles visa issues and certainly it did not used to be able to get in without an appointment

 

Anyway if ESTA is revoked a B is the next option, unlikely to be reissued but you could try..

[SusieQQQ 11,586]

36 minutes ago, Boiler said:

Unless things have changed you call the Center in Scotland but that is outsourced.

 

Consulate handles visa issues and certainly it did not used to be able to get in without an appointment

 

Anyway if ESTA is revoked a B is the next option, unlikely to be reissued but you could try..

He was told to go to London embassy...and generally they will all tell you you can’t get in without an appointment. That was technically the case at the one I got my non-appointment meeting at too... he’s not going to apply for a visa, he’s going to be told why the ESTA was revoked.

 

Edited December 24, 2017 by SusieQQQ

[CadillacGirl_1966 0]

Ok so it's been a very crazy, heartbreaking, depressing week. Sorry I havent replied to you guys yet. First of all I clearly havent closed my account, and thi is the only thread I have ever posted on here so I'm not sure what you're talking about milimelo...

 

My fiance and I are absolutely devastated that this has happened. It has totally ruined our christmas. That being said we have done a lot of talking and trying to figure out our options. We went back and forth with a few things: getting married outside the country and me coming back and filing, applying for the k1 straight away and waiting for that, or trying for a B2. Everything I have read about the b2 though seems to point to the fact that it will be very hard for him to have one granted seeing as I am now his fiance. I dont want to not tell them this because I feel like it would comeback to bite us in the ###. But how am I supposed to visit with him if they wont let us be together? If I go visit him there, and tell them I'm there to visit my fiance, they may not let me in. So I feel like we are stuck between a rock and a hard place.

 

Without knowing why his ESTA was revoked (like 24 hours before he was due to fly) how are we supposed to fix the problem? He wants to do the redress thing, and see if he can find out. The lawyer wants $2500 to help us with a B2 that we are not even guaranteed and we just dont have that kind of money right now. To answer a few questions:

 

1) He only entered the US one time this year and that was in september. He had a P1 work visa to do some shows on a small tour he did. Then he left the country to do a show in Peru. When he was in peru he renewed his ESTA because it was going to expire. He entered back into the country just fine to see me and stayed till october 11th and left. Then he got a flight to see me again for the holidays and thats it. That's all the traveling here he has done. Except he didnt make it here for the holidays. Before hand though, about a year or so ago, he had another gf and he would come in and stay 90 days at a stretch and then leave to 90 days and come back. So I think he did that for a couple years actually. I dont know if they look that far back? He was always legal though and never overstayed, never worked without a work visa. He has no criminal record whatsoever.

 

2) We did talk about getting married right away outside the country but the lawyer we talked to said something about an I-130 visa, never mentioned anything about a CR and I dont know what that is. The reason we decided against doing it that way was because the processing time is much longer and he cant enter the country really while its processing. I cant go without seeing him for that long. That governments keep people apart like this is completely unfair.. Even if I went to see him it would be maybe every few months and maybe 2 weeks at a time but it would cost me a fortune because I have to board my dog and flights and hotels etc.

 

3) I cant find a contact number for the embassy. We cant figure out how to get hold of them. Everyone is saying we must have an appointment but we decided against going for the B2 and we cant afford 5500 dollars right now to pay the lawyer to help us with the K1. Everything else I have read basically says we wont be able to find out why the esta was revoked but why would they do that? How can they expect us to fix the issue if we dont know what the issue is? Before I drop a bunch of money to get the ball rolling on this I would like to know what the problem is so we dont run into future problems.

 

Honestly, we just want to get this over with. As it is we will have to wait many months for the k1 to go through. Another reason we want to do the K1 is because he didnt want to rush our wedding. He wants it to be a special day for me and we cant plan it all quick and wham bam thank you man, you know? He was also upset because if we did it that way my parents wouldnt be able to be there. I tend to agree with him, I'd kind of like to have a nice wedding. As it is with the k1 we would have to go get legally married within the 90 days but he has 180 days to enter before the 90 days begins doesnt he? I may not be able to plan a nice wedding in 90 days but I could probably do it in 180. 

 

He's terrified he'll never be able to see me again. I know thats not true but it is going to be a big pain in the butt... a lot of money a lot of waiting and frustration. He doesnt want to apply for the B2 because we are engaged and thinks they will just deny him and we will have spent all that money on a lawyer for nothing. I dont think we can go it alone on something like that, especially not knowing why the esta was revoked and being engaged.. I am in agreeance on that but as I said we dont really have 2500 to spend on that with the possibility of being denied. Then it looks bad on his record. I dont know.. I'm so frustrated and scared myself to be quite honest. 

[Lemonslice 4,859]

Why do you need a lawyer? Most people do it on their own, immigrant or tourist visa... You'll be fine. 

[yuna628 9,677]

OP: He was directly told his ESTA was revoked? What I'm saying to you is... an ESTA is a pre-clearance background check. He can't get on a plane without having one in working order... so it was working when he got onto the plane and flew. The question that's not so clear is what happened at the POE? There's a difference in an ESTA being revoked and having VWP revoked. That would happen based on his interaction with the officer at the POE, what was discussed, what he said, and what evidence he brought with him. I'm not saying he did anything the matter, just that is there any clarification here as to what exactly was revoked (often times people conflate the two things as being the same.... they are NOT the same. One would happen typically and the other would likely happen based on criminal history, drug history, or if it was discovered he lied on his ESTA or something...  ). It does seem like this time he may have done his trips a little too close together perhaps. It's why I'm thinking it's his VWP revoked and not the ESTA.. One is very common.

 

Your chances of visiting him are just the same as any other. You can visit him provided you can prove you will return back home. You also have the option of visiting him in any other third party country with the same ease. You can do a fiancé or spousal visa, or if you have enough financial stability on his side of things, he could petition for you to join him aswell. Him being denied at the border will not affect the filing of those visas -- I do not think a B2 will be remotely successful at this stage. A lawyer is not required (though I'd encourage it if you chose to live in the UK route).

Edited December 24, 2017 by yuna628

[CadillacGirl_1966 0]

Well I wanted to hire one so we would have less chance of being denied. I've never done this before. I mean I guess I could just do more research but I dunno, I guess I never thought about going it alone for the K1. I just assumed it was something you should have a lawyer for, especially with our circumstances now. I guess I'll talk to him about it. It would lift a heavy burden from us though. Everything is so daunting right now. 

 

I realy really really want to try and find out what happened with the ESTA. It would ease both our minds a lot to know what the problem was

[CadillacGirl_1966 0]

9 minutes ago, yuna628 said:

OP: He was directly told his ESTA was revoked? What I'm saying to you is... an ESTA is a pre-clearance background check. He can't get on a plane without having one in working order... so it was working when he got onto the plane and flew. The question that's not so clear is what happened at the POE? There's a difference in an ESTA being revoked and having VWP revoked. That would happen based on his interaction with the officer at the POE, what was discussed, what he said, and what evidence he brought with him. I'm not saying he did anything the matter, just that is there any clarification here as to what exactly was revoked (often times people conflate the two things as being the same). It does seem like this time he may have done his trips a little too close together perhaps.

 

Your chances of visiting him are just the same as any other. You can visit him provided you can prove you will return back home. You also have the option of visiting him in any other third party country with the same ease. You can do a fiancé or spousal visa, or if you have enough financial stability on his side of things, he could petition for you to join him aswell. Him being denied at the border will not affect the filing of those visas -- I do not think a B2 will be remotely successful at this stage. A lawyer is not required (though I'd encourage it if you chose to live in the UK route).

Thanks for the advice. There is no way I would live in the UK though. I have too much here to pack up everything and move there. I am not sure exactly about the wording. He was kind of in a daze when they refused him. They turned him away at dublin international. H ehad a flight out of the US by the way to china, where he is doing some shows in january. Could that have been it? That he didnt have a flight directly back to the uk, bt instead out to china? Is it a computer that does that or is it a literal person looking at a file?

 

Yeah like I said I dont want to go the B2 route. As much as I would love to see him for like a month before we have to go through this K1 stuff, I dont think it will be successful either. He has a ton of shows in europe in april and may, though, so he could have used those to show he wouldnt be staying in the us but whatever. I dont really want to take a chance on it. Someone somewhere else mentioned waiting 10 days and reapplying for an ESTA. Would it hurt him if he tried that? 

 

He didnt mention anything about his interaction with the officer in dublin. They do the immigration stuff there I guess? As I mentioned he said he was just so floored by it he walked off in a daze almost forgetting his camera bag he had with him. Maybe he called me his fiance? I dont know I'll have to ask him. Another lawyer we talked to said his esta would not be revoked due to our engagement unless someone physically told them, which is quite possible because he has a couple of crazy ex's/stalkers who have threatened that exact thing (reporting him for things that are untrue but I'm under the impression that immigration doesnt care)

 

Honestly I'm not even sure he had any "evidence" with him. He's just so used to being able to go in and out basically as he pleases. But the laws are changing so rapidly.. I honestly wouldnt put it past him to have not brought anything. He's asleep now so I cant really ask him until later. My impression though is that the esta was revoked. He got an eail not long after he was refused that the 'status of you esta has changed'

Edited December 24, 2017 by CadillacGirl_1966

[yuna628 9,677]

Lawyer will not help you not be denied, but it will help you have money start pouring down the drain. Being sent back at the border happens all the time, couples successfully file for fiancé and spousal visas afterwards with no issues. Personally I don't believe you'll ever discover why, nor will the embassy assist you with this. Your next focus should be how to meet, and proceed with what visa you'll file for next, if the goal is to be together.