Worried about being denied entry with valid ESTA

[Brittani 484]

2 minutes ago, SusieQQQ said:

I think OP may be confused as to what “nothing wrong” means to a CBP officer!

OP means no breaking of law, no overstay etc. nothing technically wrong. A CBP officer will however consider it “wrong” if a person is seen to be abusing their ESTA or visa to be spending more time in than out of the US. 

 

“Unfairness” is in the eye of the beholder... see above re CBP perceptions of things. 

Yeah that's what I was trying to get out. I guess the other person wasn't seeing what I meant. We "thought" we weren't doing anything wrong. Technically speak we didn't...he didn't over stay...he never tried to work here...or use any citizenship benefits but in their eyes he was living here. The man even told him they are taught to look through technicalities. Thanks for clearing it up. I guess I wasn't very clear with my answer?

[JFH 12,191]

What job does this person do? I need to know so that I can apply for a position with the same company. 5 months in every 6 are vacation time and it pays enough to fund road trips across the USA and keep all the rent and bills paid back home too. I need this job!

 

But I'm curious as to why someone with so much paid annual leave would spend it all on one country? Why not travel the whole world? Plenty more to see. 

[az2014 381]

The scenario in its simplest form as OP has described it brings many questions.

 

I'm sure CBP will be thinking the same.

 

Yes being denied entry is a very real possibility in this case.

[Noem 0]

Well she was living in the Caribbean working as a hostess on a sailboat, then Irma hit and her house got kinda messed up so she was traveling around while they're fixing it. She has friends there and enjoys the climate in south of the country, it's nice and warm compared to where we're are from. We're going to the music week in Miami, then going back home since she needs to start working again and the island is looking to take a while to repair. It would just suck going all the way there to just turn around again... 

[tomriesgo 39]

Basically needs to provide evidence of work and home in her home outcry with a valid return flight not overstaying the ESTA and not seem nervous or appear guilty, which if she's done nothing wrong shouldn't be hard. 

 

I came to the U.S. to visit every 4 weeks for 4 weeks due to working month on month off as a contractor overseas. I got stopped every single time and had 2 British passports with different passport numbers approved by my home country for work, yes I had to sit for close to na hour on arrival but never had one officer be difficult when I explained my circumstances. 

 

Now if she shows up with no job and no ties to an apartment or home then she could be in trouble, they'll likely take her phone to look through also if stopped. 

[SusieQQQ 11,587]

6 hours ago, tomriesgo said:

Basically needs to provide evidence of work and home in her home outcry with a valid return flight not overstaying the ESTA and not seem nervous or appear guilty, which if she's done nothing wrong shouldn't be hard. 

 

I came to the U.S. to visit every 4 weeks for 4 weeks due to working month on month off as a contractor overseas. I got stopped every single time and had 2 British passports with different passport numbers approved by my home country for work, yes I had to sit for close to na hour on arrival but never had one officer be difficult when I explained my circumstances. 

 

Now if she shows up with no job and no ties to an apartment or home then she could be in trouble, they'll likely take her phone to look through also if stopped. 

Can you clarify your situation, you’re implying you visit every other month on a ESTA with your British passport, but your profile says you are doing adjustment of status?

[SusieQQQ 11,587]

6 hours ago, Noem said:

Well she was living in the Caribbean working as a hostess on a sailboat, then Irma hit and her house got kinda messed up so she was traveling around while they're fixing it. She has friends there and enjoys the climate in south of the country, it's nice and warm compared to where we're are from. We're going to the music week in Miami, then going back home since she needs to start working again and the island is looking to take a while to repair. It would just suck going all the way there to just turn around again... 

So she’s living in the Caribbean which presumably makes getting a new passport from her home country a little tricky or at least longer than normal through an embassy, yet that’s an option as per your first post to try fool CBP, all for a week in Miami?

sorry, I’m retaining my skepticism here...

....anyway as others have said, if all is legit she should be able to talk her way through questioning in secondary.

[tomriesgo 39]

39 minutes ago, SusieQQQ said:

Can you clarify your situation, you’re implying you visit every other month on a ESTA with your British passport, but your profile says you are doing adjustment of status?

"Visited" not visit, I came to the U.S. ever 4 weeks once upon a time. 

[tomriesgo 39]

11 hours ago, JFH said:

What job does this person do? I need to know so that I can apply for a position with the same company. 5 months in every 6 are vacation time and it pays enough to fund road trips across the USA and keep all the rent and bills paid back home too. I need this job!

 

But I'm curious as to why someone with so much paid annual leave would spend it all on one country? Why not travel the whole world? Plenty more to see. 

I came to the U.S. every vacation I had, people have preferences and friends and the U.S. is kind of a huge country with a lot going on in the way that you can pretty much do everything and anything North, South East and West. 

 

If she has all her ducks in a row and shows no intent and that she has work to go back to its really not the nightmare everyone is making it out to be. 

 

No one here knows how the officer will approach the situation so why not just give advice on what needs to be done. 

[SusieQQQ 11,587]

2 hours ago, tomriesgo said:

I came to the U.S. every vacation I had, people have preferences and friends and the U.S. is kind of a huge country with a lot going on in the way that you can pretty much do everything and anything North, South East and West. 

 

If she has all her ducks in a row and shows no intent and that she has work to go back to its really not the nightmare everyone is making it out to be. 

 

No one here knows how the officer will approach the situation so why not just give advice on what needs to be done. 

From your description you spent maybe 6 months a year in the US, which is not nearly the same as 5 months out of 6, which you have to admit kind of counts agains the notion of a regular job to go back to like you did. (Of course you did end up staying in the US but never mind that!) And I’m assuming you didn’t contemplate getting a fresh passport with the sole intent of trying to hide your previous visits?

 

Nevertheless of course you are absolutely right that if she can show solid evidence of her home, job etc she should be ok to enter, though we have seen reports on here of people being refused simply for spending too much time in the US. I do hope her friend comes back and reports on what happened.

 

from a CBP faq page - official, not speculation :

https://help.cbp.gov/app/answers/detail/a_id/1072/~/about-the-electronic-system-for-travel-authorization-(esta)

When traveling to the U.S. with the approved ESTA, you may only stay for up to 90 days at a time - and there should be a reasonable amount of time between visits so that the CBP Officer does not think you are trying to live here.

 

Here’s a copy of an email someone posted with a response from CBP, basically noting the rule of thumb often mentioned here, 91 days out for 90 days in (and the one to which tomriesgo did effectively stick to with the same propositions in smaller doses)

 

 

 

 

[Paola Phillips 6]

I travelled with my ESTA three times in 2017, each time for two months and a half and I never had any problem. Change the passport is useless because they can check her name and they can see how many times she travel in the US. If you have your return tickets I don't think it will be a problem. Of course you never know with CBP, they can be pretty fussy about it.