Yes, you can visit!

[Just Paul 4,595]

45 minutes ago, KurtDarryl23 said:

I will be travelling on a new passport and a new esta as well so I don't know if this will still pull up my previous trips on my old passport.

Doesn't matter if you have a new ESTA and Passport.  All of your entries are linked.

On 1/25/2020 at 8:22 PM, KurtDarryl23 said:

Although I left on the 23rd December last time and wouldn't be visiting until the 24th February so there is a bit of time between my last visit, I'm not sure if they count 2020 as a new year when it comes to time spent in the states haha.

What matters is that CBP might think you are using ESTA to live in the US.  The idea is that you are coming for short tourism visits or work meetings and not as some form of temporary residence.

[KurtDarryl23 14]

8 hours ago, Paul & Mary said:

Doesn't matter if you have a new ESTA and Passport.  All of your entries are linked.

What matters is that CBP might think you are using ESTA to live in the US.  The idea is that you are coming for short tourism visits or work meetings and not as some form of temporary residence.

Thank you 😃 This all helps. 

 

I was in the states on the 20th of July for 2 weeks visiting with family. I then visited from the 16th August to the 7th October and my third visit was from the 11th October till the 23rd December.

 

139 days in total have been spent in the US since July 20th. No previous visits last year were made before that point.

 

I was only able to spend so much time in the states because i had absence from work due to illness so was still employed and being paid my full salary for the duration. I had to return home December time to start back at work before sick pay had finished. Working for an airline also made it a lot easier to visit with free flights back and forth albiet some airport taxes.

 

Im travelling with my mother when i visit next month and i can provide ties to my home country if needed. I guess some people visit for periods of up to 6 months especially on  a B2 which as of yet i haven't exceeded.

[WhyUSoMadFor 62]

POE: LAX, have a pending K-1 and was pretty worried, but this is how it went down this morning....

 

Me: Hi

CBP officer: Hi

CBP officer: (stamps passport)

Me: Thanks

[Dale. 264]

Well I arrived in San Francisco standing there waiting for my turn.  Ready with letter from my boss etc  and even though I had a rough flight, was irritated I was prepared to be pulled aside.  

 

No such luck!!  Haha  She asked why I was here,  how long was my visit and then...enjoy your stay!!  

 

I was dumbfounded for a second, almost wanted to ask if that was all she needed!!  But I saw my moment,  gathered my passport and walked calmly albeit quickly to baggage claim!!  

 

No one said, do not get married or make sure you leave.  I am very glad.  I am now enjoying my visit reunited with My SO.  

 

Good luck to all that travel

[KurtDarryl23 14]

3 minutes ago, Dale. said:

Well I arrived in San Francisco standing there waiting for my turn.  Ready with letter from my boss etc  and even though I had a rough flight, was irritated I was prepared to be pulled aside.  

 

No such luck!!  Haha  She asked why I was here,  how long was my visit and then...enjoy your stay!!  

 

I was dumbfounded for a second, almost wanted to ask if that was all she needed!!  But I saw my moment,  gathered my passport and walked calmly albeit quickly to baggage claim!!  

 

No one said, do not get married or make sure you leave.  I am very glad.  I am now enjoying my visit reunited with My SO.  

 

Good luck to all that travel

Aww thats awesome! Congrats man! Have an amazing time! This makes me feel a little easier about my trip later this month!

[Dale. 264]

Just now, KurtDarryl23 said:

Aww thats awesome! Congrats man! Have an amazing time! This makes me feel a little easier about my trip later this month!

I'm really glad it went as smoothly as it did.  I was very tired and irritated.  Just remember no matter what happens to take a moment to breathe.  

 

Of course seeing him waiting in detroit made the bad flights and all the flying worth it.  

 

Good luck with your trip

[EllaC 190]

17 minutes ago, Dale. said:

I'm really glad it went as smoothly as it did.  I was very tired and irritated.  Just remember no matter what happens to take a moment to breathe.  

 

Of course seeing him waiting in detroit made the bad flights and all the flying worth it.  

 

Good luck with your trip

My fiance had a very smooth customs experience as well back in November, but at that moment we had not yet submitted our I-129F, he was asked what the purpose of the trip was and another follow-up question and he said he was "visiting my fiancee". 😅😅 They let him through with no problem! They didn't even ask whether we were submitting the I-129F, nor did they tell him not to get married. So nice to know that! I guess they might scrutinize more based on the country. He had zero proof that he was even going back after the 90 days on ESTA. Should be helpful that we do everything by the book when the K-1 interview comes.

[Valmabe 254]

Not always is a lie, it happened to me in one of my several trips to the USA, I told the CBPO I planned to stay 2 months but I end up staying 3, on the last month we planned a trip overseas, but at the end decided not travel. 6 - 7 months later went back and was asked why I "lied", (I totally forgot about that trip) I explained what happened.

 

I always was concern about not being allowed in, after half hour of answering questions, in CBPO words: "It seems to me that you are living here, out of 12 months you have been here 9" , at the end he allowed me in the country not without a warning: If you do not leave the country by the date you are telling me, your process will be cancelled. 

 

  

[TBoneTX 45,079]

A post condoning lying to CBP has been removed, along with 3 quoting replies.

Do not (do NOT!) ever lie to CBP.

 

VJ Moderation

[KurtDarryl23 14]

As I’m travelling with my mum and she only has a weeks holiday we are just going to go for a week. I work for the airline I’m flying in on so if I decide to stay longer than a week after we get there I can just amend my flight ticket home without charge. 

 

I dont really want my mum flying back by herself herself but if I do decide to stay an extra couple of weeks I should be okay if border officer stamps my passport with the usual 90 days right? We have received our NOA1 so I don’t want to outright lie to the CBP agent. As it stands I’m not 100% sure if I will stay for an extra week. 

 

I guess my my main concern was if I did decide to extend my trip and remained within my 90day allowance that it wouldn’t cause me any issues with my pending K1.

 

I guess my last two trips I ended up amending my flight ticket and staying longer than what I initially told the CBP agent, but my plans changed whilst I was in the states and with the flexibility and ease that comes with changing staff flight tickets it made it pretty easy. Again I never stayed past my 90 days on any visit.

 

I don’t know if they take the fact that I work for the airline I fly in on as anything in my favour, a lot of my colleagues fly to the US frequently and sometimes I’ve gone for a day trip to New York haha! They questioned why such a short trip but when I explained I worked for an airline they didn’t seem shocked at all instead just swept me in! 

 

I guess everyones situation is different, I guess they must see a lot of airline workers travelling frequently and it’s a logical reason why someone may visiting the US more frequently and longer than someone that doesn’t maybe..

 

I dunno I guess cos I have 2 long states at the end of last year and my last was 2 and half months whilst I was off on paid sick leave made me feel awful with anxiety.

 

i was off on paid sick leave for the better half of last year so that’s why I was able to visit my fiancé longer, but I’m back at work again and can get a letter from work to say I’ve been employed for the past 5 years. 

 

Sorry for he rant the closer i get to visiting the worse the worse my anxiety is getting. I won’t lie to customs but if they ask why me and my mum are visiting I’m saying it’s because we are in holiday which we are, of course if they ask who we are staying with I’ll answer truthfully. Becuase at the end of the day it is a holiday for me and my mum.. as well as going to Disney and universal we have plans to go to Kennedy space and visit my fiancé’s family in Tampa.

 

sorry for over detailed post 😂😂 I’m a mess lol

[nasse_forelle 4]

My fiance plans to visit this summer for 2 weeks and we have I-129F pending. so nerve wracking!!!

[Lois K 121]

Adding my experience to this insightful thread.

• My husband is Canadian and I'm the USC. We began dating in 2009, engaged in 2012, married in 2018. We started the CR1 process in 2019. We visit each other 2x/month for a weekend each time. He drives down one weekend a month, I drive up one weekend a month. Overall, we each make about 12 visits per year. Occasionally, our visits are 1-2 weeks, with kids, for a spring, summer or winter holiday break.
• As Canadian and American we are VWP, no visa needed, and no passport stamping. We also invested in Nexus passes, I'd say about 2005ish, to help those border crossings go more quickly. I got my kids signed up on Nexus too, to make our family trips easier and faster. We've never lied about the purpose, it's always been either "visit my boyfriend/girlfriend," "visit my fiance," "visit my husband/wife", or if we're seeing each other's extended families "visit my family". 
• We carry proof of our mortgages, custody agreements (kids from previous marriages), jobs, and copies of our immigration paperwork, though the paperwork was only looked at once in all those visits. Even after all these years (in particular when we first got engaged and again when we got married) we still have a lot of the nervousness that other people in this thread describe. If denied entry, his drive would only be about 20 minutes back to his house, but mine would be about 8 hours back to mine. I can empathize with your stress over the waiting and of living in a long-distance relationship.
• Thankfully, we've never been turned away, and that's about 120 trips each, mostly very short, over the last decade.

Best of luck to everyone else going through this! 

[TyshawnJanine 3]

I want to share my experience. My fiance and I applied for the k1 visa in December. I came to visit him in the USA on February 8th. I had a layover at JFK NYC, which I scheduled to be long enough incase I'd have to go into secondary. Once at customs the officer asked me how long I'm staying, I answered 2 weeks and that was it. He stamped my passport and I had to spend 5 hours at the airport. But I was very happy that everything went smoothly. I was very nervous before. 

 

[KurtDarryl23 14]

38 minutes ago, TyshawnJanine said:

I want to share my experience. My fiance and I applied for the k1 visa in December. I came to visit him in the USA on February 8th. I had a layover at JFK NYC, which I scheduled to be long enough incase I'd have to go into secondary. Once at customs the officer asked me how long I'm staying, I answered 2 weeks and that was it. He stamped my passport and I had to spend 5 hours at the airport. But I was very happy that everything went smoothly. I was very nervous before. 

 

Thank you for this :) Glad everything went well.

[KurtDarryl23 14]

Just an update, me and my mum landed yesterday and we had no issues at all. Asked three questions and stamped for 90 days, advised I was there for a week and I asked if I wanted to extend my trip by a week or two would I need to come back and let them know and he was nope no need I’ve stamped you for 3 months just leave before then.

 

The questions that were asked were..

 

1) So are you both here visiting on vacation? I was like yeah we’re both here on holiday.

 

2) How long for? A week

 

3) When was the last time you were in the United States? I said for me it was December and for my mum it was July last year.

 

After he stamped our passports he quickly went on to ask as if he nearly forgot 

 

Have you been to China in the last 30 days? We said no and he waved the next passengers over as he handed back our passports.

 

Never needed the vast amount of paperwork and no questions were asked regarding our pending K1. Still glad I had the documentation if I needed it.

 

i brought a ...

 

- letter from work

- tenancy agreement 

- letter from organisation I volunteer from

- copy of NOA1

- proof of a return flight

- copy of travel insurance 

- letters sent between ourselves to prove relationship.

- work ID badges

- Esta approval

- Bank statement proving rent payments/ wages.

 

 

Hope this helps someone, was super nervous. I was just upfront and honest about the possibility of extending my trip by a few weeks and it wasn’t an issue. I didn’t even really get to a chance to mention I was visiting my fiancé, his initial question was simply a yes a or no response in relation to are you visiting for a vacation.

 

Kurt x