ESTA while I-130 pending at NVC

[emmillinnee 9]

In the past I've been unsure about applying for an ESTA while the I-130 was pending. I've asked this question a couple times in the forum so I just wanted to let everyone know that we just applied for an ESTA for my husband while he has the visa pending document review at the NVC and it was approved within an hour. So for others wanting to visit from countries within the ESTA program, hopefully you won't have a problem either!

[aerodnight 76]

Are you sure that the a pending visa might be a problem at this stage? I thought that they do not check it when accepting ESTA petition, but later when entering the US there might be some questions regarding the pending immigration visa

[emmillinnee 9]

8 minutes ago, aerodnight said:

Are you sure that the a pending visa might be a problem at this stage? I thought that they do not check it when accepting ESTA petition, but later when entering the US there might be some questions regarding the pending immigration visa

I’ll let you know in two weeks haha. But the last time he visited with an esta and pending immigration visa, they asked some questions, but he was allowed to enter and be there for three months. 

[Racks08 1]

23 hours ago, emmillinnee said:

I’ll let you know in two weeks haha. But the last time he visited with an esta and pending immigration visa, they asked some questions, but he was allowed to enter and be there for three months. 

Please let us know how it goes. Wishing the best for you!

 

when was the last time you both tried this? 

[chris147 0]

Hi emmillinnee,

Any news? Did your husband have any problem entering the border with his ESTA in his last visit to the US in oct 2021?

[emmillinnee 9]

1 hour ago, chris147 said:

Hi emmillinnee,

Any news? Did your husband have any problem entering the border with his ESTA in his last visit to the US in oct 2021?

Sorry, forgot to update this post! He was able to enter the US. But we did have a scare at the airline counter getting our boarding passes. While we were waiting I got an email that the status of his ESTA had changed. I logged in a looked, and it said that his ESTA was expired. Even though I had only done it the week before. When we got to the counter, they said they had to confirm with the embassy that he could travel. We showed them the ESTA (I had downloaded a pdf when it was valid), passports and marriage certificates in English and Spanish. Keep in mind that at this point in time, Europeans weren’t allowed to travel to the US because of COVID. And we were also traveling with our dog. The embassy took a while to answer, and we almost missed the flight because of it, but eventually they said yes and we ran to the gate. When we got to the US (Miami), he had to go in the back room and an officer asked him when he was leaving, what my name was and if we were married. And that he could only be there 90 days. After that, we were home free. 

Edited January 19, 2022 by emmillinnee
Typo

[emmillinnee 9]

On 9/18/2021 at 2:26 PM, Racks08 said:

Please let us know how it goes. Wishing the best for you!

 

when was the last time you both tried this? 

Sorry I got confused, but we have travelled one time to the US before we had applied for the visa (pre-Covid too) and twice since applying for the visa/post-Covid. And all three times he was allowed to enter. The two times he entered with the visa pending, we had to go to a back room and they asked him a couple questions. 

[blchaddy 15]

On 1/19/2022 at 6:47 AM, emmillinnee said:

Sorry I got confused, but we have travelled one time to the US before we had applied for the visa (pre-Covid too) and twice since applying for the visa/post-Covid. And all three times he was allowed to enter. The two times he entered with the visa pending, we had to go to a back room and they asked him a couple questions. 

Thanks for all this info! My husband and I were just trying to find answers to all these questions about esta and traveling with pending 130…and found all our answers here!

[emmillinnee 9]

2 hours ago, blchaddy said:

Thanks for all this info! My husband and I were just trying to find answers to all these questions about esta and traveling with pending 130…and found all our answers here!

I’m glad it was helpful! I scoured the internet for info about travel while waiting on the visa and wanted to provide the same help others provided to me. I will add that we crossed one more time in February via car from Windsor to Detroit. And it was a very different story. We were there for 6.5 hours and at first they told us we weren’t going to be allowed to enter. Some back story below:

 

my husband was in the US for 87 days from September 2021 to Christmas Day 2021. We left and went to Spain to see his family for the holidays and then flew straight to Toronto to stay there for three months while we continued to wait on his visa to be processed. We told the officers in Toronto about our entire plan, and they were cool with it. But in February my grandmother passed away and the funeral was going to be in Texas. I desperately wanted to go and it just didn’t feel right that my husband not be able to join. We knew he was really close to the 90 day limit so I crossed the border in my car to Detroit the day before we were planning on entering the US and asked the officer (explaining that he had a pending immigration visa). The office said it would be fine, but just in case to call the immigration office in Detroit and ask. I called, the office said it should be fine, but to bring proof of absolutely everything so that there would be no issues. Armed with a million documents printed out, we headed to Detroit from Canada. They were rude from the get go, calling us liars, frauds, that we shouldn’t have been granted the ESTÁ if we answered the questions truthfully, etc. they brought my husband to a cell in a back room and made him remove his shoes, socks and shirt and did a very invasive pat down. Then they made us sit on opposite sides of the room and came back an hour or so and brought my husband to another back room and peppered him with questions about his entire life for an hour and a half. after that they were nicer and started treating us like humans again. And eventually let him pass, stamped his passport for another three month entry, and we were able to attend the funeral. It was terrible, and we swore to never enter again until he had his green card, but he was allowed entry. Just a warning for entering the border via car. The officer did tell us that the worst that could happen is that he was sent back to Canada. And that it shouldn’t affect his immigration case even if he was denied entry. But it was still scary. 

[Redro 4,611]

21 minutes ago, emmillinnee said:

I’m glad it was helpful! I scoured the internet for info about travel while waiting on the visa and wanted to provide the same help others provided to me. I will add that we crossed one more time in February via car from Windsor to Detroit. And it was a very different story. We were there for 6.5 hours and at first they told us we weren’t going to be allowed to enter. Some back story below:

 

my husband was in the US for 87 days from September 2021 to Christmas Day 2021. We left and went to Spain to see his family for the holidays and then flew straight to Toronto to stay there for three months while we continued to wait on his visa to be processed. We told the officers in Toronto about our entire plan, and they were cool with it. But in February my grandmother passed away and the funeral was going to be in Texas. I desperately wanted to go and it just didn’t feel right that my husband not be able to join. We knew he was really close to the 90 day limit so I crossed the border in my car to Detroit the day before we were planning on entering the US and asked the officer (explaining that he had a pending immigration visa). The office said it would be fine, but just in case to call the immigration office in Detroit and ask. I called, the office said it should be fine, but to bring proof of absolutely everything so that there would be no issues. Armed with a million documents printed out, we headed to Detroit from Canada. They were rude from the get go, calling us liars, frauds, that we shouldn’t have been granted the ESTÁ if we answered the questions truthfully, etc. they brought my husband to a cell in a back room and made him remove his shoes, socks and shirt and did a very invasive pat down. Then they made us sit on opposite sides of the room and came back an hour or so and brought my husband to another back room and peppered him with questions about his entire life for an hour and a half. after that they were nicer and started treating us like humans again. And eventually let him pass, stamped his passport for another three month entry, and we were able to attend the funeral. It was terrible, and we swore to never enter again until he had his green card, but he was allowed entry. Just a warning for entering the border via car. The officer did tell us that the worst that could happen is that he was sent back to Canada. And that it shouldn’t affect his immigration case even if he was denied entry. But it was still scary. 

Do you mind if I share your encounter in two other threads for people wanting to travel on ESTA? 

 

Just so people know about what could happen~ 

 

 

Edited May 11, 2022 by ROK2USA

[emmillinnee 9]

29 minutes ago, ROK2USA said:

Do you mind if I share your encounter in two other threads for people wanting to travel on ESTA? 

 

Just so people know about what could happen~ 

 

 

As long as you share the entire thread with the two successful/easy visits as well as the terrible experience! I want to help as many as possible and give a complete picture. Not just the experiences that went well nor just the hard experiences. 

Edited May 11, 2022 by emmillinnee

[blchaddy 15]

5 hours ago, emmillinnee said:

I’m glad it was helpful! I scoured the internet for info about travel while waiting on the visa and wanted to provide the same help others provided to me. I will add that we crossed one more time in February via car from Windsor to Detroit. And it was a very different story. We were there for 6.5 hours and at first they told us we weren’t going to be allowed to enter. Some back story below:

 

my husband was in the US for 87 days from September 2021 to Christmas Day 2021. We left and went to Spain to see his family for the holidays and then flew straight to Toronto to stay there for three months while we continued to wait on his visa to be processed. We told the officers in Toronto about our entire plan, and they were cool with it. But in February my grandmother passed away and the funeral was going to be in Texas. I desperately wanted to go and it just didn’t feel right that my husband not be able to join. We knew he was really close to the 90 day limit so I crossed the border in my car to Detroit the day before we were planning on entering the US and asked the officer (explaining that he had a pending immigration visa). The office said it would be fine, but just in case to call the immigration office in Detroit and ask. I called, the office said it should be fine, but to bring proof of absolutely everything so that there would be no issues. Armed with a million documents printed out, we headed to Detroit from Canada. They were rude from the get go, calling us liars, frauds, that we shouldn’t have been granted the ESTÁ if we answered the questions truthfully, etc. they brought my husband to a cell in a back room and made him remove his shoes, socks and shirt and did a very invasive pat down. Then they made us sit on opposite sides of the room and came back an hour or so and brought my husband to another back room and peppered him with questions about his entire life for an hour and a half. after that they were nicer and started treating us like humans again. And eventually let him pass, stamped his passport for another three month entry, and we were able to attend the funeral. It was terrible, and we swore to never enter again until he had his green card, but he was allowed entry. Just a warning for entering the border via car. The officer did tell us that the worst that could happen is that he was sent back to Canada. And that it shouldn’t affect his immigration case even if he was denied entry. But it was still scary. 

Wow that is so intense! Thank you once again for sharing. It’s so helpful to hear about the potential issues and also that there is hope it could smoothly!