I know this might be a little off topic, but I don't know where else to turn!

My boyfriend is an Italian, wanting to come visit me in the US for the holidays. We want to get visas for Australia and fly there together from the US, but do not have them yet.

He initially booked a flight on Dec 6th, but was not allowed to fly to the US. He was questioned in Dublin at US customs, primarily because he did not have a return ticket. He quit his job in Italy to go to Australia with me, and so with no visa for Australia, nor return ticket, and no job back in Italy (a good tie for returning home) he was not allowed to go to the US.


We have purchased another, round trip ticket for the 12th so that he can "try again".

He applied for the Visa Wavier Program/ESTA, and he says that it is still active. A lot of people have told me that this will not work because he was "denied", but his passport has NO marks in it. He has checked online, and it says his application is still valid, and he has even updated the flight information. Does this mean it is still okay? I get so confused with all these different forms and visas....

We really want to make sure we do everything right this time, and that he won't be denied again, especially because it is a non-stop flight to the US.
What sort of questions should he be prepared for? We want to make sure he is set for everything this time... Please, we need advise and counsel!