Entering the US from the UK help.
 

Hello, I wasn't quite sure where to put this post so apologies if this is in the wrong section.

I travel quite a lot to the US to visit my girlfriend of 3 years. I was flagged entering the USA last summer and had a horrible little man "screen me". After over 2 hours of him interrogating me and going through all my personal things (phone and laptop included) I was allowed entry into the county.

I am due again to visit my girlfriend for around a month, possibly leaving next week. However I am again really concerned and worried that I'll be given the same treatment "by default" as I was flagged the last time I entered the county. The experience left me quite shaken up (though I didn't realize until thinking about it a few days later).

Part of my concern is that this time is that they may see myself as having insufficient intentions to return home due to my girlfriend living in the States and that fact that myself (and many others) were layed off in October.

However, I only have limited funds to stay in the US this time (around $1400) and hence I am genuinely not planning on staying longer than a month or so. It is my intention to apply for a Masters program which starts in Feb, or if I don't get in, September. Further I am planning on continuing my job search back here in the UK once I return, to help me get through my Masters.

Plus I do not want to jeopardize my chances of permanently immigrating into the United States in the next few years once I have finished my education at home.

Basically I know I am NOT intending to overstay in the US. But I'm afraid I'll get some border officer who is having a bad day and may be looking to poke holes in my logic, and hence not allow me into the country.

I basically have two questions; 1- Will I be automatically "screened" again because I was last time? and 2 - Any advice or tips on how I can effectively convey my genuine intention to return to the UK?

Thanks for reading.

For Question #1,While there is a 'list' you are probably not on it...

For Question #2, Show them a return ticket, print out the return boarding pass and toss it once you clear customs.

Of course that one CBP agent that senses your nervous may ask a few more questions and possibly ask to see the return ticket so be prepared.

I agree you are probably not on any list of 'people to be given a hard time.' Have your flight itinerary printed out to show you've paid for a round trip ticket. Show them in your passport your record of trips to the US, none of which you overstayed.

And finally, tell them what you'l be paying for your Master degree in the UK. Only an idiot would instead take a graduate degree in the US at many times the price!

Do NOT mention that you have a US girlfriend; this is a well known "red flag" to CBP bulls. Use a generic visiting friends (plural) when asked.

Erm ... how is he going to do that, when the flight is a month in the future?!?

cheers,

Henry

Oh sure, tell the guy who was already "interrogated" once to lie about a different story at primary this time. Yeah, that should work out well... :rolleyes:

OP, for heaven's sake DO NOT start changing your story now, especially if you intend to one day apply for legal permanent resident status.


Cheers

First of all thank you all for the replies.

Yeah I really do not want to go down a route of embellishing the truth. I am sure from my past visits (especially the last one where the guy did a LOT of typing) that they'll know my deal anyway.

I always print out my itinerary and have it ready to hand to the officer with my passport. Every time they have asked to see one so I figured I'll do the same.

I know that by all accounts and on paper I should be fine, I'm just really dreading being pulled into a room and grilled by some control freak again.

---------------------------

There is another issue that I am attempting to clear up today. I have NEVER overstayed in the US, and I have ALWAYS been out of the country by the date stamped in my passport.

However, in this last summer, I was due to leave on the 16th of August and my plane was curtailed in Phoenix Arizona meaning that I was going to miss my connecting flight back to the UK in PHL. The airline deemed that it was futile for me to make the trip to PHL, so they kindly sent me back and rebooked my entire itinerary (rather than send me to PHL and put me in a hotel).

I left the next day successfully on the 17th, the date that was stamped on my passport. I contacted the UK embassy when I got home and asked about it, and the man on the phone said I should be fine. But there was no way for him to "check" on any computer system to confirm this.


I am going to contact CBP when they open today to try and make sure I'm not flagged as an overstay. I have a nice letter from airline documenting the whole problem, as well as tickets the from both days on the airline. So I am hoping I will be ok.

Does anyone know if the number at the following link is the correct one for me to contact in this situation?

http://www.cbp.gov/xp/cgov/toolbox/c...er_service.xml


Thank you all again. :)

You're right - lying would be bad, although common wisdom is to limit your answers to the questions you are specifically asked. A silly example is "Do you know what the time is?" to which the answer would be "yes" (assuming you did). It's a daft example but hopefully you get the drift.

You mentioned that your departure was delayed by a day last summer. On the assumption that you entered under the VWP and you still left within 90 days of arrival then there is nothing to worry about with this. Reply with more detail if my assumptions were incorrect.

The immigration officer will be able to see that you were sent to secondary last time, and - as this is common but nevertheless not the norm - I would day you have a slightly higher than average chance of having a repeat of the process. While it's worth noting that not everyone who works there is an arsehole, you would be best to prepare yourself for a visit but still hope that it won't happen.

Afterthought: you mentioned earlier that a lack of available funds could help as proof that your were not intending to overstay. I wouldn't bring this up in conversation unless asked specifically as this could backfire.

It's quite possible that you will. Entering repeatedly to visit a girlfriend or boyfriend is probably the most flagged situation. All you can do is be prepared to show as many ties to the UK as possible. Unfortunately, because you have no job and aren't in school, that's going to be difficult and you should expect continuing hassles until you either have demonstrated sufficient history of entering and then leaving on time or you have those ties in the UK.

Lie ? What lie ?

Unless the girl is the only person OP knows in the US, visiting friends is truthful.

And my advice stands for anyone else; "girlfriend" is a definite no-no carrying 'suspicious' connotations to the CBP.

:rolleyes:

The plot thickens. Thank god I haven't booked anything yet.

In the course of trying to find out who to contact regarding my concern about overstaying, I was looking at my passport and the past dates stamped within it. While bored waiting on hold to Direct Line, I decided to count the days between May 19th and August 17th (the dates stamped in my passport regarding my last trip in the summer).

It's 91 days.

I'm distraught right now as I fear I might just have screwed up any chances of seeing my girlfriend (and America) in the near future. I am positive I counted correctly when booking my flight, and that my original booking from May 19th to August 16th was 89 days.

Is there anything I can do about this? I don't even know who my first point of contact should be in my case. I have written to the US Embassy in London again. Is there anywhere else I should contact?

Thanks again for your replies.

You could, of course, contact your nearest US consulate or embassy - or you could continue to seek advice from random people on the internet.

If you've done nothing wrong (and 91 days is perfectly fine as it was due to flight delays that you say are documented) and don't intend to do anything wrong, the callng the embassy shouldn't be a problem.

You should contact the closest US embassy/consulate and ask them. I don't think it's a big deal, but you never know. One question - I assume you turned in your I-94 tag when you checked in on your original flight? If so, did you get it back when the flight was canceled?

If you don't get a solid answer - or any answer at all - one thing you might do is route through Shannan or Dublin. You can go through US immigration/customs there, which is a heck of a lot closer than flying to the US only to run into an immigration hassle. If you get denied, at least you're pretty close to home when getting the bad news.

As stated, I already have.


I thought that the I-94W was paperless now? I didn't get any tag from the airline or customs to hold on to. I only ever had one back in 2009, a green thing they stapled into my passport (which was returned).

Please don't tell me there's something else I've not done properly...

In all fairness, "random" people off the internet are likely to give better information than the US consulate. The best approach is to make the people a bit less random by posting on a specialist immigration forum, which the OP has just done.

The OP will probably be staying with his girlfriend, and certainly visiting with her. It's the goal of his travel. He indicated that in his post. You're the one who choose to fabricate his friends.


He will probably indicate her address as his location while in the US. Her name and address were certainly noted during his last inspection. An inspecting officer will have access to that information next time around if he is examined again.

Will the OP or anyone else be able to provide names and addresses of other friends as readily as he will be able to provide her's. Who will be waiting for them at the airport? Will they know of his arrival and vouch for him if contacted? Will the OP or anyone else be able to maintain their calm and not give off indicators of untruthfulness?

Credibility lost during an immigration inspection is credibilty lost forever.

OP, keep doing what you're doing.

I don't think that the 1-day overstay due to a flight issue is itself an issue, but a history of staying for the absolute longest amount of time permissible doesn't help contribute to giving the officer the feeling that your main ties are to the UK! When you give the impression "I'm trying to stay in the US every last day that I legally can", it's not that far a stretch for the officer to feel that you may one day extend that to days that you legally can't. I'd suggest some significantly shorter stays (1-2 weeks) to try to dispell that thinking.

A friend who is a girl (girl friend) is not the same as a girlfriend. It's unfortunate you cannot see the distinction; rest assured the immigration officer will.

OP is of course free to take or ignore my advice, just as he is free to take or ignore yours. I don't think any advice from Americans on this matter is particularly valuable anyway since none will have been in the same situation.

You could say that you are coming here to break up with your American girlfriend because doing it over the phone is just so wrong. Tickets cost so much that you figure while you are here you may as well go see Death Valley or Yellowstone or something. Then the next time you come they can look in your file and confirm that you do not in fact have that American girlfriend anymore.

Basically you already screwed yourself by telling them you had a girlfriend here last time. Just be prepared to tell them how much you hate the US and love the UK. You love your job. You love your house. You are very close with your family and couldn't imagine spending much time away from them. You might want to actually make up a list of all the things that suck about America and Americans. Shouldn't be too difficult. You could start with the lack of travel freedom in the US.

You could tell them that you also have a girlfriend in the UK and have a female friend or sister be prepared to answer the phone and vouch for you if immigration tries to call your bluff and phone the UK.

You're right, I've never been in OP's position.

However, you don't need to tell me what the immigration officer will see... I've been doing the job for 14 years.

Any more pointers for me?

The level of nonsense being posted on this thread is unbelievable - really - if you don't know what you're on about and are just having a layman's guess then that's fine - as long as you say as such.:td:

To the OP - I heartily recommend pursuing any subsequent questions you have on the other forum, where there are many who have the specific experience you need for this.

In case you've posted across more than one additional forum, PM me if you want to know the one I mean.

How did you manage to get 2 stamps to figure out entry and exit dates. I thought the CBP only stamped the passport on entry. Since they did away with I-94Ws I do not know how they track when a person leaves the US on ESTA.

If you really did stay 91 days it could be a problem. If the dates are recorded on the computer it will probably show up. What was the reason they grilled you on a previous occasion. It is not a good idea to mention visiting boyfriends/girlfriends. Actually this applies to the UK too. I recall seeing something (I think on the BBC) when I lived in the UK about a US citizen being denied entry to the UK revealing he was there to see a girlfriend. Hopefully you have not mentioned a girlfriend in the past. If you did and you did stay 91 days it could be an issue. Unfortunately the two are not a good combination especially if they have it on record.

On other thing you could try is to apply for a visitor (B) visa. If there is an issue the visa will be denied and you will find out upfront if you may have an issue when you get here. Another thing that people don’t realize about the visa waiver is that you also waive your right to a hearing if the officer decides to deny entry. With a visa you are entitled to a hearing before an immigration official (possibly a judge). So that is one thing you could consider although since you are from a visa waiver country they may question why you are applying for a visa.

Ah, it all becomes clear.

Had you said that at the beginning I never would have had the temerity to suggest being less than forthright during an <strike>interrogation</strike> interview. To you, anyway.
Pass.

I think most realize the nature of this forum; it's a place to exchange opinions on various subjects. Anyone who expects to find definitive, unequivocal answers here (lay or otherwise) probably shouldn't be let out alone.

Volunteering the information that the purpose of a visit is to see one's girlfriend/boyfriend is unwise IMO. If you search you will find anecdotal evidence to support that opinion.

If you consider withholding the absolute truth the same as lying, then I'm guilty as charged, Frequently.

Sorry I should have been clearer. When I say "stamps" (plural), I mean from past visits too, not just this year. I have only one stamp from this year

I don't suppose you would know who I should contact specifically with this issue? I'd really like to simply speak to someone who can let me know if I am flagged or not. That is the single most valuable piece of information I could have at the moment.

I have so far written to the US Embassy in London, the UK embassy in the US and Immigration services in the US.

And thank you (all) for your insight. :)


Oh and I wonder, does the fact that I have visited frequently and returned each time when I said I would count for anything/ much?

You can still be denied entry with a visa. And two different departments (State and DHS, respectively) deal with visas and admissibility.

While correct, the hearing will mostly be dealing with issues of law, not fact. I think it unlikely that such a hearing would override a border officer's concern about the reason for entry.

Somewhat, but the bottom line is that the burden of proof is on you to show that you intend to return to the UK. That's hard when you have a strong tie in the US (a romantic relationship) and none in the UK (no job or school). So, on the one hand, showing that you have a history of doing what you say you do is helpful to you, but on the other, the more time you spend in the US, the stronger you're making your ties to the US and that's not helpful to you.

try this...
 

if all else fails...

Tell the official (male OR female) that you are a legendary lover of women. You love many women all over the world (be sure to tell him how hot you rank the American women compared to others, but indeed it's so hard to choose just the women of one place). You may only stay in America for a short while, but cannot stay... there are many women waiting for you elsewhere in the world. That should do it!

uh... mebbe ;)

ymmv :rolleyes:

:eek:

You're not going to get anywhere by doing this.

Anyway, as you've already been informed this is a non-issue as you left by the deadline.

No, he said he didn't leave by the deadline. But I agree that's not his major problem.

His major problem is that as he spends more and more time in the US with his girlfriend and continues to not have a job or school enrollment in the UK, he's getting closer ties to the US than the UK and that's a reason for inadmissibility.

What he needs to do is establish sufficient ties to the UK to be able to prove that's where he intends to live, despite having a girlfriend in the US.

I know what he said. However he left by the deadline so he's fine. If he hadn't, then this would be his major problem, above all others.

The way I read it, he said he left one day after the deadline. And I still stand by my statement: a technical and unwillful overstay is much less of a problem than having more ties to the US than to his home country.