Oh wow. I hope it goes well with my visa then, cause I have already started the process. Thanks for the info!

do yourself a great favor......avoid going to the paranoid USA, rather, invite your gf to Greece instead. Let her study in Greece if possible.
American immigration likes to give tough time to everyone crossing its borders. The Europeans are much better/nicer

Just ridiculous -- reminds me of The 10000 dollar cash limit. They establish clear specific limits -- how much cash you can carry, how long you can stay, etc, but then they want to harass people for going close to the limits. If they don't want people staying 86 days then they should make the limit 85 days and not bother anyone that stays 84. If they don't want people carrying 9950 dollars they should change the limit to 9949. What they really prefer is rules that are so arcane and confusing that it's impossible for anyone to follow them, so when there is clarity and people read and follow the rules it makes them unhappy because it's frustrating their plans to turn everyone into a felon.

That's why I asked the officer if I am doing something wrong and if I should cut back on visiting. I didn't get a clear answer on it, he just suggested for me to do the B1/B2 so i am doing that. I hope it works out. I guess it was just a mistake to stay for 3 months, but had I known, Iwouldn't have stayed so long. I just follow the law and took it once close to the limit but never went above. Anyway I really hope this turns out well. We are already having a very hard time being apart and if now one of us won't be able to visit anymore it's gonna make things more sad than they already are. Fingers crossed

I don't think they are paranoid, but definitely sometimes a little too strict. I am on the visa waiver, which means my country is not a big threat for the US and all I do is visit my girlfriend as a tourist. Nevertheless I get treated like I am about to do illegal stuff. If I wanted to immigrate, as a European citizen I would follow their simple steps to do so, but that's not what I want to do. I am just visiting until I finish university. I would prefer the legal way if I meant to become a US citizen and I would still be able to visit. Since there is no such intention, I am not filing paperwork for that. We don't want to get married at the moment and so I see no point in filing a fiance visa.

All I want is to be allowed to visit her 2-3 times a year like I did for the past 4 years. It's not easy just to have one party travel all the time. We both need to be able to visit each other when we need to

22 years ago I was the girl visiting my american boy friend.Me and him was in our 40+. We spent qual time in Sweden and USA..
Most of the time it went "sailing through". Some times I got stopped.
He never got stopped in Sweden.
We eventually married.
Lived in Sweden. Just told them that I was married to an american and that we lived over seas. and was visiting.
Those time's no problems at all.
So it has a lot to do an the immigraiton agent at the time. Some just dont like foriegners at all.
Good luck. Times are harder now.

No, they are profiling for patterns that may indicate illegal activity. Carrying $9,950 through on one trip is perfectly legal. But, the person carrying $9,950 is more likely to be structuring transactions than the person carrying $300. Same with the person staying 86 days instead of 14 days. They get the scrutiny.

I dont know if I aggree with you about the money.
To much is not good. But to little is even worse. Cause is going to feed you?
They just want to see that you are not a burden to the country.
I got away with it at that time. The reason was that I was the "bread winner".

Before you even consider this, make sure you read up on FATCA and tax filing reqirements for US citizens living outside of the country, but that a whole other can of worms...

The whole "structuring" thing is exactly the kind of nonsense I am talking about. First they set a limit, then they come up with a new "crime" that involves observing that limit. I had a U.S. Treasury official admit to me in a meeting that they don't want to get rid of the FBAR requirement specifically because it creates an additional "crime" they can add to a rap sheet in order to maximise the leverage they have to get someone to plea out, or better yet, rat out. He explicitly referred approvingly to how spitting on the side walk laws are used for this purpose, and not actually to prevent people from spitting on the sidewalk.

What "limit" are you consistently referring to? There is no limit on carrying currency, items of value, or negotiable instruments into or out of the country of which I am aware.

Are you perhaps referring to the requirement to "declare" possession of such items in amounts equal to or greater than $10,000?

And yes, it is a time-honored practice to use a myriad of laws to establish probable cause for "fishing expeditions" or obtain leverage such as expired license plates, objects hanging from the rear-view mirror, "unsafe" lane changes, using the US Mail for wire-fraud, "impeding the public on a sidewalk by standing on the sidewalk", and my personal favorite: "mopery with intent to creep."

You could have just said "Greece." Americans who frequent this website know where it is.

Ha, I also thought it odd that the OP phrased it as Greece, Europe.

No real suggestions but I don't think the it's just the CBP that's paranoid. They are just doing their job, and some are more strict than others. The ones in Europe aren't any less strict, especially in London, based on personal experience.

Some years ago, I was taking my mom and sibling for a visit to Scotland (which I've visited before ) and then to switzerland (our main destination) for our vacation. The border control rep in the UK was grilling the few people in front of us. I thought, it shouldn't be that bad, we're only staying a couple of days and then moving on. But he really grilled us, from the usual (length of stay, why we are here) to asking more specific details about our stay. When I said we were on a short holiday and then transiting to Switzerland (our main destination), the guy asked us to see our onwards itinerary (and really looked through it). It's kind of annoying to have to dig it out of my backpack when my stuff is nicely packed, but I guess that satisfied him. So yeah, keep your documentation.

So rest assured that being grilled at border control is not just exclusive to you visiting the US. Some of us get the same royal treatment over in Europe, though Europeans traveling back home may not see it happening since they are in their expedited EU lanes So you're not alone.

Never had any problem with CBP when visiting my girlfriend last and this year. Questions ranged from none and just "you know the drill, right hand...." to "where and exactly when did you meet? what do you do for a living? what is your major? what do you intend to do afterwards?".
Been staying for like one week plus a few days each with a 1 to 2 month frequency.

However, if you cannot convince them or they are not convinced of you doing whatsoever and going back to your origin, they won't let you in - and in case of a VWP you also waive your right to appeal to that decision (compared to visas).
I got Global Entry the last time I was abroad and I'm going to use it for the first time in Miami at the end of June.

I am still pretty new to the forums so I thought I'd better clarify it's in Europe, sorry about that, lol just wrote it because I have been asked a few times if I speak Italian because I am from Greece so I thought maybe if they don't know what language Greeks speak, they won't know where it lies either (which would make sense, cause I don't know where all US states lie on the map either).

Now regarding border security, I am not afraid of anything, cause I am obviously not planning on moving over when I have my medical career going on in Europe, but I was curious why staying close to the limit of 90 days would raise a red flag. I understand that they would want to pull me over to secondary questioning, but just because I came once for almost 3 months, I seem to be having a harder time now because besides secondary questioning I was flagged in the system because of that. I just hope it will be less of a hassle if I get a B1/B2 visa, but it's still annoying to go through the process when all I do is being a tourist and spending my money in the USA. I will also carry all documents that certify what I am saying from now on. The thing is, MSP officers were very nice and since I am following what they suggested, there shouldn't be a problem in the future.

Now about the UK, they are stricter than other countries, even with us Europeans, so don't worry about it, but if you enter from any other European country, even Germany who are generally strict, it should be going real fast if your intentions are clear.