It’s All About Helping You

I love my drive into work through the canyons and I use this as my thinking time. I wonder what enquiries we will get throughout the day. Will we get a loving couple on their way to a successful green card via marriage visa, or will a family start their lives in the USA by buying into a small business that will one day grow from a mere E2 investment visa to an EB5 green card? Today was no different. I opened my email and there were loads of new enquiries filtering through. I read every one of them but one stood out more than the rest.

This desperate email arrived from an elderly couple who had been visiting the USA on a B2 visa. This visa was very popular for retired folk, students or people from the UK with close family members here in the US. It allowed a longer visiting period than the visa waiver program (up to 6 months stay). This couple had been coming out to America and touring various regions. To date they have been to no less than 25 out of the 50 States in the USA. Although he did tell me he had been to Alaska twice…and looking at the photo below you can see why! It was time to renew this visa and so they made their way to the US Embassy in London.

Unfortunately the Immigration officer wasn’t about to play ball. Once they found out that the couple had been coming in and out of the US so often they refused to issue an extension to their visa on the grounds that they thought the couple could have “immigrant intent”. The couple barely got time to take a breath when the immigration officer ended the interview by stating that any future applications would be pointless as once an immigration officer read the reason for denial no future visas would be granted.

My heart went out to the couple. You could hear the upset blended with absolute confusion. He told me they had never wanted to settle in the States but wanted to spend the rest of what time they had left in life touring a country that they’d grown to love. They were given the final blow just before leaving that not only were they refused an extension to their B2 visa but if they attempted to fly into the USA on the Visa Waiver Program, this would also cause them further problems with Immigration, (as one of the questions asked when completing this form is “Have you ever been refused a visa?”). Well, we all know the answer to that now, don’t we?

We will offer to help this couple and I hope in the future I can report back when we celebrate their success. However, until then, please do not leave your immigration issues to luck. Let us help navigate the course with you. If you have any questions regarding any of our current blogs or you have an immigration question please feel free to contact us. We are your fellow Brits, we just happen to be living in America and are in the Immigration know how!

ECI

US Immigration Law Offices of Chris M. Ingram
Chris M. Ingram LL.M., ESQ – Immigration Attorney
Admitted in New York.
Practice Specializing in US Immigration Law
401 Wilshire, 12th Floor
Santa Monica,
California 90401
Tel: 310 496 4292