Friend moving to USA with US citizen DH and US citizen baby on ESTA

[esta2024]

Asking all british spouses of US citizens.

My friend has decided to go to the USA with her American husband and baby on an ESTA (they were living abroad for years, baby born abroad), live with family while remote working for her current employer (not a US employer and money paid to overseas bank account), and on day 91 apply to adjust her status to a green card.

based on what i have read online, it is likely to succeed despite the fact that she would be overstaying on esta but it seems to have succeeded for many people as they are married to american citizens and in bona fide relationships and its difficult to establish intent to immigrate from the onset (as people say they are just visiting and then 'changed' their minds).

is this true, I can't quite get my head around this. Why doesn't everyone just do this and they wait 1-1.5 years for consular processing? I understand that by doing it this way, you give up all rights to appeal and if it goes wrong, you would be deported and banned from the USA.

@esta2024 No idea. She’s breaking the law now anyway.

As it turns out, apparently going the illegal route is the best way to do it. Stupid USCIS logic.
That or Biden is desperate to have a "good news" stats story to cling on to any hope and chance he has.

I retract my previous, she'll likely get approved and her interview waived. And for some insane reason could end up beating most people who applied legally.

There have been cases on Redit where overstaying on an Esta and applying for AOS has been approved quickly. Two today I've seen have been 56 days and 77 days... considering typical wait times were saying anywhere from 16-28 months.

Makes a mockery of those trying to apply legally and through the correct means.
Got easily another 16-17 months of torture to endure.

So actually, I don't think either of them have been naive. They've played a blinder on working out the best way to potentially beat the system.

The registration in the daycare has been done in order to have proof that the baby is normally resident in the US, if she ever starts talking about wanting to divorce, go back home, etc.

It's the MIL's and H's ultimate way to keep her from rocking the boat, the ace up their sleeves.

I saw that case.

Aos is a route but I think those people probably didn't work remotely and their american partners probably had decent income. The thing is that her dh has no income and the MIL is sponsoring them. Wouldn't that be a material difference..

Her American partner won't need proof of income.

I-864 is either done at the NVC stage of consular processing or alongside the K1 visa route prior to arriving in the US AOS.
Overstaying on an Esta and doing AOS that way circumvents the I-864. They'd only file the I-130, I-485 and I-765.
Part the reason it was always classed as immigration fraud.

If it's immigration fraud, isn't it very much luck of the draw. Could work out but at the same time couldn't?

It's good to hear, seems like they may get through!

@BigDecisionWorthIt Having done everything the correct way myself (and knowing several others who have), that really pisses me off!

This family isn’t fleeing a desperate situation, they just dont want to follow the rules.

In many ways they are fleeing a desperate situation.

I just didn't want to say cos it's outing. But the thing is I don't think it was relevant as it's not something that would qualify as an asylum claim. My sister in law is still living in that same country and while we worry, she doesn't want to come back to the uk or all the European countries (she has a European passport as well as UK passport and speaks German too).

Your friend did have to option of living with her mother in London while her visa application was processed though. She would’ve been OK there, but she’s chosen this path instead.

Also looking at aos waiting times at her local centre it's 14 months..the 70 days waiting time must be a fluke.

Agreed completely. Doing it the correct way here and it's soul destroying to see the consular processing timeline continue to increase whilst Biden chases quick wins by approving fraudulent overstays quickly.

Unfortunately not a fluke. It seems even the genuine K1 visa/AOS cases from last year are being overlooked in favour of approving many illegal overstay/fraudulent AOS cases.
I've seen too many that I am pretty much trying to stay away from Reddit

'As part of that plan, he says he would immediately direct U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to undertake the largest domestic deportation operation in American history. He would target people who are legally living in the United States but harbor “jihadist sympathies” and revoke the student visas of those who espouse anti-American and antisemitic views.'

The DH has now posted on FB annoucing his move to us 'with his beautiful family' and his new career as realtor. I take it if trump becomes president while visa is still processing, that would not be good given she isn't legal yet?

So they must be past day 91 now. Did they apply to have her status adjusted? Did they hire a lawyer?

Yes they applied, not sure about the lawyer part. they seem happy.

I try not to talk about the residency status and about casual stuff as i don't want it to seem too obvious. the DH is more concerned about his realtor job now and earning money.

We had a long chat with her today, mainly DH. Planning a trip to see them next year

She is talking about travelling overseas in December. Is that possible with aos application, don't you need to apply for something that allows you to travel.

They also don't have health insurance...

Don’t worry about it, @esta2024 , she’ll find out she needs in order to travel during the adjustment of status process. Probably a stamp in her passport allowing her to renter the country.

If she's planning to travel, she needs to look up and read very carefully the USCIS deadlines/ windows in which she needs to apply for a re-entry permit. (She needs to file an I-131).

Leaving without the documentation is treated as a declaration that she has abandoned her application for adjustment of status.

Even with the documentation, she is subject to being turned away by Customs and Border Protection officers at her port of re-entry. And even if she has the permit and they don't turn her back at the airport and she gets back to her H and baby, she can still be found to have abandoned her application for adjustment of status.

The USCIS site is very clear that travel while awaiting adjustment of status is an extremely foolish thing to do, and unless there is an exceptionally compelling reason for it, she should think very carefully about doing it. Certainly, if she wants to be sure she won't end up permanently separated from her baby, the baby should travel with her if she decides to go.

As an aside, does the H have a real estate license, and if so, how did he get it?

The H passed an exam to get the real estate license. You just need to be over 18, passed high school and pass an exam..course for the exam is only a couple of hundred.

There are people in the property business who become realtors or their spouses become realtors to save on agent fees..hence why the oversupply I suppose which depresses median wages even in places where housing market is on fire.

I would have thought though that ability to stay on 30 year 2 % rate would severely discourage people from moving...

Already been mentioned about the not travelling without the I-131.

If she travels without the I-131 being applied for and approved, she'll have no option but to return to her home country and go through consular processing.

That aside, there is a chance that if AOS has already been applied for, that it will be approved before Dec anyway.
It seems Biden's administration are desperate to "fix" the stats so the Mar/Apr 24 onwards AOS applications seem to be being processed out of line and pretty quick (very frustratingly).

they applied for AOS through a lawyer and 'it looked really good', but lawyer is not responding to their queries.

Friend is pretty desperate to get her EAD as the remote salary is too low for the USA (even without rental costs). Her DH isn't earning as he is a realtor and they only get paid if they sell a house. her baby is now in nursery.

She also can't learn to drive as she doesn't have the visa so is pretty much holed up at home all the time.

I would have thought though that ability to stay on 30 year 2 % rate would severely discourage people from moving...

American here. It has discouraged people from selling, but mortgage rates have come down now, and some have to sell due to divorces, estate liquidation, job relocations, etc.

She needs to take the baby out of the nursery asap. Otherwise she will have to leave the baby behind if ordered to leave the country.

Why?

I actually now understand why they are taking such a risk when I piece together the entire story. The DH is one of 3 brothers and he is doing this to gear himself to live in his mother's house in the long term and inherit it (or move to florida with her and either get some of the sale proceeds or move with her).

The vulnerable position they are putting themselves in is his mother's idea (I spoke to her, she believes they give put visas 3 months tops) so if she is the one with the asset they have to listen to her just as how they are paying more to admit the baby to the nursery she likes. Also it is probably easier to justify to other children why they are living at her home long term in their 30s if they have this visa problem (and also if wife can't earn american wages cos she is waiting on her visa). Same with the realtor thing. And if he lives at the home long term and becomes her carer then it is more natural to pass down the house to him.

This is why whenever I used to talk to him in the past about housing, he used to give me weird answers like he wanted miles between his house and the next house or he wanted a interest free mortgage from the Hebrew free loan society. Former is cos he is thinking of his mother's house, latter is so that it is an unworkable solution so he ends up having to stay at his mum's house. Plus he told me his mum said- stay as long as you want. And he wants to move to florida as that is probably where mum is going to follow the brother.

In view of this this is probably why both of them are risking this. Capital > Labour and this is probably the best chance foe them to get some financial Security in the long term.

My MIL has a similar way of dealing with my SIL who can't afford to move out as she has very ad hoc freelance online work if you can call it that. She is going to make my SIL her 'carer' and she will inherit my MIL's London house.