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.

We talked to the dh yesterday. He admitted now the visa wait would easily take a year and the attorney is now warning them they would look for any reason to reject the visa application.

Oh dear, he's starting to show his true colours isn't he. I hope it all works out for your friend but I just dont see a 'happily ever after' for her

She is trying to get her sister to postpone her wedding so she can attend. I understand her sentiment as this is the only sibling 's wedding she will attend (brother eloped and youngest sibling v unlikely to marry).

@esta2024

It's easier for the H and his doting mama to prove the baby is ordinarily resident in the US if he or she is well established in a daycare.

It's also easier to prove that the mother isn't a full time mother if she sits at home twiddling her thumbs while the baby is at a daycare.

I don't think she can claim she's working remotely unless her current visa allows that and unless she's intending to file an accurate tax return for income she earned last year.

The more I hear of this husband, the more I feel he is an utter bastard.

This woman needs to take the baby and leave the US as soon as she possibly can.

The wedding of the sister is an ideal opportunity. Sad to see she's unable to see the trap she's in.

I emigrated legally and even doing it that way I had to jump through a ton of hoops to be allowed to leave and re-enter the USA for a wedding while my green card was being processed.

The agent at immigration on my way back into the country gave me so much grief I was on the verge of calling an immigration attorney friend just to make sure he followed the law that said he should let me in.

The idea of trying to do that when you’ve already illegally overstayed your visa sounds utterly miserable and yet completely predictable given everything you’ve said so far about their decision making process.

I don’t think it’s a good idea for her sister to postpone her wedding, because they have no idea when the visa will be sorted out. Everything could be rescheduled and then she still can’t come.

I had to miss a very close friend’s wedding during visa processing. I know that’s not the same as a sister, but it happens, unfortunately.

My friend now says she is aiming to have a second baby in 1 to 2 years time, I take this to mean she will start to ttc then.

In the off chance she doesn't have her green card in a years time due to a trump presidency what does this mean in context of giving birth?

All babies born in the US are US citizens, no matter the citizenship or immigration status of their parents. They are sometimes used as 'anchor babies' to help with the parents' immigration status.

Should add, that is the case rn but Trump has suggested that he would seek to change that if he is elected

She already has a us citizen baby and fh. Would having a baby born in the usa help her in her visa application?

Issue is she is overstaying esta and working illegally before getting residency, that wouldn't change.

This is not going to end well. USCIS does not have a sense of humor.

If she just applied for a visa in the accepted way she'd be fine.

We moved to the USA in similar circumstances and I went out to visit on an esta while I was waiting for it to process, but I made my application from the uk and I had to go back to the uk to finish the application (you have to do a medical check with the authorized center).

It took 9 months but that was in 2016.

Especially as it looks like trump is going to win the election then any appearance of doing things illegally is going to crash and burn.

Nope she did aos on esta so not the usual way. She overstayed her esta and applied to aos which is a 'route' though I think most people don't work illegally.

Most people also decide to stay on to aos after marriage so style it as a romantic impromptu decision. She has been married for 5 years.

Isn't he going to clamp down on immigrants except for spouses of us citizens. Would they be included in the witch hunt as well.

To make things more ironic my friend is a trump supporter too and says he makes the right decisions even if his intentions aren't great.

Illegal immigrants are the target.

She's making herself an illegal immigrant when she doesn't need to.

Insane.

OP let us know the outcome in two week's time please.

Why 2 weeks..what.is happening in 2 weeks

One of your posts said your friend was applying in two week's time but I see you originally posted months ago😳

This...

So what happened in the end?

She is waiting on her visa (applied on day 91) and planning for a second baby in 1 to 2 years. Her MIL is her sponsor as her dh is a realtor who hasn't sold anything.. I am guessing she is happy trump won now?

Her dh told me visa would take a year who knows what happens under trump.

Sounds like a happy ending as she'snot been deported.. Thanks for updating.

She would be deported if she doesn't get her visa. There is no right to appeal

The mother in law sponsored her on which form?
Do you mean the Financial sponsor on I-864?

Because if you mean the I-130, an in-law can't sponsor. It would need to be the spouse.

If they've filled the I-130 wrong, that'll get rejected and without an approved I-130, the I-485 will get denied.

They probably did fill out the form correctly. There is no way the dh can sponsor her himself, he knew as much even 1 year before moving back, his mother was always going to sponsor.