# working in USA w/out visa and travelling on ESTA while visa being processed



## tprlg (Mar 20, 2012)

I am a UK citizen, my fiance is a US citizen. 
I live in the UK. He lives in the US.
We have not yet decided when and where we are going to marry and have not yet begun any type of visa application for me. 
We want to reside together in the US (where he currently lives). 
I am going to the US on the visa waiver program and plan on returning home every 90 days and going back until we either marry or apply for a fiance visa.
I plan on working as a consultant under my own UK Ltd company from our home in the US. My sole client will also be a UK ltd company and I will be paid into a UK bank account. IS THIS ALLOWED GIVEN THAT I DO NOT HAVE A VISA?

Also, if we apply for a fiance visa can I continue to come and go while it is being processed? Or, if we marry and instead apply for a spouse visa can I come and go while this is being processed?

Thanks in advance.


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## Crawford (Jan 23, 2011)

You cannot 'live' in the US while you decide whether you want to get married or apply for a fiance visa.

The common rule for using the VWP is as many days out of the US as in. So, if you intend to stay for up to 90 days, then it is advisable to stay out of the US for approx 90 days before going back again.

The immigration officials will soon catch on to your plan if you try to spend 90 days in, go back to the UK for a week and then travel back to the US. A major red flag would be that you have no job in the UK and have a fiance in the US.

You might get away with it for a short while but you will surely be stopped eventually

No, you cannot work at all (even for an online UK company and being paid in the UK) while in the States on the VWP.


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## tprlg (Mar 20, 2012)

so our best bet is to get married asap then yes?


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## Crawford (Jan 23, 2011)

tprlg said:


> so our best bet is to get married asap then yes?


If you want to live with your fiance in the US then yes, marriage would be best.

While your fiance or marriage visa is being processed, you can VISIT on the VWP.

Good luck


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## EVHB (Feb 11, 2008)

Or you can also choose to study something for a while. On a student visa. Doesn't give you the opportunity to work (and you have to proof that you have the nescessary amount in advance), but it will give you the time to get to know your fiance a little bit better. (don't know how long you are already together)

Repeatedly staying for 80 or 85 or so days is asking for the red flag.


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## tprlg (Mar 20, 2012)

EVHB said:


> Or you can also choose to study something for a while. On a student visa. Doesn't give you the opportunity to work (and you have to proof that you have the nescessary amount in advance), but it will give you the time to get to know your fiance a little bit better. (don't know how long you are already together)
> 
> Repeatedly staying for 80 or 85 or so days is asking for the red flag.


Lol. We've been together three years and have a one year old daughter. I spent practically a year there coming and going while I was on maternity leave. We are planning on marrying this summer but it looks like maybe we need to bring this forward if I don't want to give up working? I guess we could just do the legal bit of marriage and have a nice ceremony later. We cant really afford for me not to work. Besides, I love my job and am reluctant to give it up. Also we just don't want to miss out on any more of each others lives! Do you know if once we are married I would have to leave again until my visa is issued? I hate all this travelling as it really unsettled my daughter. We just want to find the quickest way for us to be together ss a family.


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## twostep (Apr 3, 2008)

If your income is critical you may want to go the CR1 route as you will receive your Green Card at entry.


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## Davis1 (Feb 20, 2009)

spousal visa CR1
Immigrant Visa for a Spouse of a U.S. Citizen (IR1 or CR1)


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## speedysteve (Sep 30, 2011)

as has been stated above you cannot perform any sort of paid work in the US on a visa waiver, regardless of whether your getting paid in the UK by a UK company and all your work is for a UK company that happens to be based in the US

the work being online based does not exclude you from these limits its all about where you actually are.

to even try it is very risky indeed and may not only get you red flagged but denied reentry for a number of years regardless of whether you subsequently get married or not..

the menioned guide of as many days out as in is possibly valid but if your entries are legitimate personally I have completely disregarded this with no problems,
one year I was in the US for 210 days in 4 seperate trips on a WVP with no issue

trying to "pull a fast one" with US immigration is a very very bad idea indeed, with your described situation your basically claiming to be on holiday from work for mostly all of the year dangerous and basically impossible for immigration to believe.

the consequences of being caught could be very serious and would make the decision of where you both want to live for you.

SS


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