Frequent visits to the US w/ the Visa Waiter Program

[marzipanpig]

Hi, I am a 25 year old Norwegian citizen with a boyfriend in the US. I plan to visit the US for the third time in a year, and I fear that I will face some problems with the border control.

The first time I traveled was in December whereas I stayed 5 weeks. Second time was late April and then I stayed for 6 weeks. Now I plan to travel back in early September and stay for 2 months. I have strong social ties in Norway, even a part time job, and I have sufficient funds to support myself during the visit. Should I bring any documents of what I mentioned or apply for another sort of visa? Or cancel the flight and wait some months until I return?

I will be grateful for answers.

[immihelp]

Read https://www.immihelp.com/frequent-vi...visitors-visa/

[marzipanpig]

Hi, thanks for your reply. I read that and I am still confused.

[wavedom]

The example in the link doesn't really apply to you since you won't have a tourist visa, although the general point is that abusing a visa or the VWP might cause problems. The VWP is meant for temporary tourist and business trips to the US that last no longer than 90 days. As far as I know there isn't any law that limits the number of times you can enter the US on the VWP. The only rule I've seen is that you cannot spend more than 180 days in the US on the VWP during one year, but I don't know if that is an official rule or just a recommendation. It's always up to the CBP to decide if you can enter the country or not and it's more or less impossible to know what decision they will make. It's not only the number of trips you make each year and how long you stay that counts, but also the circumstances. Someone who, for example, is doing business in the US might be able to go there once a month and only stay for a few days each time without having any problems. But if a tourist stays for nearly 90 days and then comes back after a week and plans on staying for another 90 days it might look strange.

In your case I don't think it makes it better to cancel the ticket and wait a month or two. There are lots of people who travel to the US several times a year, and as I mentioned, it's also the circumstances that plays a role in the CBP decision. If I was you, I wouldn't talk to much about having a boyfriend in the US. Try to keep it more general, as in "seing friends, spending time in [whatever city it is] etc." (which also will be true). I'm not saying that you should lie, but talking too much about relatives or boyfriends/girlfriends in the US is not always the best option.

Regarding the documents, I don't know how often the CBP officers asks to see any documents (I've never had it happen to me), but what you could bring are documents showing your ties to Norway, such as bank statements, some proof of employment or something showing that you have a house or an apartment in Norway. Again, I don't know how much difference such documents would make to a CBP officer (especially if it's written in norwegian), but it might help.