B2 denial, should we reapply? K1, ESTA, help

[Svenglish]

Hello, I am a US citizen (born/raised) and my fiancé is a citizen of Sweden. Earlier in 2018 (BEFORE we were engaged) he applied for a B2 visa and was denied on 214b. At the time, he was a student at the university in Stockholm. Due to being a student, I intended to help cover expenses for his trip. The consular did not review documents, and barely gave him an explanation.. just a yellow sheet of paper explaining ?214b?. A month later (we didn?t know any better) he reapplied with a full arsenal of supportive documents including round trip airfare, a notarized letter of invitation backed with my proof of income. He was denied almost immediately, and given no explanation as to why. just handed blue sheet of paper saying he was denied.

You?re probably wondering why he didn?t apply for an ETSA, on the questionnaire there?s a yes or no question about a drug conviction. When he was only 21 years old, he was caught with a cigarette that contained both tobacco and a trace amount of *********. It was extremely minor and was given a citation, a small fine was paid and it?s not on his record any longer. He was not taken to jail or anything, just told not to do it again by a youth patrol officer. It was embarrassing to him, and he?s never done anything illegal since. Due to the question for the ETSA form, he technically needed to answer ?yes? which he assumed would mean immediate denial. So he applied for the B2 instead.

Now that he has a prior visa denial on his record, he is no longer eligible for the ETSA.

Since this has happened, he is no longer at the university and has a good career path ahead. He started his new job 2 months ago, and has no intention of leaving his job.

Should he reapply for the B2?

We are engaged, and I need him to be able to visit my family and I in the US. There are children involved that don?t get to see him, and I don?t get enough time off work to fly to Sweden more than once per year. Literally the only way we can visit is we both fly to Canada for the weekend, 12,000+ miles combined travel for 2 days.

We intend to apply for the K1 Visa, but his intentions are not to move to the US, only visit. I plan to move to Sweden when finances allow and his career continues to develop there allowing me to quit my job here in the US.

Please, help, we need a solution! Reapply for B2 and apply for K1? Skip K1 get married and apply for spousal visa (we realllly want to get married but couldn?t do so until K1 was approved).

[Tezza]

Hello, I am a US citizen (born/raised) and my fiancé is a citizen of Sweden. Earlier in 2018 (BEFORE we were engaged) he applied for a B2 visa and was denied on 214b. At the time, he was a student at the university in Stockholm. Due to being a student, I intended to help cover expenses for his trip. The consular did not review documents, and barely gave him an explanation.. just a yellow sheet of paper explaining ?214b?. A month later (we didn?t know any better) he reapplied with a full arsenal of supportive documents including round trip airfare, a notarized letter of invitation backed with my proof of income. He was denied almost immediately, and given no explanation as to why. just handed blue sheet of paper saying he was denied.

You?re probably wondering why he didn?t apply for an ETSA, on the questionnaire there?s a yes or no question about a drug conviction. When he was only 21 years old, he was caught with a cigarette that contained both tobacco and a trace amount of *********. It was extremely minor and was given a citation, a small fine was paid and it?s not on his record any longer. He was not taken to jail or anything, just told not to do it again by a youth patrol officer. It was embarrassing to him, and he?s never done anything illegal since. Due to the question for the ETSA form, he technically needed to answer ?yes? which he assumed would mean immediate denial. So he applied for the B2 instead.

Now that he has a prior visa denial on his record, he is no longer eligible for the ETSA.

Since this has happened, he is no longer at the university and has a good career path ahead. He started his new job 2 months ago, and has no intention of leaving his job.

Should he reapply for the B2?

We are engaged, and I need him to be able to visit my family and I in the US. There are children involved that don?t get to see him, and I don?t get enough time off work to fly to Sweden more than once per year. Literally the only way we can visit is we both fly to Canada for the weekend, 12,000+ miles combined travel for 2 days.

We intend to apply for the K1 Visa, but his intentions are not to move to the US, only visit. I plan to move to Sweden when finances allow and his career continues to develop there allowing me to quit my job here in the US.

Please, help, we need a solution! Reapply for B2 and apply for K1? Skip K1 get married and apply for spousal visa (we realllly want to get married but couldn?t do so until K1 was approved).

It's a shame that he didn't try for the ESTA at the start. Just ticking yes doesn't mean an automatic denial, all it means is that it's likely the ESTA won't be granted immediately, which is usually the case when it's a straightforward form. It would have just required them to investigate a little before giving an answer. He would have had an Authorization Pending notice, and this means you should recheck the site in 72 hours to see if there's a response. But anyway, that's not possible anymore as you said.

It's an unfortunate situation because from your story and taking it at face value, you guys seem legitimate and I am sure it's a struggle for your guys to maintain a relationship over this distance, and especially heartbreaking considering there are kids involved.

His previous B2 denials will be a negative factor, however, the fact he isn't a student now and has a good career, he's likely to be able to be a bit more convincing. The K-1 visa is generally for people who want to travel to the US to marry their spouse within 90 days of their arrival and then adjust status to become a permanent resident. If he's planning to marry and then leave the country I'd suggest this isn't the visa for you.

Out of those choices I'd say skip K1 and get married somewhere else, i.e. his country or canada as you've been there before together, whatever is easiest and cheapest for you guys. Then go ahead and use the form I-130 to petition for him. Doing this allows you to establish your relationship with him and is the first foot in the door if it's approved. Once it's approved he would be eligible to go for a spousal visa or to adjust status in the US.

But look, you've stated his intentions aren't to move here and that your plan is for you to move to Sweden. So maybe any visa for the US is pointless. I understand you want him to meet your family, but going through the visas is a long drawn and process with money involved, and for you to petition you need to have a permanent domicile in the US among other things. Who knows, you might get half way through this process and be ready to move to Sweden anyway. I don't know if now is the right time for this and maybe you guys should focus on setting up your lives in Sweden, and put the US visas on the back burner until later, simply because going through this is a very long and expensive path considering there are no plans for him to become a permanent resident in the US. And becoming a permanent resident in the US has rules associated with it such as maintaining residence in the US for a certain amount of time each year, so even if he did get permanent resident status, he wouldn't be able to maintain that since his primary job is in Sweden and you guys plan to live there and not here, and then he'd end up losing his permanent residence status and you'd have wasted your time.

My advice, try again with the B2, have him provide lots of ties to his country - it will be difficult to be accepted considering his previous denials and also the fact he has a fiance and kids involved, this smacks highly of immigrant intent to the US government, but it's worth a try, right? If he owns or rents a house, have him bring contract evidence of that. If he owns or rents a vehicle, provide evidence of that too. He could also get a letter from his employer stating how much leave he's been granted to visit the US and that he will be coming back after that. Have him provide bank statements and pay stubs from his job to show he's got the income to support his visit.

I hope this sheds some light on it for you, if you have any questions don't hesitate to ask, there are plenty of us on here who would like to help you!