Marrying US citizen under VWP

Hi,

My fiancee (US citizen) and I (British citizen) will be marrying in the USA next year. Each time I visit the USA under the VWP I face a lot of trouble at immigration and get questioned quite a lot. I carry with me relevant documents to attempt to prove my intentions of returning to the UK (employment contract, annual leave confirmation, bank statements, return tickets) but always without fail face a lot of trouble.

I am slightly worried that when I travel to the USA and tell them I'm there to get married it's going to go a lot worse than every other time. I considered flying through Dublin to clear immigration there rather than do the 8 hour flight then go through immigration on the other side but I thought this might raise suspicion considering I always usually fly from Manchester to Detroit.

Does anybody have any experience with marrying a US citizen under the VWP with the intention of returning back to the UK? My fiancee and I plan to move to the UK but I do not qualify to sponsor her yet, so we visit each other a lot in the meantime.

Many thanks,

Many, many people here on the forum have done it this way: travelled to the US on the VWP and married (it's cheaper and much easier than marrying in the UK). As long as you will return to the UK after the wedding and not try to stay and live in the US, it's really not an issue at all.

In fact, the US Embassy in London actually tells you to marry on the VWP if you do not intend to live in the US afterwards, and you can always print this out from the Embassy website to show the immigration officer if they question it

Also, it's perfectly normal to have a destination wedding in the US on the VWP - think of all the business Las Vegas would lose if tourists could not get married there.

From the US Embassy website (https://uk.usembassy.gov/visas/fiancee-2/):

Please note: if you do not intend taking up indefinite residence but will continue to live and work outside the United States after the marriage ceremony, you should apply for a B-2 visa, or if eligible, travel visa free under the Visa Waiver Program.
(red emphasis mine)

Exactly as ksand says, super duper common.

What's not common is getting a grilling each time when you enter the USA.  This makes me think there is a bit more to the story.

How frequently do you visit the USA?  How long are your average stays?  In the last 24 months, how much time have you spent in the USA?  Do you always depart on the day you say you will on your landing card or have you changed the dates to later dates in the past?

Exactly as ksand says, super duper common.

What's not common is getting a grilling each time when you enter the USA.  This makes me think there is a bit more to the story.

How frequently do you visit the USA?  How long are your average stays?  In the last 24 months, how much time have you spent in the USA?  Do you always depart on the day you say you will on your landing card or have you changed the dates to later dates in the past?

Thank you both for your answers. I wasn't aware how common it was which relaxes me a little more.

I get a lot of questions, the longest one I had was 10 minutes at the desk and on my last visit I was detained before being allowed entry. The longest time I spent in the UK as a visitor was four weeks before I was employed and have since travelled to the US twice since then, each for approximately two weeks with about two months in between. Yes, I have always left the USA when I said I would and have respected their immigration laws.

The first three visits (after my initial time in the USA as a J1) were before we were engaged, and then on my last visit (July 2019) I told the officer I was visiting my fiancee and I was questioned and detained. I left the USA when I said I would as I'm employed here in the UK and wouldn't be able to extend my visit to the USA.

I've been to the USA a total of five times (one as a worker, four as a visitor)


May 2017 to August 2017 - Under J1 visa as a worker, this is where I met my fiancee. All subsequent visits to the USA below have been on the VWP.
23 October 2018 for 9 days
26 December 2018 to 23 January 2019 (4wks)
May 2019 for 7 days
July 2019 for 10 days

I can't visit the USA next until March 2020 when my annual leave resets. I know you may think there is more to this story but I have included everything I am aware of in this post. Is it just some bad luck or do you think there's a deeper reason?