Help...help...help...please

I have been reading all the stories on here.  Here is my situation:  I went to visit friend in UK.  I was refused entry.  They said they felt I was not coming back to the US.  I had shipped furniture over, paperwork for job hunting, etc.  I told them I was visiting this guy and I called the consulate first to see the steps I needed to take, which were:  come over, get a job, job applies for permit, i come back to US to get work visa.  Obviously this is not correct.

So I was refused entry.  They let me stay for 4 days.  During that 4 days my friend and I decided to get married.  We are not married at the moment.  Our plan was for him to come here, get married in Las Vegas, then go to NY and apply for spousal visa in person.  Now he is being told by someone that because he was arrested a few years ago for drunk and disorderly, he will need to get a visa to come here, and that will take a few months.

So, now our choices are to:
1.  Chance it he will not be refused entry on a visit to Vegas.
2.  Wait for him to get a visa (which he may or may not get)
3.  Him not come at all and me go to NY to get finace visa.

Our relationship has been only for a short period of time, less than a year.  We have only been together in person for those 4 days I was in UK. 

Relationship is real and we intend to marry and stay married, as we do love one another.

Please, any experience on something like this?  Thanks.

not sure if this will help
it seems you got some bad information

in my opinion i think your best option is for you to get a fiance/entry clearance and get married in uk
if thats the plan of you both living there
I do recall a requirement for the fiance visa is that you both must meet.
you'll have less hassle and trouble that way as you will be able to come to uk and stay during that time and  get married and get the next visa (flr) and will than be able to work in the uk.
you'll need letters/emails and things to show your correspondence, pictures of you both will be big help, and the usual passports of you both,birth certificates etc....
if your plan is to get married in vegas ( lived there in early 90's) than that seems to be a different matter and has different process.
i'm no legal expert or visa expert so dont know much on how you getting married in vegas will work out with visa plans.
sure many here can help the best they can

any questions or concerns you have can also be answered here, or have you pointed in right spot for the answers or help.

hopefully i have helped some.

You only met him for 4 days. How can you decide that you want to marry this guy only after that short period of time. you stated "you and your friend want to get married", am I correct to assume that you aren't a couple? Honestly if the EO sees that you only met for 4 days, he/she might have a lot of questions...Sorry if this question offends,but is the only reason you want to get married because you were denied a work visa into the uk?

We are a couple.  Sorry my wording threw you off.  We really want to get married.  It is not just for a visa.  We speak daily and have about 8 months.  I was supposed to be in the UK for 6 months with him, but immigration decided I could not. 

We were considering marrying in vegas, thinking it would be better for the chances of the visa if we were already married.  If we go the fiance route, we will be married within 6 months anyway.

We have lots of documentation of speaking, etc.  We have very few pictures of us together, as it was only for a short time.

And EnglandsYank, I wasn't denied a work visa or any visa.  I was denied entry, not a visa.

From these two responses, it seems grim. 

Oh, I really do feel bad about what happened to you. My story was something similar. It sounds like you and I both tried coming over to the UK without talking to other people about how to deal with immigration first. I completely understand why they sent you back home.

I tried to come over last December to meet my boyfriend (now husband) face-to-face for the first time. I landed in London and had a connecting flight to Manchester. However, I got detained in London when I said I was coming over for 5 and a half months to visit my "friend" I knew from the Internet. I got detained for 6 and a half hours while they interviewed me and also interviewed Peter over the phone. In the end they released me for the night to get a hotel room because my flight didn't go out until 2pm the next day. So, Peter hopped on a flight down to London to see me for the night.

I ended up flying back to the US and spending a month and a half staying with my mom and then my dad and being depressed (because I had quit my job to go). Then I tried flying back to the UK to try my luck again at a much smaller airport. This time I tried to come up with as much stuff as I could to prove I had something to return to in the US. I was let in for 1 month. After that month, Peter flew back to the US with me, we got married in May and I came into the UK in June on my settlement visa.

I understand you wanting to be with your boyfriend right now. I know how hard it is to do the international thing and a lot of other people on this board do too. But please try to think about what you're doing before you do it. Don't do anything that's might cause further difficulties. If he needs a visa to come over here he should definitely apply for one. I don't know much about applying for visas to the US but I'm sure he'd manage to get it.

I'd also recommend going the fiance visa route. Give yourself some more time together. If you  come into the UK on a fiance visa you'll have 6 months to get married.

Hang around here and read some other posts and ask your questions as they come up. You'll learn a lot and it'll help when you're dealing with immigration.

Also, feel free to PM me if you'd like. I know what it feels like to be sent back home when you were so excited about coming over. And, I know how hopeless you might be feeling right now.

I agree with Stars, instead of getting married right away,you should get a fiance visa for 6 months,that way if you decide you don't want to marry him you can always come back before you get married to him. But I think the EO would like to see that you spent more then 4 days together before they issue you the visa. I'd recommend trying your luck with a visiting visa showing you have plans to return,this could be a letter from your boss,a letter from your landlord etc. Or you can always go to the consulate in NY and apply for a visiting visa that way.

I agree with EnglandsYank about trying to get a visitor's visa first, rather than jumping into marriage.

Seriously - you refer to this person as a "friend" in your posts and have made a very very important decision based on being in someone's company for what was probably a very stressful 4 days.  That is no way to start out a marriage.

And, yes, you were either given extremely dogdy advice in the beginning or didn't take it in correctly.  If someone ships over furniture and brings CVs with them, it does kind of look like they're intending to stay, without getting the appropriate settlement visa beforehand...the IO made a perfectly legitimate call on this one, I'd have to say.

Herein lies the problem:

He can't visit because he does not have a visa.
We don't have a huge amount of time to do this.  I have no job and am living with my parents.  I need to work and also I can't live with my parents for an indeterminate amount of time.

I know all well about marriage.  I was married for 17 years, so my marrying this man is not in question, nor is it with him.  I understand everyone's concern, but that is not my issue at hand.

I will be either applying for a fiance visa without him coming over here, or taking the chance of visiting again and being turned away again.  My belongings are still there.  He is using them in the house he is renting.  I do not intend to ship any of it back here at this point.

We really don't have months and months for him to get a visa to visit and then marry here or me go back there, etc.

I am really caught between a rock and a hard place here.   

Be careful about trying to re-enter. I can tell you that you <b>will</b> get detained the moment they see the stamp from your last try. Then they will either pull your file or ask for it be faxed over if you're in another airport. They'll be looking to see if your situation has changed any. If you go over too soon they won't let you in because you won't be able to show them that your situation has changed. What they're going to be looking for now before they let you in again is for you to convince them and provide them with evidence that you will be returning to the US. A job is the big one. Because of the job stuff they found on you and the shipping of your furniture this is not going to be easy if it's even possible.

What airport were you at when you were denied entry?

Manchester. 

I think my only option is fiance visa.  We are getting married one way or the other anyway.  So I don't care if it is here or there. 

With my things already being there, that would show our intent to live together as hus and wife, don't you think?  I can't ship my things back to the US.  I have nowhere to put them.  I do not have a job here.  I do not have a house here.  I am just floating.

Now he is being told by someone that because he was arrested a few years ago for drunk and disorderly, he will need to get a visa to come here, and that will take a few months.

I had no idea until i read this post that you required a visa to go to the States if you had a criminal record (mis spent youth  )
Is this a new thing?  I have been back and forwards to the States a number of times in the last 2 years under the visa waver system and was never questioned....i even got married there 

Thank goodness i wont have to go back again (hopefully)

I can see you are in a tough situation chickusa. If i can offer any words of wisdom (and im sure others here will agree) is that when dealing with all this 'patience is a virtue' Think hard about which route you choose to take because it is a lot easier (and quicker) to get it right 1st time than it is to clear up the mess from getting it wrong.

Whatever you choose i hope things work out
Stay safe
Jules

Ratpack, what is the "visa waiver system"?

The "Visa waiver program" is basicly if your country is on the list of approved countries you can enter the States (as a visitor) without a Visa, it's waived.  And the UK is one of the I think 40 countries on that list.
  From what I understand a D and D arrest isn't the kind of crimnal record that one needs to get a Visa to come to the states for.  I'm thinking they are looking for major convictions and unless he is looking to get a Visa to live in the States he shouldn't have to disclose it at all ( though if asked directly if he has a record he should tell them of it).
   
    From looking at your situation I would think you should go ahead and apply for a fiancee visa.  Though you won't be able to seek employment in the UK until after you are married.

Ratpack, what is the "visa waiver system"?

Basically, if you come from a certain country (which includes the UK) you can travel there without getting any prior permission. However....that person must must meet all the requirements which includes not having a criminal record. Like i say, i don't know how new the criminal record part is (war criminals, drug dealers and commiters of genocide have never been welcome) but I have a record from years ago and having read what it says on the US Embassy (London) website it would seem that i needed a visa to go to the States. No one ever challenged me on any of my trips there. I should add that i never told them i was planning on getting married while i was there either...just visiting a 'mate' for 2 weeks.

Here is the link to the Embassy website where they talk about visa waiver system

http://www.usembassy.org.uk/cons_new/visa/niv/vwp.html

Hope that helps.
Stay safe
Jules

Sorry...i see i was a lil slow on posting the visa waiver system bit lol