visiting the US

Hi, was wondering if anyone could advise -

I am English and my husband is South African.. we currently reside (legally) in Ireland.

I met my husband in the UK and he was on a working holiday visa at the time.. He ended up overstaying for 1 year (from 05-06). We saved money and then left to go and live in SA (this is where we ended up getting married).

We left of our own accord, he was NOT deported, and he does not have an exclusion order or anything like that against him in the UK. But they do know that he overstayed because he was pulled up by exit control at heathrow airport on our departure to SA, so there is a record of this overstay on the "system".

We are thinking of visiting the US next year for a week or so, just a holiday, and from what I can gather (the embassy website is v confusing) I am allowed to go without a visa, but he will require one.

My question is - do you think my husband will be denied the holiday visa because of his overstay in the UK?

megmog wrote:Hi, was wondering if anyone could advise -

I am English and my husband is South African.. we currently reside (legally) in Ireland.

I met my husband in the UK and he was on a working holiday visa at the time.. He ended up overstaying for 1 year (from 05-06). We saved money and then left to go and live in SA (this is where we ended up getting married).

We left of our own accord, he was NOT deported, and he does not have an exclusion order or anything like that against him in the UK. But they do know that he overstayed because he was pulled up by exit control at heathrow airport on our departure to SA, so there is a record of this overstay on the "system".

We are thinking of visiting the US next year for a week or so, just a holiday, and from what I can gather (the embassy website is v confusing) I am allowed to go without a visa, but he will require one.

My question is - do you think my husband will be denied the holiday visa because of his overstay in the UK?

Well, it can be a yes or a no. He can be refused solely because of his overstay in London. Immigration Officers for some reason do not like people who breach the rules in one country. If you did it in one country, why not another? It is a judgement call really.

He may also not be refused based on his current circumstances albeit social ties (strong I must add) and the reason for the overstay.

Did he get any stamps in his passport when he left the UK? Did this raise any flags when he got to Ireland?

Hope this helps.

jes2jes wrote:Well, it can be a yes or a no. He can be refused solely because of his overstay in London.

Do you have any sources for this? The visa application form you need to fill in for a B2 does not ask about overstays in other countries (as far as I can see).

Marco 72 wrote:

jes2jes wrote:Well, it can be a yes or a no. He can be refused solely because of his overstay in London.

Do you have any sources for this? The visa application form you need to fill in for a B2 does not ask about overstays in other countries (as far as I can see).

Prior travel

As long as you did not stay illegally and abided by the conditions of stay, prior trips to the US or to European destinations show that you have traveled responsibly in the past and this may help your application. If your current passport does not show evidence of this travel then you should include old passports in your application.

http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/services/inte ... t_0207.pdf

So long as the evidence is in the passport, they can use that against you. They have not stated that specifically in their policy document but it is known fact that previous refusals in other countries sometimes warrant the same fate in another country's embassy. If you are not desireable for country A, then you would not for country B, unless you can prove otherwise with convincing evidence and documentation.

jes2jes wrote:So long as the evidence is in the passport, they can use that against you.

In that case all one needs to do is apply with a new passport. There is no requirement to produce old passports when applying for a US visa, and I have never heard of an application being denied because one was not included.

Marco 72 wrote:

jes2jes wrote:So long as the evidence is in the passport, they can use that against you.

In that case all one needs to do is apply with a new passport. There is no requirement to produce old passports when applying for a US visa, and I have never heard of an application being denied because one was not included.

I never said the above I was merely quoting a statement. It is up to the individual to play the game to their advantage.

Yes, there is no requirement to produce the old passport but if you make the mistake to attach that, it will be to your own detriment.
As most embassies clean out the data of refusals after 5 years for space and data protection reasons, the OP would be fine to apply without any issues.