There is nothing illegal about coming to the USA to visit a friend or a hoped-for romantic interest. Or just to visit for the heck of it and see the sights and maybe meet some new random people to schtup. That’s all just ordinary touristing. Which depending on your country of residence and passport type might or might not require any visa or even any advance permission or notice. As many have said upthread.
There is a LOT of official concern about folks visiting the USA to marry Americans as a way to gain US resident status. Or to just co-habit with them then disappear as an undocumented alien into the USA’s vast semi-underground economy. So don’t say anything even remotely suggestive of stuff like that on any application or in any conversation with an immigration officer.
It is illegal for US citizens / US residents to scam-marry or otherwise help with scam / sham attempts at gaining US residency. It’s also illegal for non-citizens / non-residents to try those scams. It’s also illegal to overstay your tourist visa or non-visa stay-limit and simply disappear in the mostly unpoliced vastness of the American society / economy. So don’t actually do any of that stuff. If you get caught that’ll be your last visit to the USA and it’ll be cut short in an unpleasant fashion.
A while ago there was a flurry of stories about people who were going to visit someone they’d become close to on the internet (or on a previous visit, etc. etc.) The problem was, if there was a hint of a serious romantic relationship that might suggest to Customs the person might be staying for cohabitation, with the risk they wouldn’t leave, the person would be turned away. Then… you’ve been denied entry into the USA and any subsequent attempt to visit would be seriously difficult.
Or, consider our tour guide in Egypt. 25 or so, tour guide… He’d been guiding an American family during the first revolution, and helped them avoid a riot and taken them to his house for a few hours. They told him he was welcome to visit them in the USA… but…
To visit the USA the embassy wants to see steady employment (which tour guiding is not), a decent bank balance (ha ha) and established roots in their home to show the person is planning to go back. As a 25yo with limited finances, he was not married, no house, not enough money to have sizable savings, and guide work is basically gig work. He would never qualify for a visa. (Not too unfairly, because no doubt whatever circumstances, Customs has heard these stories all before from any number of illegal economic migrants trying to get in.)
I remember crossing into the USA from Canada with just a computer-printed driver’s license, no photo, 50 years ago. The world is a smaller, more restricted place today.
As for “address while you are here…” question - the standard answer I got was “put the first place you will stay in tonight” if you don’t have a main place you will be for most of your stay.
As long as you don’t mind sitting in your car for a couple hours if coming into the US from Vancouver, BC.
This sometimes helps speed you through coming from Vancouver, but more and more folks are getting them and I’ve seen the Nexus line going nearly as slow as the non. I expect that at some point, fairly soon, there won’t be a difference.
Bellingham Costco is the primary destination for all that traffic. Cheap booze, gas, and dairy products.
I guess that last part isn’t factual, but I’ve seen the plates in that Costco parking lot and gas queues…
In the Buffalo-Niagara region there are 4 bridges - Lewiston/Queenston, Whirlpool, Rainbow, and Peace Bridges. Most of the bridges can get backed up so it still takes a while to get to the Nexus gates but the Whirlpool Bridge is Nexus only. There was one car in front of us on Saturday going to the US and about 3 on the way back on Monday.
Anecdotally, so many of the stories I hear about problems with border crossings into the US seem to occur in Vancouver. I wonder if it’s because of either the reality or the perception of drug use, homelessness, and other issues in that area. Problems with Canadians crossing into the US in general are very rare. I posted the incidents upthread precisely because they are exceptions and not the norm. Nexus is without question a huge asset to cross-border travel.
I agree. We just got our Global Entry approved which work as Nexus into the US (not the reverse but there is never a big wait to get into Canada) and we will hit that lane/entry next time. Our entry this last weekend was 2 hours at Peace Arch and the estimated entry at the Pacific highway was >3 hrs. Even if Nexus as 1 hour, it would’ve been great.
In 2000 an online friend from Sweden was coming to Memphis to attend a concert with me. We’d “met” on the band’s message board. There was no romantic interest of any kind. He just wanted to see the band in the U.S., a few people offered to host him and he chose Memphis. He got stopped at entry to the U.S. because he appeared nervous and was only carrying a backpack (so he told me later).
A Customs agent called me at work and spent 15-20 minutes asking very personal questions about who I was, how I knew him, what our relationship was, where he was staying, etc. It freaked me out. They wouldn’t even tell me if they were going to let him in.
I had to go to the airport to see if he showed up. He did and was a bit traumatized by the experience, which also involved a strip search. Eventually I lost touch with him and don’t know if he ever came back to the U.S.
It’s the same in the rest of Africa, and probably other parts of the Third World. The default assumption of the staff at the U.S. Embassy is that anyone applying for a tourist visa is really trying to come here to work. And, to be fair, a lot of people in Africa would really like to do just that.
So to get a tourist visa, the applicant needs to show that they have deep connections to their home country - family, business, bank accounts, et cetera. I know someone who owns multiple houses and two hotels in the capital city of her country and she got denied a UK visa, but did get a U.S. visa to visit friends.
This is true even if you are traveling on a US passport. I am usually staying with one of my kids, but they insist on an address. I wonder what would happen if I said that I was moving permanently, but hadn’t rented anything yet. Or if I was driving an RV.
Per my anecdote upthread, I recommend against all this. They don’t want to know but if you raise it they will be forced to treat you like you are an issue. Give the name of the first place you are staying or the address of the place you are hiring an RV or whatever.
This, exactly. My ex-wife was an American, from Colorado, and she wanted to show me around her home state, on one vacation. We did have reservations at a hotel in Denver, so we used that address. US Customs was happy with that. But otherwise, US Customs didn’t care. We ended up exploring Colorado, staying at least one night in each of Greeley, Colorado Springs, Pueblo, Estes Park, and of course, Denver.
As an aside, I really enjoyed visiting Colorado. Lots to see and do. I would recommend a Colorado vacation to anybody.
It’s not easy for many people. A couple I know in Kazakhstan applied for visa. He was approved and she wasn’t, so that put a damper on their vacation. It you are coming from a third world country, the US wants you to show that you have reason to return to your home country: property, a good job, family, etc. It blew my mind that this nice, middle class family couldn’t just come and visit the US
Yes, don’t mess with Customs. With multiple flights per hour, hundreds of people to process, they really don’t necessarily have patience or a sense of humour about things.
As I said, the first hotel you’re staying in (or campground?) or the one place you will be staying most of the time. They probably hear the “I’m going from one place to another several times, what do I put?” question over and over… But they don’t get to write clarification instructions or rewrite the form.
Yes, I don’t know that the West has adjusted to the fact that many “third world” countries are now actually split between the impoverished working class and a fairly well off middle class no different than here - house and car, all the modern appliances and conveniences, education and profession, etc.
Yeah, the UK can be particularly sticky. My (British) sister is married to a Turkish guy (they live in Istanbul), and he can’t get a visa to the UK because he doesn’t own a home in Turkey or have very stable employment. Despite - or more likely because - he’s married to a Brit, so it’s anticipated he’ll overstay.
Ultimately the worker’s goal is to process the bodies. Yes, they’re looking for bad guys and wannabe undocumented permanent alien residents. But mostly they’re looking for you to put something on the form that they can put in the computer so they can say “Next!” and move you along. Make their life easy; do the simple thing. Don’t lie, but don’t expound.
Back in the day, before 9/11, it was far less formal than that.
Growing up in Michigan, it was quite common to go over the river to Windsor, Ontario, for something trivial, and then come back over. They required nothing more than a driver’s license and answers to a few simple questions.
They would ask why you were entering, and it was clear that it was serious business, but the process was no more annoying than going through border control driving into California and being asked if you have any cherries or mangoes in your car. (For non-Americans, they really do have border control on all major roads going into California, to protect their agricultural industry).