Girlfriend Visiting me in US from Brazil

Hello,

Please note that I have moved your thread to the Brazil forum for better visibility.

All the best

Bhavna

@NTXP1836

No, I do not think you should be too worried.

Many years I took a couple of Brazilians to the UK, and they had to go through customs without me, and it was fine.

I assume she has a tourist visa for the US? She also needs to take proof of her permanent job in Brazil (letter from employer detailing employment history), maybe a letter from yourself to confirm you are resonsible for her when in the US, and a copy of your ID, your personal details and the hotel bookings?

Like in Brazil, you can never have too much documentation for these authorities!

    This might sound like a silly question, but my girlfriend is visiting me in the US for 3 weeks and is concerned about having issues at customs.
   

    -@NTXP1836

Issues at US customs tend to be related to: a) food (do not bring raw food), b) currency (amounts in excess of US$10K cash need to be declared), c) restricted items (guns, medicines, etc - which will need to be declared) and d) immigration and here it is best to have a confirmed return ticket after 3 weeks and of course the US visitor or appropriate visa.

Apart from this, @peteritamaraca has mentioned, there should not be any problems from customs.

For the sake of completion here is the official site -> https://www.cbp.gov/travel/international-visitors

Hope that this helps.

@Pablo888

Thanks I figured it wouldn't be an issue but she is just worried that something will come up. I appreciate it!

Actually, for Brazilians, the biggest problem is convincing the US/UK authorities that they will indeed return to Brazil after the visit, and not disappear into the black economy...

@Peter Itamaraca

Yeah she has a really good career and I assured her she should be fine. And all her family and has a home in Brazil she owns so

12/27/23   @Peter ItamaracaYeah she has a really good career and I assured her she should be fine. And all her family and has a home in Brazil she owns so         -@NTXP1836

That's important, and in her favor.  Also important and in her favor is that she's visited many times, and presumably has never overstayed.  As soon as the Immigration Officer scans her passport, her visit record will pop up on the screen; when the officer sees her list of compliant entries and exits, s/he will almost certainly wave her through.

@abthree

Awesome. She even lived her for grad school for a year so I think that helps too that she has a student visa before

@NTXP1836

I have heard horror stories but my experience has been the complete opposite.

My Brazilian girlfriend visited in 2022 for 2.5 months on a visitor visa (I just gave her an invitation letter, which they never even looked at) and we got married while she was here. We left for Brazil before her visitors visa expired. We both returned to the US in early 2023 for 1.5 months, still on a visitor visa (AND a pending immigration application submitted 2 months earlier). Arrived and just stated staying or 1.5 months.... no more questions asked. We then left for 5 months to Europe and returned to the US again, still on a visitors visa (AND continuing immigration application pending). Again, only question was "how long are you staying?" I said 3.5 months and they didn't even ask to see a ticket.

So, several trips into the US on a visitors visa with a pending US immigration application ..... and no problems. In fact, her immigration was approved while still here visiting but we leave for Brazil in Feb so as not to violate the visitor visa by overstaying the time allowed. We will stay in Brazil until she completes her immigration interview in Rio.

I think the key is having a good history of not having any visitor visa violations due to overstay.

@Peter Itamaraca

My Brazilian wife just entered the UK twice with me in 2023, no problems. First time 1.5 months, second time without an exit ticket but we told them we were planning staying for 3 months over Xmas but  we only stayed a month in the end.

UK immigration was more concerned about our re-entry into the US but more from a standpoint of advising us to be careful not to violate any visa limitations.

    @Peter Itamaraca
My Brazilian wife just entered the UK twice with me in 2023, no problems. First time 1.5 months, second time without an exit ticket but we told them we were planning staying for 3 months over Xmas but  we only stayed a month in the end.
UK immigration was more concerned about our re-entry into the US but more from a standpoint of advising us to be careful not to violate any visa limitations.
   

    -@seinfo3

I believe that as a single Brailian travelling on her own, it may not have been so easy - which is what this poster was asking. The fact that she was your wife, and could therefore go through passport control with you, may have made a lot of difference...