I travel from the UK to NYC fairly often to see my girlfriend, using ESTA. I usually stay for longer stretches since flights are expensive. Been visiting every few months since late 2023 without issues.
Last trip I went through US Pre-Clearance in Dublin. Planned to stay until late February. It had been about 7 months since my previous visit, so I didn’t expect problems.
Instead I got pulled into secondary, bags searched, lots of pretty aggressive questioning. Why so long, what would I do all day, was I planning to marry her, etc. Eventually they admitted me but told me not to come back for the rest of 2026 after I leave, and wrote something in my passport that looks like “until 5 March 2026.”
I wasn’t given any paperwork or formal ban notice, which makes this confusing.
Has anyone experienced something similar with ESTA and frequent long visits? Would you just stay away until 2027 to be safe? I really don’t want to risk flying over and being refused entry.
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