I just moved to Mexico and got my temporary residency. I just live next to the border to the USA and entered Mexico via the USA. I arrived in Mexico through the USA by using my ESTA. Since then I have crossed from Mexico to the US a few times and my ESTA was always accepted. Now an officer told me that I need a B2 visa since I moved my residency from Belgium to Mexico. She also told me that once I did the application I was still allowed to enter the US. But I can not find this information anywhere and I soon have a flight from the USA back to Belgium to visit family. Does anyone have more information about this?
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3"Now an officer told me that I need an B2 visa since I moved my residency from Belgium to Mexico": who told you that? It's not correct. Are you sure that was the reason and not something else?– phoogCommented Aug 21 at 15:11
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1What is the purpose of your visits to the US since moving to Mexico? How long have you spent in the US in total on your ESTA and how many times have you entered?– TravellerCommented Aug 21 at 16:40
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Have you resubmitted a new ESTA application with the new residence info? While I don't think it's a requirement in this situation, it probably simplifies processing if they already have the info, due to the special cases related to "neighbouring countries and adjacent islands" in terms of where you are allowed to exit to after your trip to the US, whether they can or should readmit you on an existing I-94, etc. Is that enough to make them happy? No idea.– jcaronCommented Aug 21 at 20:12
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An officer right at the border crossing point told me. She explained the reason is beacuse an ESTA is just if you come from your home country and return there again. Because I live in Mexico i would not return to Belgium.– SvetCommented Aug 21 at 21:29
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1@Svet Mexico is now your home country, so ESTA can still apply here. You may need to show your Residente Temporal card to show that Mexico is home (I've had to do that maybe 3 times in 8 years)– MidavaloCommented Aug 22 at 2:50
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1 Answer
It sounds like the information you've been given isn't entirely correct. This answer is entirely anecdotal and I don't have any source to reference back to other than our own experience.
My family and I were in a similar situation - we moved from a VWP country to Mexico, and had ESTA for traveling into the US on occasion (couple times a month). We were advised by a CBP officer that we should have B2 visas rather than ESTA after the initial 90 days, and so at the time we followed that advice and got B1/B2 visas.
It turned out that this information wasn't entirely factual. Because we were citizens of a VWP country we could have continued to travel to the US for occasional short trips without the need of a tourist visa.
However, having visas definitely sped up the processing time at the border, and we have had several CBP border officers thank us for having the visas instead of ESTA as it makes it easier for them to process, and therefore easier for us. I don't know why/how it makes it easier for them.
We still get asked fairly regularly if we have ESTA or tourist visa, so they obviously expect either.
We also have friends who have lived here in Mexico (also as legal residents) for years and have traveled back and forth to the US on the VWP without issue.
If you do decide to get a Visa, you may find it quicker/easier to apply in your home country as the wait times for tourist visa appointments in Mexico can be several years!
