US Immigration and gay UK family

[Paul Ware]

Hi everyone,

A few years back my civil partner and our 5yr old came for a holiday. On the visa waiver form it said that only 1 family member need to fill the form in, as long as the family all lived at the same address. We all do, and even have the same surname, and did what the form said.

As we approached the immigration officer at Orlando International he told us that we couldn't come through on only 1 family visa waiver and that I had to complete another waiver to get through.

We're coming back in a few months and just wanted to be sure if that same rule applies i.e. that Florida doesn't recognise us as a family unit for immigration purposes.....

Does anyone know?

Thanks
Paul and Dave

 

[Chuck S]

Unfortunately, I don't think things have changed. Travel Visas are not controlled by the individual states (like Florida) but by the US Federal Government. And the Federal Goverment still does not recognoze same sex couples for most legal purposes.

 

[taylor3297]

Unfortunately, I don't think things have changed. Travel Visas are not controlled by the individual states (like Florida) but by the US Federal Government. And the Federal Goverment still does not recognoze same sex couples for most legal purposes.

 

[greenkai3000]

Sorry you had to go through that. Getting through US Customs can be quite a pain. I'm a Resident, but my partner, and family are Citizens. They required each one of us to fill out our own form when getting back from Paris too.

 

[Paul Ware]

Thanks guys, I've been quite lucky that Dave and I have never experienced any form of discrimination thoughout our (individual) lives, and even within our family unit, so it came as a surprise and an annoyance when the US immigration experience told us that "we're no family unit".

Dave and I have been all around the US, and have purchased DVC now that Jake is with us - we just love Disney/ Florida, but it certainly highlights that the UK has perhaps a more progressive and liberal outlook on my family unit.

Paul

 

[Duck In Blue]

My (civil) partner and I went to Disney last May but we flew into Miami. We didn't have visa waiver forms (the green ones) I think they have gone now with ESTA but we did have to do a Customs form. We weren't really sure what to do as we have different names but decided just to do one as we are a family! When we were in the queue at immigration the person that was managing the line asked if we lived at the same address and then sent us to the desk together. The officer didn't make any comment about the fact that we had different names and just stamped the passports and the forms and sent us through.

We are going back in 4 weeks, flying into Tampa this time and I now I am a bit wary about just doing one form!