Visa denied twice before - ESTA authorised??

[Biggie]

Hi,

I was denied a Visa for the USA in 2003 (London) and 2005 (Lilongwe) when l held my Zimbabwean passport, l now hold a UK passport and need to travel to the states and was going to apply for a Visa when l was told to try the ESTA website to see whether l would get authorisation and l have been given authorisation to travel.

So my take on this is l can travel but will be stopped for secondary questioning, is that correct?

Biggie.

[Marco 72]

Hi,

I was denied a Visa for the USA in 2003 (London) and 2005 (Lilongwe) when l held my Zimbabwean passport, l now hold a UK passport and need to travel to the states and was going to apply for a Visa when l was told to try the ESTA website to see whether l would get authorisation and l have been given authorisation to travel.

So my take on this is l can travel but will be stopped for secondary questioning, is that correct?

Biggie.

You may or may not be stopped for secondary. You should take with you evidence of your ties to the UK, but not show it unless asked by the POW officer.

[Biggie]

Marco 72,

Thanks for that and l presume evidence of ties is mortgage statements, established family life etc...

Biggie.

[taylondon]

they will give you 2 forms while you are on the plane, you will fill and give those forms to the immigration officer at the airport.
the immigration officer will check your fingerprints and might ask you somequestions.
generally new york / boston / washington ask no question and houston/ las vegas / miami ask a lot of questions according to my experinces

a friend of a friend ( a british citizen) was arrested in Chicago when she was a university student there in 2002, there was a small fight in between the students and she was there trying to calm them down, police arrived and arrested all of them, she finished her university in 2003 and moved back to London, she started to work for UN and had to attend a meeting in new york, she went to NY, she was asked if she ever get arrested in the US, she answered ''yes once'' they put her in custody for 8 hours, denied her entry, put her back on a british airways plane.
she asked a bit of wine from the cabin crew when she sat on the plane, because she was very stressed after 8-9 hours in the custody
the cabin crew said to her '' we refuse to give you alcohol because the US police has asked us to treat you seperately''
so things can happen, just be ready for anything