UK citizen and tourist visa after H-1B

[londoncitizen]

hi all,

I am a UK citizen who was recently laid off from a H-1B job in the US. I was told by lawyers that I had 30 days to find a new employer in the US to run a H-1B transfer. If I do not find one, I will be returning to the UK at the end of 30 days.
However I need more time to pack up my things and woud also like to visit relatives (brother in law is a US citizen from long-established US citizen family and my sister is a US permanent resident). So I am planning to return to the US a couple of weeks after going back to the UK - just as a tourist visitor. There is a tourist visa waiver program operating between the UK and the US.

Should I apply for a tourist visa or should just go back to the US under the tourist waiver and everything will be ok that way?

(btw I am asking here first rather than the lawyers as I am bit suspicious that they are biased towards selling more of their very expensive services/advice sessions)
Thanks very much for any advice!

 

[jes2jes]

You can travel any time to the US on the WVP but bear in mind that, the proximity of entry to the exit can be an issue and the immigration officer can think you want to continue living in the US and work at the same time. A few weeks is not good enough.

You do not need to apply for a visa unless you have had a visa refusal in the past before obtain the UK citizenship (i.e. if you were not born in the UK).

You can also go to Canada for a few weeks and return to the States if you have relatives there.

There is no rule against you coming back to the US but it all depends on the immigration officer you meet at the date of entry. What will help your case is if you find a job in the UK before going to the US then you would have cause to return, without that, I would also think otherwise.

I hope you find a job soon so that you can transfer the H1.

 

[willton]

I am interested in how long you stayed out of the US before coming back under the VWP - i am in the same boat !!
Any news .... ?