Visiting girlfriend in the USA

You’ll be flying on an ESTA if you’re a UK citizen. “Visiting friends and relations” is a standard category of visitor. The fact that you might at some point in the future have a marriage relationship is not at this stage an issue and I really don’t see why it should be brought up by you or anyone else.

If any question arises, you have a return ticket and only if asked give details of your employment in the UK and your date of return to work in the UK.

US Border Control aren’t the most pleasant of individuals, but in this instance there is no reason for any problem. Just don’t make things more complicated than they are.

They mainly want to ensure that you do not

• seek employment here, typically in menial tasks because employment screening is pretty good in skilled/technical areas
• go on the dole / seek public servi– lol, nope, could not keep a straight face
• overstay

The first one can be settled by showing you have skilled, well-paying employment back in the UK. The second one is settled by showing you can easily afford this trip woth plenty to spare.

The last one is more critical, because you are apparently planning to live permanently with this person. This is where you need to show that your ties to the UK are significant, or optionally that hers aren’t. For instance if you are an assistant manager at Wickes with no other family ties, and she is a career politician, you are portable and she is not, so the plan to move to the UK is not credible.

One of the suggestions from this Feb 2017 article (which is excellent BTW) – is use a burner phone.
can US border agents search your phone

• Customs officers are legally allowed to search travellers’ personal electronics without a warrant – whether they’re visitors or American citizens.
• Travellers can refuse access to their devices, but customs officers are not obligated to allow someone into the country.
• For now, lawyers recommend that travellers carry burner phones, encrypt their devices, or simply not bring electronics at all.

Please note, I am NOT advocating for this in all or even most cases, I simply am making the suggestion of how to remain safe from such searches; If you have a serious concern

One way of doing this – would be to back up your messages (easy enough to do on a smartphone using an app to some cloud service provider OR to your SD Card) and then delete all messages on the phone.

For space-saving reasons I keep all my photos on an SD card anyway – So to turn your personal device into a “Burner” phone – pop out the micro SD card – put it in a bag or some other container and keep it in your pocket. THEN delete ALL accounts to social media & most especially to your email on the phone. Delete ALL contacts – EXCEPT for the one contact who will be picking you up/ you are going to meet 1st.

You will still have the same number – BUT your phone is largely at this point a “burner”

Once you have passed through customs/ border control – you can connect back to your social and email accounts – put your Micro SD back in and voila – like Austin Powers – your back baby…

While inside the USA – the police & ALL federal agencies are required to get a warrant before looking inside your phone.

In another article:
A Harvard student was denied entry

An incoming Harvard University freshman was refused entry to the
United States and had his visa canceled after customs officers spent
hours digging through his electronics and questioning him about his
religion and his friends, he told The Harvard Crimson.

Ismail Ajjawi, a Palestinian student who lived in Lebanon, told the
student newspaper that the customs officers at Boston’s Logan
International Airport demanded he unlock his phone and laptop, then
spent five hours searching the devices.

“After the 5 hours ended, she called me into a room, and she started
screaming at me. She said that she found people posting political
points of view that oppose the US on my friend[s] list,” Ajjawi told
the Crimson in a statement.

The denial was based purely on posts by friends on social media.

I can certainly empathise with your concern having in my youth been denied a visa when I was simply requesting one to transit the USA on my way to England. (This was in the days before Visa Waiver travel became a thing)

Good Luck!

The visa waiver program allows you to do the things you could do on a visitor visa, which includes “Visit with friends or relatives”. What you are actually doing is completely proper and permitted.

You will probably not have any problems. Immigration officials must be quite bored with people from the UK visiting the US for a week or two. There will be dozens just on your flight.

There are two issues that can cause immigration officials to be concerned about visitors: becoming destitute in the country, and overstaying. You seem to have already covered the first issue, with good provision for your planned travel.

If you want to do anything more, collect up some evidence of an established life in the UK. For example:

• Document your job – a few payslips, anything confirming you are on vacation from a steady job.
• If you own or rent your home, document that.

Put that material in your carry-on bag, but do not produce it unless asked. During your arrival interview, do not volunteer anything. Listen carefully to questions. Answer clearly and truthfully exactly what was asked. Stick firmly to your plan of being honest.

Do not carry anything that looks like job hunting. No copies of your resume. No tools of your trade – a hairdresser was suspected of planning to work because she had her professional scissors and combs.