Impact of refusal entry and N400 interview

Goldrake1

Goldrake1

New Member
Hello Everyone,

I have a few questions, possibly I'd like to get some insight.

I have been a permanent resident for more than 5 years. I have my green card, still married, full time job, always pay taxes, no tickets, no issues legally ever.

In August 2015 I applied for my citizenship and went for the interview just a few days ago. I passed my history and English test portions of the interview, and then the officer started going through my application.

When he arrived at the question "Have you ever been removed, refused or deported from the US" I answered "No." At this point he asked the question again. I mentioned to him that back in 2009 I was stopped at JFK Airport coming from my home country and was requested to come back with a proper Visa, which I did less than a month later (B1/B2).

Neither me, nor my lawyer considered this incident as an arrest or a deportation. I was simply briefly detained but not jailed or booked at all. There was no documentation given to me from this incident at all, and nothing was marked on my passport. And more importantly, during my green card interview with my wife, the officer mentioned this episode, but it didn't stand in the way of me getting a green card.

During my N400 interview, it seemed way more problematic. Considering that more than 5 years have passed since this incident, and that it was NOT technically an arrest, I thought nothing of it. I am still waiting for the decision to be made on my application since the interviewer marked "Decision can NOT be made at this time." He said he did put a notation on the interview about this incident, he seemed very aggravated/rude.

Is there a chance that I will be denied my citizenship because on my application I marked "No" to that question? Also, since I voluntarily gave an explanation regarding why I had marked "No" to these questions, will that be held against me?? I am now awaiting the final decision with anxiety and a fear that I might possibly have my green card revoked and even (worst case scenario) be deported for this indiscretion. Do you think this is likely? By the way- the reason why I was stopped that time at JFK and asked to get a proper Visa, was because in 2002, I had over-stayed my Student Visa (only by about a month). Will any of this be grounds for deportation or being denied my US citizenship???

Thanks for your support!
 
You have been removed period. Now you have to wait the answer and start from there.

We wish good luck.

I can understand that you made a mistake but for your lawyer, it is inbelievable....you hire him/her so to avoid this kind of incident. The lawyer has fail to do his/her job properly.

keep us posted.
 
This is refused entry. But I think you will be fine. In the worst scenario they can deny this application but it won't affect your GC. This is my intuition and before you get something from them it's all speculation. You should have been very careful. it's not an arrest but if the form asks for refusal how can you miss it?
 
lvnp said:
This is refused entry. But I think you will be fine. In the worst scenario they can deny this application but it won't affect your GC. This is my intuition and before you get something from them it's all speculation. You should have been very careful. it's not an arrest but if the form asks for refusal how can you miss it?
Click to expand...

As per 2 immigration lawyers, they didn't consider it a refusal or an arrest. I was given no documentation at all at the time, my passport was not stamped or had any indication of it at all. They requested me to go to the embassy and get a proper VISA, which i did, and came back less than 4 weeks later. Also, the very same note came up during our interview for my GC, the officer at the time mentioned but didn't act as bad as the IO during my naturalization interview few days ago.

I have no legal issues at all, not even a jaywalking or anything. Not a dollar on taxes owned or anything that could be consider bad. we are married and living together, even tho that shouldn't matter since a applied on the 5yrs residency.

During the interview a expressly mentioned what happened, there was not intention of hiding anything. My lawyer also mentioned why we indicated "no" on the application.

My concern is about getting denied if the IO consider the mistake of indicating "NO" instead of "YES" on the N400 as a "misrepresentation".

Will see. I truly hope its going to be fine.
 
Even lawyers said that, just to be safe you could have mentioned that BEFORE the IO asks it. Then you would be all clear. How ever you look at it it's an abnormal incident involving CBP and should have been mentioned.

Still I believe you will be fine. Do not lose sleep over it.
 
Goldrake1 said:
As per 2 immigration lawyers, they didn't consider it a refusal or an arrest. I was given no documentation at all at the time, my passport was not stamped or had any indication of it at all. They requested me to go to the embassy and get a proper VISA, which i did, and came back less than 4 weeks later. Also, the very same note came up during our interview for my GC, the officer at the time mentioned but didn't act as bad as the IO during my naturalization interview few days ago.

I have no legal issues at all, not even a jaywalking or anything. Not a dollar on taxes owned or anything that could be consider bad. we are married and living together, even tho that shouldn't matter since a applied on the 5yrs residency.

During the interview a expressly mentioned what happened, there was not intention of hiding anything. My lawyer also mentioned why we indicated "no" on the application.

My concern is about getting denied if the IO consider the mistake of indicating "NO" instead of "YES" on the N400 as a "misrepresentation".

Will see. I truly hope its going to be fine.
Click to expand...
Hi how are you? What happened did u get your citizen yet ? Please update wish u luck
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top