Bad experiences when returning USA?

[Hannah7]

Hello!

Many of you are GC holders and many of you travel outside U.S. to your countries of origin and also for vacation. I know that there is completely no problem if you can be back to USA within 6months.

Please share your experience if you ever was later than 6 , 12 months outside !

Was anybody denied entry to U.S. because of prolonged stay outside?

[oday]

My GC was taken by the officer and was sent to a 2nd processing area maybe for abandonment procedures. After warning from the officer and being detained for almost 2 hours, i got my GC back! Now i got a reentry permit and left the US again due to family reasons. By the way, i am a Canadian Citizen with GC and before i got caught, (4 entries before i got questioned)i was entering the US every six months and stays in the US for only 2 weeks. My next entry before the Reentry permit expires will be the final return to the US and will be staying in the US for good!
lesson learned.....

[Jackolantern]

Originally Posted by Hannah7

Many of you are GC holders and many of you travel outside U.S. to your countries of origin and also for vacation. I know that there is completely no problem if you can be back to USA within 6months.

I wouldn't say "completely no problem", but generally there is no problem for trips under 6 months ... as long as that trip is the only long trip in the recent past (i.e. it is not one of multiple 5+ month trips close together).

[Hannah7]

Ok guys, thank you!

It's well-known that nonimmigrants coming to the U.S. can be sent back to their home countries immediately if the immigration officer isn't satisfied with their ties to home countries.

In immigrant cases, if officers are not satisfied with your ties to America, they can send you back as well as nonimmigrant? Or just let you enter and give some date when you must appear in front of judge ... ?

But these are questions beside. Thank you for your replies and please continue writing your stories.

oday: thank you, did you enter via airport or land crossing border?

[wik]

Originally Posted by Hannah7

Ok guys, thank you!

It's well-known that nonimmigrants coming to the U.S. can be sent back to their home countries immediately if the immigration officer isn't satisfied with their ties to home countries.

In immigrant cases, if officers are not satisfied with your ties to America, they can send you back as well as nonimmigrant? Or just let you enter and give some date when you must appear in front of judge ... ?

But these are questions beside. Thank you for your replies and please continue writing your stories.

oday: thank you, did you enter via airport or land crossing border?

I believe that revocation of a green card (and permanent residency) is a procedure that can only be performed in front of an immigration judge. A court date is set and you must appear to answer the charge (of abandonment, etc.)

[Hannah7]

wik:

I hope you're right. I hope that no gc holder gets detained because of specualation about his/her status.

[Very_Hopeful]

I got my GC last year. I will be gone for six weeks for vacation. WIll that be a problem?

[TheRealCanadian]

Originally Posted by Very_Hopeful

I got my GC last year. I will be gone for six weeks for vacation. WIll that be a problem?

No.

[plus07]

Originally Posted by Hannah7

Ok guys, thank you!

It's well-known that nonimmigrants coming to the U.S. can be sent back to their home countries immediately if the immigration officer isn't satisfied with their ties to home countries.

In immigrant cases, if officers are not satisfied with your ties to America, they can send you back as well as nonimmigrant? Or just let you enter and give some date when you must appear in front of judge ... ?

But these are questions beside. Thank you for your replies and please continue writing your stories.

oday: thank you, did you enter via airport or land crossing border?

You've been asking the same question in several threads now. You got really lucky and won a green card through the Diversity Visa Lottery. All you have to do is show up at the embassy and hop on a plane.

Why isn't that enough? Why are you looking to bend the rules, and risk loosing your right to live in the US?

Do you really want to know if you can be deported right away or only after appearing in front of an immigration judge? Why does that matter to you?

The best option is to be honest and follow the rules. Then you'll have no immigration worries, and can go on and live your life.

[yummyk]

Hannah7 - never been outside the US for anything close to 6 months. My longest trip abroad is 8 days, although I do have many short term trips to Mexico, varying in length from a few hours to about 5 days. The duration of my trip has never been a problem upon re-entering, but I bring documentation with me that proves my current ties to the US. Typically, I bring copies of:

1) Mortgage statement, with address matching my driver's license
2) Last year's tax returns
3) Copies of recent pay stubs from my employer

Yes, this can be a bit of a pain, but it's worth it to avoid any hassles at the border. Since I have nothing to hide, I will gladly offer it up if it becomes an issue. I bring the documentation regardless of where I am going and irrespective of whether I fly, drive or walk across the border.

Just as a sidebar, when driving to Mexico, the US has license plate scanners in place that record the date and time of the vehicle's exit from the country. Upon your return, they again scan the plate and know exactly how long the vehicle has been out of the country. When you fly, there are passenger manifests, and possibly passport stamps as well as passport and GC swipes that record your entry electronically (airlines generally swipe your passport when you check in, thus creating a record of your departure from the US.) When you walk, there is not exit control - you simply walk through a large metal turnstile. There are, however, closed circuit cameras that record the exit of all pedestrians exiting the US. To my knowledge, facial recognition software is still a long way from perfect, but I imagine that within a few more years it will be used, particularly in trying to match up faces with law enforcement "most wanted" lists. However, as a GC holder, the government has both your picture and your fingerprint on file so there is nothing stopping them from using that technology to get a sense of who is departing and re-entering. Upon re-entry into the US at a pedestrian crossing, video and audio recording occurs at the border (there are signs up at border crossings making travelers aware of this fact.)

If you venture too far south of the border in Mexico, or stay in a border region for more than 72 hours then technically, as a foreigner, you must report to Mexican immigration and get a passport stamp in your passport. If you don't do this, you are breaking the law in Mexico.

Generally, passports are not stamped at land or sea crossings, but again both passports and GCs can be swiped electronically.

Hope that this helps you you with any information you are trying to glean. By telling you this information, I am not in any way encouraging you (or anybody else) to try and break the rules and pull a fast one on the government. On the contrary, I am trying to talk you out of doing something that breaks the rules that you will later regret. As you see from the above, the system is designed to prevent you from trying to obscure your absences. As well, if you ever apply for citizenship, they can and do ask for employment, tax and residency records to verify that you were, in fact, residing in the US.

As a final note, remember to record all exits from and re-entries to the US. This will be useful if you ever apply for citizenship. In my case, I didn't do this for all my trips of > 24 hours, so I was forced to make an estimate in addition to trips that I had a record of.

[cafeconleche]

Thanks. Good info.