Do they verify/check the DATES when u left and re-entered USA ?

K

kssohal

Registered Users (C)
Hi

My question is simple - how does the immigration office check that the dates entered (when you left USA for trips) when filling out the N400 form for Naturalisation ?

A. Do they take your word for it ?

b. Do they cross ceck the dates with the stamps in your passport ?

c. They have their own arrival and departure records from the Airports ?

I have heard many times that they know the dates when u re-enter US from trips abroad, BUT they have no clue when you LEFT US for the trips.

Do reply if you have any knowledge / experience about this.

Monu. :)
 
They typically go by the dates you put on your application and may quickly browse through your passport. They will only look more deeply if they suspect a problem.
 
kssohal said:
Hi

My question is simple - how does the immigration office check that the dates entered (when you left USA for trips) when filling out the N400 form for Naturalisation ?

A. Do they take your word for it ?

b. Do they cross ceck the dates with the stamps in your passport ?

c. They have their own arrival and departure records from the Airports ?

I have heard many times that they know the dates when u re-enter US from trips abroad, BUT they have no clue when you LEFT US for the trips.

Do reply if you have any knowledge / experience about this.

Monu. :)
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I do not know this, but I will still answer. Hope you do not mind.

They go by the dates in the application during the interview.

However, US goverment has exact dates you left and return in the country. This I know for sure, first hand as I saw it with my own eyes in one of the US consulates in a western european country. Departure records from I-94 cards are taken off your passport at the airports. And of course they have the entry records as well. There is a database with this info.

Weather the interviewng officer uses this database I do not know. I also do not know how far back this database goes in the past.
 
Your information may be accurate however it is not relevant to permanent residents who submit no I-94 departure record upon leaving the country. Permanent residents have no contact with US immigration upon departure and as such immigration does not have reliable departure records on PRs.
That may or may not change in the future. I have heard of cases where PRs were out for longer than 6 months and told the immigration officer upon arrival at airport that they were out for only 2 weeks and got away with it without problems. During one of my previous US entries the immigration officer candidly told me that the standard answer he gets from PRs is that they've been out "one month". In fact he started the conversation by saying "So you've been out a month?" That information was inaccurate and I asked him why he had assumed that I had been out a month. His response was that's what everyone says when they come back.
 
stallion4949 said:
Your information may be accurate however it is not relevant to permanent residents who submit no I-94 departure record upon leaving the country. Permanent residents have no contact with US immigration upon departure and as such immigration does not have reliable departure records on PRs.
That may or may not change in the future. I have heard of cases where PRs were out for longer than 6 months and told the immigration officer upon arrival at airport that they were out for only 2 weeks and got away with it without problems. During one of my previous US entries the immigration officer candidly told me that the standard answer he gets from PRs is that they've been out "one month". In fact he started the conversation by saying "So you've been out a month?" That information was inaccurate and I asked him why he had assumed that I had been out a month. His response was that's what everyone says when they come back.
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Yes, you may be right. As a matter of fact you are most likely right. Although, I do have to say that they swipe my passport on the regular basis at the airport on my way out of the country. I do not know if this is for the airline use or somebody elses use. I also do not know if airline companies are obliged to provide US goverment any info on leaving individuals.
 
itc said:
Yes, you may be right. As a matter of fact you are most likely right. Although, I do have to say that they swipe my passport on the regular basis at the airport on my way out of the country. I do not know if this is for the airline use or somebody elses use. I also do not know if airline companies are obliged to provide US goverment any info on leaving individuals.
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I thought USDHS started tracking people (non USC's/USPR's) leaving the country at airports via the US Visit program...
 
They do have information on when you left and entered...usually accurate..sometimes known to not be accurate...
But regardless...you should never lie on your application
 
Well in an ideal world no one should lie on their tax returns either. But the fact is that fraud is common and only a very small percentage of it gets caught. That is particularly true in the case of immigration matters too. The original poster wanted a practical answer, but I agree most mothers would tell their child "never ever lie" or bad things will happen.
 
I know since there are no exit stamps from US immigraton, it really depends on the entry stamps from the immigration of the country you are entering. As far as I know, not every country will impose entry stamps on passports, so it really depends on whether the US immigration officer will check that in a hard way.

What I understand that the officier won't do such an extensive check, unless you are way too far - like you were outside US for 4 years but you only report 2 months. In reality they have too many cases to review in a single day and each interview only lasts about 15 to 20 minutes. :)

Of course, lying is not a good option. Not at all.
 
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They do check the time stamp. I traveled one time for only three weeks but the interview officer checked the passport page by page.
 
Hi -

I heard that the immigration officer will match the dates on the application with the stamps on passport. However, as in my friend's case, there are some countries that do not stamp his passport when he enters the country, nor the US immigration had stamped his passport when he exited. So generally speaking there are no records on his passport when he exited US. Only entry records were available.

He chatted with me one day about this scenario and he said he does not have any proofs of exiting at all, although he can show his physical presence in the country in some cases. I don't know how the immigration officer will verify these records.

Of course, some of my friends told me that for their cases, they have entry records from both US and the entering countries (I guess India falls in this category, right?), so for this case this is no way to deceive the immigration officer. If one insists to do so, he or she is digging a grave for him/herself.

In the meantime, fellow experts maybe you could shed some lights on how my friend could prove this?

-fchan100-
 
Thanks everyone for your replies !

My personal opinion is that IMMIGRATION , in the case of Green Card Holders, do not have any record WHAT DATES they left UNITED STATES. MANY people I know have told me they totally lied in their N400 applications - that they had hardly ever been out of US ...while they had practically lived abroad - and got away getting their Citizenships !

Infact, many of them would leave AND RE-ENTER USA through Canada , as in this case they dont even keep an entry record ! Inact, even if you ask an US immigration officer to stamp your passport when entering from Canada - he will refuse ! So this gives Green Card holders a trick to fool the system if they are planning on going out for over 6 months - simply go out and return through Canada.

I am not suggesting anyone should lie, but the knowledge how immigration functions can be very helpful to some in very critical situations ....many people r really desperate to get Citizenship, so they can bring in their spouses into the country. Its really very discriminatory that the Green Card holders cannot bring in their Husbands or Wives immidietly (4 years wait !), but H1 / L1 Holder, Citizens can bring in their spouses instantly ! And this is called the land of Equality !

Those with any more knowledge or experience in this regard, PLEASE DO POST !

Thanks again everyone !
Monu.
 
JoeF said:
That is no longer accurate.
The airlines are required by law to submit the passenger manifests to DHS. This is done electronically. In other words, they know exactly when you left.
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As per your knowledge ....has this started recently ...post Sept 11 ...or has it been on for even longer ?

Does the Immigration officer have this record when evaluation your N400 ?

Thanks ! ...Monu.
 
Hi Monu -

I recalled that there was an article in USAToday that TSA was trying to capturing the exiting records of passengers by flight by swiping the passport. I think that matches with what JoeF said.

However, I know that they are still under testing period and the records are even not accurate. Say there are bunch of Rajeev Desai in the CIS database and you probably don't know which Rajeev Desai you are talking about.

I share your views that you want to get your citizenship done so that your can reunite your family. This is one of the suckest part as a LPR. I also heard that some people were getting away with sneaking thru Canada. You can consider this is a loophole in the immigration. I recall that once I was going to Canada to visit my friends by car, there are basically no records of my exit/entry records at all - the immigration officer simply looked at my GC and my passport and asked me to go ahead.

Here I am not encouraging anyone to lie, but it is true that as of today the exit records are not well implemented at all as far as I know. As my last posting regards my friends' situation where there are no exiting records for him since the entering country does not stamp his passport, it is just hardly possible for CIS to hunt his exit records. For that, the information from N-400 is really up to his honesty, I guess.

-fchan100-
 
It seems that in US at POE(Port of entry) , entry stamp on the passport are also sometimes ignored by immigration officials for LPR. No stamp at POE I belive is a common occurance , at least it happened to me..
 
They know when you left and returned. Additionally at the time of the interview they check few dates randomly. Even one mistake is adequate to disqualify you. As I said earlier this is a straightforward process. Only way to get through is being totally honest
 
kash_k5 said:
It seems that in US at POE(Port of entry) , entry stamp on the passport are also sometimes ignored by immigration officials for LPR. No stamp at POE I belive is a common occurance , at least it happened to me..
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I was missing one of the Dallas POE stamp as well coming in from Europe in 1999. I remember the officer at the POE did not even bother to open our passports but did swipe the GCs and did some checking and typing on his computer. This was the first time I was entering after getting my GC so I did not know better to ask him about the stamp. I did mention every trip in N-400 with the correct dates and was worried before my interview in Feb this year about that one missing stamp. I did have my mileage statement, rental car charge on credit card statement and also an airline charge for travel two days after the international arrival and many other credit card charges and cell phone usage statements to prove that I was physically here on that day forward. But the interviewing officer did not bother to check the stamps on the passport. Everything went well and I became a citizen in March this year.
 
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The ONLY option is to be totally truthful. The consequences if you're found not to be honest are very severe. Even if you think otherwise, assume they do in fact have records of exits / entries from all kinds of sources. If they happen to have information that contradicts what you've documented on your N-400, the burden of proof to show they're wrong is totally on YOU and not the USCIS, and any doubt will be a problem.
 
Hi all -

Back to the good old question, in case there are missing stamps on the passports. How one can verify the exact date of entry or exit? In my friend's case, his proofs of flight were gone such as boarding passes and he has not claimed any mileages...

-fchan100-
 
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