Hospital bill, would it affect immigration?

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gabriela030

Registered Users (C)
Hello,

I have a concern, I would need your help please.
My dad came to the US a year and a half ago as a tourist, he got into health problem, so I had to take him to the hospital, he signed all the hospital papers and they took a copy of his passport. Then he went back home to our country. Conclusion, nobody paid the bill actually I never received one. But the debt is there nobody has paid it. This year he will be coming back to visit me on tourist visa again; do you think the hospital would send this information to immigration and they will deny his entrance to the States or they would make him pay the debt on the airport?
I am really worried and confused. I really appreciate your advices and help.
Thanks in advance
 
When you invited visitors you would have filled I-134 which is an affidavit of support. This means you own up all the responsibilities of anyone you invited.

Now debt becomes and IRS issue and not a USCIS issue. It is unlikely an entry would be denied for that unless IRS knows and informed DHS about this.

So chances are your Dad should be able to reenter but the debt is on you and not your Dad.

gabriela030 said:
Hello,

I have a concern, I would need your help please.
My dad came to the US a year and a half ago as a tourist, he got into health problem, so I had to take him to the hospital, he signed all the hospital papers and they took a copy of his passport. Then he went back home to our country. Conclusion, nobody paid the bill actually I never received one. But the debt is there nobody has paid it. This year he will be coming back to visit me on tourist visa again; do you think the hospital would send this information to immigration and they will deny his entrance to the States or they would make him pay the debt on the airport?
I am really worried and confused. I really appreciate your advices and help.
Thanks in advance
Click to expand...
 
bigbang2001 said:
When you invited visitors you would have filled I-134 which is an affidavit of support. This means you own up all the responsibilities of anyone you invited.
Click to expand...

The I-134 implies no such thing. It merely allows the government to come after the sponsor for any public benefits received by the alien. It has no impact on any debts of the alien with a private entity, or with the government for anything other than benefit payments.
 
Thanks for your replies.

I haven't filled up any application, my dad got his tourist visa without anything from me. So, I never sponsored him.

Yes, I wanted to pay the debt but I haven't received any bill or anything at all.
 
Please, what she is doing is not illegal. :D
You might want to check with the hospital and tell them to send you the bill on your father's name c/o your name and work it out somehow.
You did not sponsored your father to come to the US. He had a b1/b2 visa; he does not need any sponsorship. I am an aos applicant and my father, 2 of my sisters and both of my inlaws have them and not even once have we required to fill anything for them; the embassy in our countries gives them the visas and they dont even name us (my husband and I there). Actually it looks like my husband's country wont even require a tourist visa anymore, they will have the waiver.
However I will advise you to buy some kind of travelers insurance for when he travels. I purchased some for my sister, she never did use it though.
 
Also, some hospitals will pay the bill, given that your father was in the country legally and he probably had an emergency; it happens also to people with very small incomes and I guess they take in consideration that your dad was legally allowed in the country, probably did not have any income, he was visiting and most likely it was an emergency of sorts. But if it makes you feel better call them and work something out to pay it.
 
Thanks for your replies everybody.
Techbuyer77 thanks for your response, that's exactly what happened, my father didn't even mentioned my name to get the tourist visa, but when he came here he got an emergency and he spent one night in the hospital. They photocopied his passport as an identification, that's why i was worried.
Could you please provide me with the name of the insurance that you bought for your sister.
Thanks in advance
 
I dont know the name grabiella because she bought thru a travel agent back home, but I am sure that if you ask your relatives to contact a travel agent in your home country they should be able to get some kind of travelers emergency insurance...When the embassy gives you a tourist visa they check your records and they basically are seeing you have enough money to visit the US; and I am positive that is a federal law that if you have an emergency a hospital will take you if is something life threatening.
I am sure that lets say a group of tourists that travel say to new york and get involve in the Statue of liberty boat accident are not doing anything ILLEGAL if they are taken to a hospital... I mean it is an emergency!

I am sure your dad wont have any problems. I wish him the best on his trip to visit you.
 
hospitals will assume the cost, given that the patient does not have any income and was not sponsored by anyone therefore the daughter is not responsible for the bill. I agree it is kind of a moral obligation. But federal law obligates the hospital to take the person in; and I am sure that american embassies and consulates know if the person will be able to pay a hospital bill that is in the thousends. I think is a collateral risk on the embassy; I truly believe that the government most likely paid itself on this particular case. I do not believe this particular case is one of one person abusing the system.
I do not think the federal government will go after a tourist without legal US income.
So I think you are wrong. i do not understand your obsession with the word illegal, were you one before you married in redneckville?
 
If the hospital is a public one, I dont know if they report somehow to the feds. I am sure of 3 things (witness to all of them)
1. A hospital will take you if your life is on risk like in an accident.
2. A hospital will sent you a bill if they determine you have enough income to pay.
3. A hospital will assume the cost if you dont have any income.

I believe that the feds will take in consideration overhead costs such as this (emergency costs of one or two tourists vs. income generated from tourism in general) otherwise besides the visa the consulate or embassy will require medical insurance. Such is not the case. So it is not illegal.
 
techbuyer77 said:
i do not understand your obsession with the word illegal, were you one before you married in redneckville?
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Was that supposed to be a blow at me? :) lol.

I was not an illegal. Never have been. I do not have an obsession with the word, it is simply the word denoting an action that goes against a law. :rolleyes:

But about this whole hospital thing. Hospitals will take you if you have an emergency, but is not a "moral thing" whether you pay them or not.

You buy something, you pay for it. You were provided a service, you pay for it. There is nothing free.

Some hospitals have a pay scale for people with low income, but in this case, the bill does not go to an embassy, or the government.

If you are running a business you would expect your costumers to pay you, wouldn't you?
 
Hospitals are not bussiness. They are part of the government. Overhead costs such as an emergency are part of the risk. I am not saying people should abuse the system. I am saying if the hospital did not send a bill, most likely the asumed the cost for the risk they took when they allowed the tourist to enter the country. (Economy 101)

Visitors are not required to have health insurance when they travel. If they government dont want to assume the cost they will make mandatory health insurance for them. Such is not the case. And if the visitor dont have any legal income the hospital most likely will assume the cost.

I am sure the government is just doing a cash flow, money that enters vs money that goes out. If it is possitive they wont change the law.

And when you said the daughter of the visitor was doing something illegal you were wrong. She did not sponsor her father to come. No visitor need sponsorship. For what I know, none of my relatives have been asked to show any proof on my income.
 
techbuyer77 said:
Hospitals are not bussiness. They are part of the government.
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The vast majority of them most certainly are NOT part of the government. Some are for-profit, others are non-profit. Outside of the VA and military systems I am hard-pressed to think of any hospitals that are government entities.
 
I was laid off on 2005 and had an infection and had to go to a private clinic, and trust me unlike public hospitals, they wouldn't take me unless I paid at front. I did paid like $500 for a lousy visit and some pills (no insurance of course)
 
I respect your opinion Praetorian, but I don't agree one what you're saying about having a business and paying for buying something, health and hospitals aren't similar to business at all.
 
Hi gabriela
I would like to know what happened with this case, have your dad had problems at his entrance to States?
thanks,
Rolando
 
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