This question has been puzzled me for months. When I left US, I didn't recall airline wrote down my green card number or SSN. Even if airline does that, I doubt they will pass this info to USCIS. Then how the hell does USCIS know I am out of the country for more than 12 months? Did I miss anything here?
Citizenship application - how does USCIS know I am out of country for more than 12 months?
- Thread starter pvash
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speakamericano
Registered Users (C)
Departure and arrival stamps in your passport go into the computer system.
I believe that CBP is notified of your exit dates from the airlines' manifest records. USCIS can access this data from CBP. There is a thread on this forum with a link to a FOIA request a journalist did from CBP. CBP had all entry and exit dates, airlines, the credit card numbers used to buy the flights, the IP address of his computer used to buy the flight, etc. Look for the thread and the link to the journalist's article, as the journalist posted pdf's of the FOIA reports.
speakamericano
Registered Users (C)
I don't about your passport, but every time I left US for Canada, India, or Japan I got a departure stamp and an arrival stamp.
The USA does not issue departure stamps or have exit controls at its borders or airports. You definitely did not receive any departure stamps from any US CBP official. You also did not get departure exit stamps from Canada as Canada Customs does not have exit controls either. Same goes for most countries in Europe. However, the absence of formal exit controls does not mean that CBP does not have methods of determining who has left the USA. In the case of CBP they use the airline and marine passenger manifest records. That is why it is possible to exit the USA via land and CBP would not be aware, but via air the CBP is aware.
speakamericano
Registered Users (C)
Buddy I've departure and arrival stamps on my Indian passport. And they were done at the airport customs. I don't know what CBP rules and regulations are you talking about... May be they don't put it on the US passport. But on an Indian passport it's definitely there. Next thing you'll be telling would be that you never did FP as a green card holder at the airport.
tell us where exactly at what airport in the USA did you go through exit immigration controls. Since exit controls do not exist in the USA, we are very curious how you managed to be processed through them. I suspect that you are confusing immigration controls in India with the USA.
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You are completely confused and are talking nonsense.
When you leave the U.S., you do not go through a passport control or through the customs and you do not get any departure stamps in your passport from the U.S. authorities. It is absolutely irrelevant what country's passport you have.
However, when your flight arrives at its destination, you do go through the passport control and customs at the country of your destination and you do get a passport stamp from that country's passport control officials. That stamp is not a departure stamp from the U.S., but rather an arrival/entry stamp from the country to which your flight from the U.S. has arrived.
Gunt is absolutely correct. The airlines are required to transmit passenger manifests, containing the passport data, to the CBP for all the international flights departing the U.S. The CBP records this information and this way the U.S. authorities do know that you have left the country, even though the U.S. does not put an exit stamp in your passport when you leave. Plus, of course, you do go through the U.S. passport control and customs when you come back to the U.S. and you do get a U.S. entry stamp in your passport then. It is possible to request your entry/exit data from the CBP by filing a FIOA request:
https://help.cbp.gov/app/answers/de...-of-my-travel-in-and-out-of-the-united-states
The USCIS does not automatically get this data from the CBP for N-400 applicants, but USCIS can request this info from the CBP if it chooses to. By and large, the USCIS relies on the information provided by the applicant in the N-400 form regarding the travel to/from the U.S.
I forgot exact travel dates to fill my N400 application and found them using stamps on my passport. They never stamped my passport when I leave the country but I do have arrival stamps when I entered into other countries. So I used that stamp - 1/2 days (based on the airline or duration) as the departure date from USA and return stamp (at USA airports) as arrival date.
I guess this is one way for officer to find the length of travel if the stamps are readable in your passport.
I guess this is one way for officer to find the length of travel if the stamps are readable in your passport.
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The computer databases that contain all the immigration and naturalization information belong to DHS. ICE, CBP, and USCIS (as well as numerous other components including TSA and the Secret Service) are all part of DHS.
In addition, DOS and DHS share most of their information with each other and don't forget the FBI. Big brother is watching.
In addition, DOS and DHS share most of their information with each other and don't forget the FBI. Big brother is watching.
GCGiveMeMy
Registered Users (C)
Canada Border Entry By Road
I normally fly, hold a Canadian passport and have B-2 visas stamped from my recent flights to US. Recently during a road trip from Ontario to Pennsylvania, I arrived at the border a US immigration officer scanned my passport, asked the general questions before letting me in without stamping my passport.
During reentry though the road back to Canada had me go straight to the Canadian immigration officer who scanned my passport before letting me in.
Does the Canadian immigration/border patrol share dates of reentry with USCIS? Else, how would USCIS know when I left the US should I travel by road?
I normally fly, hold a Canadian passport and have B-2 visas stamped from my recent flights to US. Recently during a road trip from Ontario to Pennsylvania, I arrived at the border a US immigration officer scanned my passport, asked the general questions before letting me in without stamping my passport.
During reentry though the road back to Canada had me go straight to the Canadian immigration officer who scanned my passport before letting me in.
Does the Canadian immigration/border patrol share dates of reentry with USCIS? Else, how would USCIS know when I left the US should I travel by road?
cafeconleche
Registered Users (C)
Canada and the US share information.
The question was whether USA and Canada share entrance records. Even so, it would not be very helpful for the Americans because Canadian border guards often do not scan passports or enter any information from them. Actually, two times my passport was not even opened at all (both times at Lynden crossing by female CBSA officers).
RFID: Radio Frequency Identification Chips are embedded in passports which means that an actual person does not need to open and view or scan a passport for information to be collected.
Canada has not started to issue RFID equipped passports yet - expected date is 2012.
sanjoseaug20
Registered Users (C)
You do not need to issue RFID passports, you need the right RFID scanners at the border control. I am not saying they have them, just that the conclusion is not correct.
First of all, RFID passports can be read in the proximity (<10 cm) of the reader. Second, if the passport is closed, it cannot be read at all because the cover has a thin metal shield. The border agent was standing at least 1 metre from her desk in the booth, so no... it definitely could not be read.
I forgot to mention that at that time, I had a non-biometric passport from my birth country and a non-biometric GC
cafeconleche
Registered Users (C)
I read somewhere that tests conducted showed that the RFID chip could be read from metres away, not just centimetres. I keep my passport rubberbanded at all times as it doesn't stay closed on its own.