How does USCIS trace travels?

J

jasper789

Registered Users (C)
My first time here, so I apologize if my questions are old..

How does USCIS trace travels? How far out do they trace it? Are they interested in our travels 5 years before filing N400 or from the time we receive your greencard? Do we have to declare all travels for the past 10 years?

We have been traveling a lot in our first 5 years of being an LPR but have stayed put for the last 5 years (once a year for 3-4 weeks). Do you think USCIS will give us a hard time for that?
 
I think it is travel since you became a permanent resident. What I've read is that is not USCIS directly who keeps track of your trips, but that they query CBP (Customs and Border) for this information. They shouldn't give you a hard time about travel, as long as you meet physical and continuous residence requirements. If you are not sure you remember all the trips you can mention that to the IO during the interview, what they are looking for is that you disclose the information proactively. Except one recent case, I don't remember anyone getting in trouble because they forgot to include a few small trips.
 
Thanks for the reply.

Do you know how the CBP checks the travels? Do they store the information whenever our GCs are scanned at customs? If such is the case, don't they only scan it whenever we enter the US, but not when we leave? How would they know how long we have been outside the US?

The reason I'm asking is we stayed outside the US for over a year 8 years ago. We weren't so familiar with immigration laws so we simply got on a plane back to the US and resumed our lives as permanent residents. Upon our return, we weren't even asked about the long absence. I think the customs officer did not notice it because we traveled a lot during that one year. The last entry on our passports was our trip back to our original destination when we left the US a year ago. We were asked where we went, and we told the truth. We weren't asked how long we were away.

We took our chances and did not go through the proper channels. We thought we were able to get rid of a little inconvenience, but it is now haunting us.

Please advise us on how to proceed with our application.
 
jasper789 said:
Do you know how the CBP checks the travels? Do they store the information whenever our GCs are scanned at customs? If such is the case, don't they only scan it whenever we enter the US, but not when we leave? How would they know how long we have been outside the US?
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Sometimes when you check in at the airport for your flight which leaves the US, they swipe your green card. They swiped mine when I last traveled. But they don't do it all the time for everybody.
 
jasper789 said:
Thanks for the reply.

Do you know how the CBP checks the travels? Do they store the information whenever our GCs are scanned at customs? If such is the case, don't they only scan it whenever we enter the US, but not when we leave? How would they know how long we have been outside the US?

The reason I'm asking is we stayed outside the US for over a year 8 years ago. We weren't so familiar with immigration laws so we simply got on a plane back to the US and resumed our lives as permanent residents. Upon our return, we weren't even asked about the long absence. I think the customs officer did not notice it because we traveled a lot during that one year. The last entry on our passports was our trip back to our original destination when we left the US a year ago. We were asked where we went, and we told the truth. We weren't asked how long we were away.

We took our chances and did not go through the proper channels. We thought we were able to get rid of a little inconvenience, but it is now haunting us.

Please advise us on how to proceed with our application.
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Well, you were lucky to get in. Now, you must wait for 5 years if you were outside for 8 years, and one of the ways they are going to get proof of that is with the W2 forms that you filed with your 1040's every one of those 5 years.-
 
People with a lot of trips can have their passport checked thoroughly by the IO especially if the days of residency are close to the limit. But if there are no stamped dates of travel then it really depends on the applicant's honest answer I guess.

Even if the applicant hides some facts and gets away with it, there will always be a sword hanging over the citizenship. After all the interview begins with an oath to tell the truth so if at a future date the eligibility is questioned, then who knows what will happen. Most likely that absence won't matter since you have been living in the US for the past 8 yrs.

Rick, you misread the post. The OP was out for just 1 yr not 8.
 
RealCdn,
I was talking about IOs who check passports to confirm the veracity of travel dates. This has been reported in the forum.
 
jasper789 said:
The reason I'm asking is we stayed outside the US for over a year 8 years ago.
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CONFIRM WITH AN IMMIGRATION LAWYER, but I think you're fine since your problematic absence happened over 8 years ago. My understanding is that the look back period for the N-400 application is 5 years. If you have an absence of over 1 year IN THAT 5 YEAR PERIOD, you are statutorily prohibited (i.e., you will be rejected). If you have an absence of between 6 months and 1 years, it's at the discretion of USCIS and depends on what evidence you provide to support that your absence did not break continuity of residency.

There is, however, a chance that they could look at the 1 year absence as not just a break in continuous residency for application purposes but an abandonment of your greencard (i.e., they could take it away). This doesn't seem likely though since it was 8 years ago and presumably you've been in the United States continuously since then, own a house, have children born here, etc., etc. Irrespective, I would first talk to an immigration lawyer to confirm that it's okay and also take evidence to the interview supporting your intent to NOT abandon the greencard - things like, if you maintained a US residence during that time, mail to that address, US tax returns filed as a resident (Form 1040) for that period, etc.

Good luck. (BTW, ignore the wannabe Bushies on the board who seem to get off on unhelpful gotcha statements about other people's difficult situations. USCIS gotchas are enough to deal with.)
 
Triple Citizen said:
Can you elaborate on the improper channels you used?
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I meant we could've gotten re-entry permits. We did not know about it then. So we just bought tickets back to the US, kept our fingers crossed that they'd let us in. It's mostly just ignorance that makes people do stupid things. If forums like this existed 8 years ago, we would have known what to do.

There's also this thing in our country where you can ask the customs officers not to stamp arrival dates on your passports (illegaly and for a fee, of course). Apparently, GC holders who need to stay in the country longer than 6 months would request this. Then they would ask the customs officers to stamp another date just before they leave for the US. I wonder what consequences these GC holders face? (I'm not sure if this is still going on, most probably not)
 
jasper789 said:
There's also this thing in our country where you can ask the customs officers not to stamp arrival dates on your passports (illegaly and for a fee, of course). Apparently, GC holders who need to stay in the country longer than 6 months would request this. Then they would ask the customs officers to stamp another date just before they leave for the US. I wonder what consequences these GC holders face? (I'm not sure if this is still going on, most probably not)
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I don't see the point in doing this, since the GC will be swiped upon entry anyway, as well as prior to the original departure.
 
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Vorpal said:
I don't see the point in doing this, since the GC will be swiped upon entry anyway, as well as prior to the original departure.
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I believe it's just so that they can re-enter. Swiping the GC at the airport only verifies identity & authenticity. It doesn't give the officer information on when it was last swiped. (Correct me if I'm wrong with these assumptions)
 
Vorpal said:
I don't see the point in doing this, since the GC will be swiped upon entry anyway, as well as prior to the original departure.
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This was probably not as common 8 years ago, in the scenario decribed by the OP.

The point from the corrupt official's perspective is pretty clear, cash.

It seems like a very bad idea from the point of view of the GC holder however. If one's passport stamps dramatically contradict the entry or exit dates that are in IBIS, that would surely raise a red flag.
 
jasper789 said:
I believe it's just so that they can re-enter. Swiping the GC at the airport only verifies identity & authenticity. It doesn't give the officer information on when it was last swiped. (Correct me if I'm wrong with these assumptions)
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It goes on the manifests that the airline provides to CBP, which becomes part of IBIS and which USCIS uses.
 
This is the most blatant form of taking advantage of an unwary traveler. I'm fairly positive that with a couple of keystrokes, a CBP officer can see a list of dates on which a GC was swiped. If an overly vigilant officer decides to compare GC swipe dates with the stamps in the passport/re-entry permit, it will most certainly raise red flags. The GC holder will most likely not be held accountable, since it would be easy to blame the discrepancy on an error made by the customs official who stamped the passport/re-entry permit. Still, the GC holder would be out of cash that s/he paid to the corrupt customs official.
 
Vorpal said:
This is the most blatant form of taking advantage of an unwary traveler. I'm fairly positive that with a couple of keystrokes, a CBP officer can see a list of dates on which a GC was swiped. If an overly vigilant officer decides to compare GC swipe dates with the stamps in the passport/re-entry permit, it will most certainly raise red flags. The GC holder will most likely not be held accountable, since it would be easy to blame the discrepancy on an error made by the customs official who stamped the passport/re-entry permit. Still, the GC holder would be out of cash that s/he paid to the corrupt customs official.
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plus get in trouble if they declare the dates stamped on the passport instead of the actual travel dates which may show up in IBIS?
 
Just list all the trips and stop worrying about if they know about every exit and entry you took or how they know it. Maybe they know everything about your trips, maybe they don't. But you don't know how much they know, and getting caught in a material lie could result in your deportation. They can even revoke your citizenship after approving it if they find out that you lied.
 
I think Jackolantern is right. However, if this gives you a high level of anxiety it would be good to consult with a competent lawyer and perhaps get the lawyer with you to the interview to help you handle the long absence a few years ago. All said and done I think you should be fine to preserve your GC and to obtain naturalization.
 
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