whitestrips
New Member
Hello everyone, I would like an advice on how to proceed based on the following background information:
My wife was working on an H1 visa from 1997 till 2002; I was on an F1 Visa. We are originally from two different countries so we decided to move to a third country, Canada. My wife submitted an application and she was approved by the last quarter of 2002.
As mentioned above, I was on F1 student Visa completing my MBA. We got married on 2002. My wife was then in Washington DC area and I was in SF area. I decided to transfer to a University around her. I got my I 20 from that university and transferred. After three weeks she received her landing paper from Canadian immigration. We had to act fast and move to Canada. So she packed and moved to Canada along with my son. I have decided to move back to my original university.
I contacted the office of international student and requested a new I20 and completed the transfer. I restarted my MBA early January 2003.during that period of time all international students from specific countries were required to register with the INS. I went for that registration and got a new I 94 with duration of Stay.
On august of 2003 I received an email from the international student office of the university asking me to reinstate my F1 visa because we now need to register in the SEVIS system and my I20 is not valid because the transfer was not done correctly . I met with a counselor to discuss the issue. She suggested that since I am leaving the country in a 6 months period, which is the time to complete my remaining MBA courses, it would be a waste of time to start the reinstatement process. I left the US on the 29th of February of 2004, couple of days after completing my last MBA class.
I had moved to Canada to join my wife and my son. On February of 2005 I received a call from my old roommate informing me that the immigration police came twice looking for me. I assume that once I was not registered with the SEVIS system the university had informed the immigration. I am not sure if I have given the immigration my I94 when I left the US so they do not have a record of my departure.
Now we are Canadian citizens and we want to go back to the US. We have plenty of job offers and we are willing to invest/run a business.
The following are my concerns and questions:
• Is it possible to request my immigration status in the US without making things worse? I know that there is some type of form that I can fill up and send to the immigration but do they really give me the exact status?
• My I 94 was duration of stay. Is the case above an out of status issue or a Visa overstaying issue?
• Does the 3 and 10 years ban apply to out of status issues as well as overstaying issues?
• Canadian citizens do not need a Visa to enter the US. Can we at least visit our many friends we had “left behind” in the US?
From my preliminary research I was able to identify the following options:
1. H1 visas, we do not want to take this path even though employers are calling us all the time and offering us employment particularly my wife.
2. TN visas, this category has some restriction on what you can do.
3. E visas ( we are currently business owners and are willing to spend more than 500 K to buy a business even in a remote area of the country). This is our favorite option.
So the biggest issue at the moment is to find out why the immigration was looking for me and if it is possible to move to the US on an E, H1 or TN visas.
I greatly appreciate everyone’s input.
Thanks and Regards,
My wife was working on an H1 visa from 1997 till 2002; I was on an F1 Visa. We are originally from two different countries so we decided to move to a third country, Canada. My wife submitted an application and she was approved by the last quarter of 2002.
As mentioned above, I was on F1 student Visa completing my MBA. We got married on 2002. My wife was then in Washington DC area and I was in SF area. I decided to transfer to a University around her. I got my I 20 from that university and transferred. After three weeks she received her landing paper from Canadian immigration. We had to act fast and move to Canada. So she packed and moved to Canada along with my son. I have decided to move back to my original university.
I contacted the office of international student and requested a new I20 and completed the transfer. I restarted my MBA early January 2003.during that period of time all international students from specific countries were required to register with the INS. I went for that registration and got a new I 94 with duration of Stay.
On august of 2003 I received an email from the international student office of the university asking me to reinstate my F1 visa because we now need to register in the SEVIS system and my I20 is not valid because the transfer was not done correctly . I met with a counselor to discuss the issue. She suggested that since I am leaving the country in a 6 months period, which is the time to complete my remaining MBA courses, it would be a waste of time to start the reinstatement process. I left the US on the 29th of February of 2004, couple of days after completing my last MBA class.
I had moved to Canada to join my wife and my son. On February of 2005 I received a call from my old roommate informing me that the immigration police came twice looking for me. I assume that once I was not registered with the SEVIS system the university had informed the immigration. I am not sure if I have given the immigration my I94 when I left the US so they do not have a record of my departure.
Now we are Canadian citizens and we want to go back to the US. We have plenty of job offers and we are willing to invest/run a business.
The following are my concerns and questions:
• Is it possible to request my immigration status in the US without making things worse? I know that there is some type of form that I can fill up and send to the immigration but do they really give me the exact status?
• My I 94 was duration of stay. Is the case above an out of status issue or a Visa overstaying issue?
• Does the 3 and 10 years ban apply to out of status issues as well as overstaying issues?
• Canadian citizens do not need a Visa to enter the US. Can we at least visit our many friends we had “left behind” in the US?
From my preliminary research I was able to identify the following options:
1. H1 visas, we do not want to take this path even though employers are calling us all the time and offering us employment particularly my wife.
2. TN visas, this category has some restriction on what you can do.
3. E visas ( we are currently business owners and are willing to spend more than 500 K to buy a business even in a remote area of the country). This is our favorite option.
So the biggest issue at the moment is to find out why the immigration was looking for me and if it is possible to move to the US on an E, H1 or TN visas.
I greatly appreciate everyone’s input.
Thanks and Regards,