landing and returning to the US using 30 day rule
I would like to share my landing experiance with this forum. This forum has been extremely helpful in providing me with necessary info regarding landing process, rental car and visa issues.
Here is my personal profile:
Nationality- Bangladesh
Gender- Male (Muslim)
Current Status in the US- H1B (No H1B visa stamped on passport)
Previous Status- F1(expired F1 visa on passport)
From this forum I knew that Peace Bridge (Buffalo) Immigration authority is aware of the Automatic Visa Revalidation (AVR or 30 day rule) policy.Even then, I called them up and confimred that they do allow AVR with expired visa and valid I-94. When I specifically asked if the rule is valid when expired visa on passport was different than the current status (in my case expired F1 visa with H1 I-94), the officer could not confirm. Rather, he advised me to ask the attending officer before I cross the bridge to go to Canada.
I rented an intermediate car from Hertz for one way travel to Canada for US$98/day. I reached peace bridge at around 10:00 am on a Saturday. I parked my car in the parking lot of the duty free shop on the US side of the bridge and then went to the special registration booth. The officer at the booth checked my documents and advised me that I didn't need to registrar. When I told him that I am willing to use AVR, he looked at my documents and said that I had an expired visa that is different from my current status. When I told him that according to State Department AVR should work with any expired non-immigrant visa, he agreed right away and wished me good luck with my landing. The officer was very professional and prompt.
The landing process took .5 hr, even though I was the only client in the entire customs and immigration department. The lady officer wanted to see the landing papers and noted the amount of money available with me. I had a bank statement and a cashier's check. She didn't bother to take a look at either. Then she explained what I need to do to maintain my PR status in Canada and that I would need the PR card if I plan to reenter Canada in a commercial vehicle.
On Monday I went to SIN Card office in Dufreen Mall. The entire process took only 5 minutes. What I found a bit disappointing is that no one in the immigration or in the SIN office bothered to say "Welcome to Canada" .
I returned back to the US on Aug 9th via Peace Bridge. The immigration officer (Black lady) called me in and started writing the I-94 number on my passport. That was a relief since that was a sure indication that I was going to get entry to the US. She asked me how long I was in Canada and then stamped my passport. The lady was quite but not rude.
I hope this info helps.