Overstayed visa, voluntarily leaving: How to avoid ban (and getting caught)

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northernstar

New Member
I studied at a U.S. college and have overstayed my visa by nearly four years. I now need to return to my home country (a VWP country). I know what the penalty is for this transgression: a 10-year ban. I would like to avoid this. What are my options?

I know that I absolutely cannot turn in my I-94 form. Would crossing into Mexico over land and then flying to my home country work to my advantage (no I-94 asked for, no record of departure from the U.S.)? Does anyone have any experience?

Basically, I want to avoid the 10-year ban and I want to avoid getting caught. Any advice is welcome. Thanks!
 
Why are you trying to avoid getting caught? you purposely broke the law and abused the system and offcourse will be caught.
 
Turn in the I-94 or you will have no way to prove that you left. No matter what you do now, you will be "caught" if you try to reenter illegally.

I cannot believe that you are/were a college student! This is one of the most absurd proposals to date.
 
It's natural to want to avoid getting caught. Come on, people. The Mexico trip seems doable, though when the Mexicans stamp your passport at the airport on your way home, and if you use that same passport to then come back to the US, you might have a problem if they inspect your passport. Also, you might be asked when you left the US, and they might wonder why there is no record of that departure in their system.
 
Just leave. The US has nothing to, nor will they know about your departure. Personally, I wouldn't turn in my I-94 because they will then have a record of your departure, maybe you lost it (Hint).... Will your country share it with the US, im unsure, mine didn't). FYI, I was an overstay, and I never turned my I-94 in (Read my signature)!!
 
Concerned4us said:
Turn in the I-94 or you will have no way to prove that you left. No matter what you do now, you will be "caught" if you try to reenter illegally.
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The fact that the I-94 was not returned is likely to flag the OP in the system when he or she attempts to return to the US.

Remember that there is a lifetime bar if one enters the US while subject to the 10-year bar. Probably the worst possible outcome is for the OP to be let in the first time, then have the 10-year bar discovered on the second entry.
 
TheRealCanadian said:
The fact that the I-94 was not returned is likely to flag the OP in the system when he or she attempts to return to the US.

Remember that there is a lifetime bar if one enters the US while subject to the 10-year bar. Probably the worst possible outcome is for the OP to be let in the first time, then have the 10-year bar discovered on the second entry.
Click to expand...

I never turned mine in, and I didn't get flagged!
 
slim chance for to be flagged like that ..if you have some slightly unusual (not say Joe or JAck for example )name you never gonna get flagged anyway because there is a 99% chance your name will be put into the system incorrectly anyway ..my very good friend lost his green card on holiday back in europe ...when he arrived back in the usa he did ot feel like explaining or going to secondary for hours so he just vent to tourist/visitors side of the immigration and presented his passport from another country ( he has dual citizenship)..they gave him 3 moths visa ..his name never came up as a GC holder ...he got the new GC in a month time and a year later he traveled back and forth to EU ...funny enough he presented his passport which he used to enter US but not to exit ..so he overstayed on one passport and also had a GC on second one ..but they did not match it on the border when he by mistaka gave them the wrong passport !!!...crazy ...
 
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