Predicament in applying for citizenship -please help

H

harryd1975

New Member
Hello,

I have a green-card obtained through employment, and I am now ready to apply for US citizenship.

Unfortunately, back in 1997, me and some of my friends were driving in the niagara falls, NY area and accidentally entered the duty free enclosure which is a 1-way road with spikes preventing us from reversing our car. At that time, I was in an F-1 status. We were told that the only way we could get back to the US was to cross the international bridge and make a U-turn. We did that, but unfortunately I did not have my passport with me (As we had no intentions of crossing the border).

The canadian authorities were not happy, but allowed us to return back to the US without any issues. On the US side, we were asked to get out of our car and go inside the building since I did not have my passport.

The INS officer inside the building sternly told us to carry our passports going forward. They allowed us to re-enter the US after I showed my student ID card. No Fines were paid and no arrests were made.

My question is whether this should be reported in the N-400 form, and if I do so, what are the possibilities of complicating my case ? In other words, can my case be denied for this ? If so, will I also lose my green card ?

Please let me know..
 
No fine, no arrest - > no problem. Don't think you even need to mention it, except perhaps as a 1 day trip to Canada.
 
1) My understanding is that vists outside of the US of 24 hours or less do not have to be listed on the N-400 or mentioned at interview (unless asked).
2) It would appear from your post that the USCIS/INS did not keep a record of the incident (either hard-copy or computer).

Thus ..... I personally would not worry about it !!!!!!

As always, remember that I am not a lawyer !!!!!
 
I wouldn't mention it as it is beyond 5 years. If (I very, very much doubt it) the issue comes up during interview, explain what happened. I don't see any problem with that. I am sure things like that happen day in and day out at land border crossings.
 
Write a "to whom it may concern" letter with as much information as you can have (exact dates if you remember, who was in the car, anything you can think of). Put it in your "remember to bring this to the interview" folder (maybe get one of your friends to write a similar letter).

Then bring it to interview *in case* the subject comes up. If the IO says something, say "I wasn't sure if I should mention that, but here's the story".
 
thanks

Thanks for your response guys. The reason this concerns me is that Canada has a record of this, and questions me every time I enter Canada via air. But I have never had any issues pertaining to this incident when entering US.

I guess since I never paid a fine, wasn't arrested, there is nothing to worry about.
 
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