Preparing N-400 for mom - missing one Arrival Stamp in passport???

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chirag11

Registered Users (C)
Hello all

My whole family will be filing for citizenship and so I am going through the passports to find how long the trips were for each of us for that section of N-400.

I started with my mom's passport. I got the date, place and arrival/departure info from all the stamps from my mom's passport. I am originally from India and we came to Houston first and then we moved to Los Angeles. As I put all the dates together in order of date and then arrival/departure, I found that there is one instance where I have a departure stamp from India (Mumbai Immigration Departure stamp) but no corresponding arrival stamp at LAX (this was not the first time we came to US - so I do have the stamp where they processed us for green card). This missing stamp occurred in 2000. Now my mom did have a Re-entry permit during that time and she had made two trips - one in 2000 and another in 2001. We have the Arrival into LAX stamp for the 2001 trip (in the re-entry permit) but I cannot find the Arrival stamp for 2000 into LAX anywhere - not in the passport, not in the re-entry permit. My mom says that the immigration people never stamped her passport or re-entry permit. They just swiped her Green Card and thats it.

Is it possible that the immigration people never stamped her entry into LAX?

Since I cannot find the stamp, can I just guess her arrival date into LAX (usually same date when traveling from India)?

How important is it going to be during interview if she cannot show her arrival stamp for LAX in 2000?

Thanks all!!!
 
If you don't know the exact dates, guestimate them instead. USCIS will be able to determine the exact dates from their database since they scanned her passport. Don't worry about it , it's a non issue.
 
CBP doesn't always stamp US passports or foreign passports of greencard residents.

Before I went to my interview last week, I made sure that I had all the documents/records.
These included passports, old airline tickets/boarding passes, hotel receipts, even car rental
receipts. You never know what the IO will do. It is always better to be prepared.

On the other hand, you really shouldn't worry about one missing US entry stamp. Just try
you best to estimate the date of the entry. :)
 
2000 is outside the 5 year period you need to report trips, so I don't think you need to note this trip in the application and this shouldn't be an issue. Even if the trip was within the five years it wouldn't be an issue, lots of people have lots of stamps missing.
 
Jackolantern said:
Actually, all trips since becoming a LPR need to be reported, not just the past 5 years.
Click to expand...

Yes, you need to list all trips since LPR since the N-400 asks for it - not just past 5 years. You can write your best guess, and *add a note* to the N-400 saying so.
 
Jackolantern said:
Actually, all trips since becoming a LPR need to be reported, not just the past 5 years.
Click to expand...

My bad. I didn't double check with the N-400. As I applied within 5 years of LPR it was my case that I needed to report my trips on the past 5 years ;) Anyway, the missing stamp is a minor thing, fill out to what you remember to be the date and if need be mention during interview. I hope this won't be grounds for denaturalization down the road ;) I am just kidding guys.
 
Thanks all!

Thanks all for your replies. I will add it as a note in the N-400 and let my mom know as well - the interview is still a long way away so no worries right now.

Thanks again!
 
Missing stamp at port of arrival

Greetings,
Today I had my interview for the citizenship. I was very excited considering that I have lived in this country for over 20 years, starting with my tennage years. I passed the test, unfortunately the immigration officer was not able to approve naturalization due to "missing stamp" for one of my recent trip abroad. I am now required to contact the airport and airline to get information why my passport was not stamped.

Contacting the airline or airport :confused::confused:?? This puzzled me since this is not the function or responsibility of the airport/airline. I thought that the immigration officer simply forgot to stamp my passport. I was told that iteneray would not be sufficient. This could be complicated since the travel occured 12 months ago.

For now, I am hoping that immigration department will have electronic data for my arrival. 20 years in the waiting, and I have to wait some more due to procedural error. Lessons learned for other, Mistakes do happend, therefore do not assume that the immigration officers follow procedure 100% of the time. Check your passport for stamp upon arrival especially if you are planning on getting naturalize in the future. I must be one of the unlucky one.


chirag11 said:
Hello all

My whole family will be filing for citizenship and so I am going through the passports to find how long the trips were for each of us for that section of N-400.

I started with my mom's passport. I got the date, place and arrival/departure info from all the stamps from my mom's passport. I am originally from India and we came to Houston first and then we moved to Los Angeles. As I put all the dates together in order of date and then arrival/departure, I found that there is one instance where I have a departure stamp from India (Mumbai Immigration Departure stamp) but no corresponding arrival stamp at LAX (this was not the first time we came to US - so I do have the stamp where they processed us for green card). This missing stamp occurred in 2000. Now my mom did have a Re-entry permit during that time and she had made two trips - one in 2000 and another in 2001. We have the Arrival into LAX stamp for the 2001 trip (in the re-entry permit) but I cannot find the Arrival stamp for 2000 into LAX anywhere - not in the passport, not in the re-entry permit. My mom says that the immigration people never stamped her passport or re-entry permit. They just swiped her Green Card and thats it.

Is it possible that the immigration people never stamped her entry into LAX?

Since I cannot find the stamp, can I just guess her arrival date into LAX (usually same date when traveling from India)?

How important is it going to be during interview if she cannot show her arrival stamp for LAX in 2000?

Thanks all!!!
Click to expand...
 
bert94 said:
Greetings,
Today I had my interview for the citizenship. I was very excited considering that I have lived in this country for over 20 years, starting with my tennage years. I passed the test, unfortunately the immigration officer was not able to approve naturalization due to "missing stamp" for one of my recent trip abroad. I am now required to contact the airport and airline to get information why my passport was not stamped....
Click to expand...

Which district office was it?

In many instances, they don't even look/ask for passorts; and suppose, the passport is lost, how would they see return stamps? The only document in that case a person can produce is police report for lost passport. Besides, if a greenacrd holder travels by road or rail (say to Canada), nobody puts any stamp in the passport at the border (other than verifying greencard)
 
bert94 said:
Greetings,
Today I had my interview for the citizenship. I was very excited considering that I have lived in this country for over 20 years, starting with my tennage years. I passed the test, unfortunately the immigration officer was not able to approve naturalization due to "missing stamp" for one of my recent trip abroad. I am now required to contact the airport and airline to get information why my passport was not stamped.
Click to expand...
That is ridiculous. The only thing the airline can help you with is to verify the dates you traveled. The airlines don't stamp anybody's passports.

Do you have a history of so many extended trips outside the US that you are close to violating the physical presence or continuous residence conditions? And did you list the exact dates of all trips, including the one with the missing stamp?
 
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