RTD users - WARNING !

I

ianyu

Registered Users (C)
Hello to all:
I arrived to LA last night on RTD after being in Australia since december (a bit less then 6 months). The passport control officer typed in the details from my RTD in his computer and said my RTD was canceled. he said an application for another one was pending and asked if I was aware and if I declared this one as lost. (previous years it took me 5-6 months to get my RTD issued so I applied this february for a new one and checked the old one as misplaced - not lost) The offficer then took me to a room for secondary control. Another officer checked my RTD and said I could go. But then the first one intervened and explained that I had an application pending for another RTD). then the second officer logged into the CIS database and after reading something asked me if I declared my current RTD as lost. I said I applied for a new one early since it always takes many months to get it and they are valid for a year only but that I don't remember delaring my current RTD as lost. He became more unpleasant. (Both officer were not very pleasant from the moment they saw my green travel document. the first one even asked me what it was when I gave it to him.)Then he asked me if I had any other RTD with me. I took out all 4 old ones I always carry with me when I travel. He said I am not allowed to keep RTD when it expires and that I should send it back when I get back home. Then he changed his mind and told me he was going to keep all my RTD, including the one I arrived on and that he personally would mail them back. he left me without any RTD in my hands.
Today my USCIS message said that the RTD for which I applied in february was mailed to me.
I think that the officer had no right to confiscate my RTD but as you all know, there is usually no way one can talk to them and get a nice an professional response. Both of them asked me what I did in the US, when I moved to the US, if I was sure I moved to the US when I said I did, when and where to was my last travel, if I plan to travel again. To the best of my noticing none of my replies to these questions were recorded so I think they were simply being abusive. Both of them were chinese immigrants with heavy chinese accent.It was a bad experience after a very long flight.
'just wanted to share this with everyone here.
good luck

ianyu

ND march 2004
no GC yet
 
Well I have been to Australia and I had trouble too when I came back in early 2003. Something about officers on the west coast making a big deal for no reason.

Also never write that you "lost" a RTD and then travel with it. With obvious reasons, if you write it as lost, they put it in the computer that it is lost and you can't use to travel with it. I usually keep the RTD and write that I have it because I need it...

I also think you were out of country for almost 6 months which may have caused some questions. In the past years, how many months have you been out of the country? In 2 years, is it 1 year out of country??
 
I-K-A-K-O said:
So is it ok to keep old RTD if it has 1-2 months left on it and apply for new one ?
Click to expand...

Why would you want to keep one if only 1-2 months are left? You cant travel with it...?
 
The story would be more scary if your RTD appear in conjunction with NP. The U.S. Immigration interogated me for almost an hour in Canadian border and someone knocked my door later. It is no big deal if you tell them why you need to do that. They always say that "concealing material fact could cause the denial of your application.", even if they think you lied about whether your old RTD is lost, whether that is "material" is debatable....
 
hi

hey WMGCnow

why do u ask how long I was away in the last two years ? is there a rule I need to know about?
in the last two years I was away on three trips, all of tem combined about 8 months. is this a problem?

thanks
ian
 
windywd said:
The story would be more scary if your RTD appear in conjunction with NP. The U.S. Immigration interogated me for almost an hour in Canadian border and someone knocked my door later. It is no big deal if you tell them why you need to do that. They always say that "concealing material fact could cause the denial of your application.", even if they think you lied about whether your old RTD is lost, whether that is "material" is debatable....
Click to expand...

Windy,

You renewed your NP and have a RTD too right? is that a problem? My sister renewed her NP because she wants to get rid of the hassle of RTD...Is she in trouble now with USCIS? Is there general law that NP can't be renewed??
 
wantmygcnow said:
Windy,

You renewed your NP and have a RTD too right? is that a problem? My sister renewed her NP because she wants to get rid of the hassle of RTD...Is she in trouble now with USCIS? Is there general law that NP can't be renewed??
Click to expand...

There is no LAW per say that you cannot renew your NP. In fact many attorneys will tell you to renew it. Its not a big deal. Ideal scenario is to avoid using NP but lets say you want to visit a country that doesnt' accept RTD (such as UAE), then you gotta renew your NP. And travelling to UAE is not illegal.
 
wantmygcnow said:
Windy,

You renewed your NP and have a RTD too right? is that a problem? My sister renewed her NP because she wants to get rid of the hassle of RTD...Is she in trouble now with USCIS? Is there general law that NP can't be renewed??
Click to expand...

Want,

I think it is a quite vague area that USCIS should address. But I think the primary reason for that is every case is different. Let's say someone got asylum because his village is hostile to him for whatever reason, but the persecution is not from the government. Can he renew his passport? I don't think there is a problem. I think he will have more possibility of getting trouble if:

He claims the persecution is from the goverment and that government is still in power.
He uses RTD and NP inter-changeably or going through countries like Canada (everyone knows that trick, don't you think U.S. doesn't know?)
He clicked "no" in his RTD application.... In RTD application, they ask you about renewal of NP, and other stuff.... and it is a pretty black and white answer.

In my case, my damn governement was overthrown but previous loyalsts became warlords, and I selected "yes" on the RTD application. It takes some typing to explain: form goverment is gone but their residues are still around. so I could renew passport but still afraid of going back (I never did).

Just a thought: I think they become more diligent on this... Do you remember someone attached a pdf from USCIS website? That's a new statement from them: Yes, you can travel back to COP, but if your travel pattern suggests..... your status MAY be in danger.

Just my couple cents.
 
I took out all 4 old ones I always carry with me when I travel. He said I am not allowed to keep RTD when it expires and that I should send it back when I get back home.
Click to expand...
Lets say instead of 4 you had 10 Expired RTD's with you , theres no need for you to carry them with you , that might raise a red flag for the officers .. And YES they have the right to confiscate stuff from you
They only go by what the computer says and how you answer back to them
Even when you become a US Citizen they have the right to ask u and confiscate stuff from you , aslong as they do it in a professional matter , if you feel mistreated file a complaint http://www.cbp.gov/xp/cgov/travel/customerservice/
 
This is completely your fault. On your application for a new RTD you said you misplaced the valid one... Misplaced = LOST in English!
 
They could reasonably suspect that you were using a false identity because the travel document had been recorded as misplaced.


ianyu said:
Hello to all:
I arrived to LA last night on RTD after being in Australia since december (a bit less then 6 months). The passport control officer typed in the details from my RTD in his computer and said my RTD was canceled. he said an application for another one was pending and asked if I was aware and if I declared this one as lost. (previous years it took me 5-6 months to get my RTD issued so I applied this february for a new one and checked the old one as misplaced - not lost) The offficer then took me to a room for secondary control. Another officer checked my RTD and said I could go. But then the first one intervened and explained that I had an application pending for another RTD). then the second officer logged into the CIS database and after reading something asked me if I declared my current RTD as lost. I said I applied for a new one early since it always takes many months to get it and they are valid for a year only but that I don't remember delaring my current RTD as lost. He became more unpleasant. (Both officer were not very pleasant from the moment they saw my green travel document. the first one even asked me what it was when I gave it to him.)Then he asked me if I had any other RTD with me. I took out all 4 old ones I always carry with me when I travel. He said I am not allowed to keep RTD when it expires and that I should send it back when I get back home. Then he changed his mind and told me he was going to keep all my RTD, including the one I arrived on and that he personally would mail them back. he left me without any RTD in my hands.
Today my USCIS message said that the RTD for which I applied in february was mailed to me.
I think that the officer had no right to confiscate my RTD but as you all know, there is usually no way one can talk to them and get a nice an professional response. Both of them asked me what I did in the US, when I moved to the US, if I was sure I moved to the US when I said I did, when and where to was my last travel, if I plan to travel again. To the best of my noticing none of my replies to these questions were recorded so I think they were simply being abusive. Both of them were chinese immigrants with heavy chinese accent.It was a bad experience after a very long flight.
'just wanted to share this with everyone here.
good luck

ianyu

ND march 2004
no GC yet
Click to expand...
 
my mistake

it was a mistake on my part to do what i did with the application. would anyone recommend an action I could take in order to better the situation with the CIS. should I set up an infopass and report myself about what I did?
the thing is that two days ago they sent me the new RTD. any recommendations are much appreciated. thanks!
ian
 
ianyu said:
it was a mistake on my part to do what i did with the application. would anyone recommend an action I could take in order to better the situation with the CIS. should I set up an infopass and report myself about what I did?
the thing is that two days ago they sent me the new RTD. any recommendations are much appreciated. thanks!
ian
Click to expand...

I applied for a RTD & kept one too. When they scanned my RTD at the airport in Frankfurt, it came out as "Invalid". However, I had a valid green card so it didn't matter to them.

Rule of thumb is this, do not carry 2-3 old RTDs with you. Keep it at home but never carry expired documents, if you do want to carry them, carry only one, not 3 or 4.

Also I always kept my old RTDs and never mailed them to USCIS. USCIS came back and asked me for "all copies of travel documents" to adjust my status...If i had sent them, where would I provide copies??

Just chill. Don't worry.
 
ianyu said:
it was a mistake on my part to do what i did with the application. would anyone recommend an action I could take in order to better the situation with the CIS. should I set up an infopass and report myself about what I did?
the thing is that two days ago they sent me the new RTD. any recommendations are much appreciated. thanks!
ian
Click to expand...


iany,

Try not to scare you. But according to INA, wilful misrepresentation of material fact in any application for immigration benefits is an inadmissible offense.

I think that is why they were serious about.
 
ianyu

Hi Ianyu.
This is little bit out of your topic. I need some info please. I was also planning to go to Australia to study for a year. I'm getting my first RTD very soon. However I am going to use my NP to get Australian Student Visa(573 Masters Coursework).
My question is: Is there open racism in australia? Can Australian Embassy find out about my asylum status if I use my NP to get student visa? Is Austalia better place to make money if you have Masters degree in Accounting? Also Is it easy to get Permanent Residence there once I get my Masters in a year? What do you think is better(USA and Australia) in terms of living and making money? Thank you a lot,
Robinho
 
for Robinho:

Robinho:
Australian embassy in Washington DC is like the FBI or CIA. There is nothing that can be hidden from them. They are going to ask everything about your status in the US and it is my advice you do not lie about a thing. I imagine that they would give you a student visa in your national passport but you would have to leave the US, enter AU, leave AU and reenter US with it. This might pose a problem for you asylum status. I heard that they need accounting people and that they make good money there, however, there is much more opportunity and better chances in the US - this is for sure. Also, Australians are big on paperwork and hard work gets you places faster in America then in Australia. They are very beaurocratic there and the government system is actually fascist even though the people are generally very nice and relaxed. If you get Masters degree in accounting in Australia I think it would be easier to stay, they need and are looking for people to live there. You might want to search www.immi.gov.au for skilled immigrant visa, it might be possible to move there without getting a Masters degree if what you do is on the list of jobs they need. But beware, they will take about a year to process it and will check ALL papers you provide, they will do this with the source where the paper came from. They are very suspicious with everyone and their immigration system is rigid. The washington embassy took two months each time to issue a visa to me on RTD, they also dont put a visa into RTD unless the date the visa starts is at least 6 months or so away from teh RTD expiry date, this would make it hard fro you to get a student visa in RTD. But you should ask them about your situation without trying to hide anything.If they realise you are hiding something they will reject your visa application easily. In general Australia is more expensive then the US and only some jobs pay much...nursing for example does pay alot, not very sure about accounting but heard it does so too. The country is very,very pretty and people are less robotic then Americans. Food tastes real, everything isclean and organized almost to perfection...it's a bit scary sometimes:) I would not trade my status in the US for Australia even though I loved it there.
good luck
ian
 
Can u tell us about the experience of having someone knocking ON YOUR DOOR?

windywd said:
The story would be more scary if your RTD appear in conjunction with NP. The U.S. Immigration interogated me for almost an hour in Canadian border and someone knocked my door later. It is no big deal if you tell them why you need to do that. They always say that "concealing material fact could cause the denial of your application.", even if they think you lied about whether your old RTD is lost, whether that is "material" is debatable....
Click to expand...

that's be much appreciated,
Thanks,
M
 
Nothing serious. They just want to know whether I have NP and RTD in my possession and the underlying reason for using both of them. RTD is like a passport..... How about sending them your cousin in Mexico's photo when you are applying for RTD, and he can enter U.S.? RTD is in fact easier than RP since once you are PR, you have to present them that stupid plastic. In POE, you give them RTD and they stamp "asylum granted" on it, that is it...
 
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