Will I be denied entry?

B

bellaprincess

New Member
For a Canadian citizen who entered the US as a visitor and overstayed the "period of stay", what forms or process would need to be completed in order to re-enter the US as a non-immigrant?. My daughter was born in the US and her father is still residing there, how can I assure that I will be able to successfully cross the border once again?
I am now in Canada, and my overstay was more than a year.
 
Let me ask you something. How long (days/months/years) did you overstay your authorized period of stay? Did you leave the U.S. on your own accord, or were you put into immigration proceedings? Other than your daughter, do any of your family members have immigrant or USC status in the U.S.?
 
I overstayed my the authorized time for a visitor by a year-and-a-half. I left the US on my own accord and other than my daughter and her father I do not have any relatives with USC.
 
Oh boy. If you came in and received an I-94 at entry then you are in trouble. First of all you will not be able to re-enter without some sort of visa. But that is not the real problem. The real problem is that you now have a ten year bar to re-entry into the U.S. You are completely inadmissible to the U.S. for a period of ten years; meaning you cannot get any kind of visa to come to the U.S. for ten years. There are a few exceptions, but you would need to have an actual consultation with an attorney to find out if you meet any of these exceptions. There is also a waiver that is available if you can show that it would be an "extreme hardship" to your spouse if you are not able to return to the U.S. Extreme hardship is a legal term and really means extreme. Again, I would recommend consulting an attorney to find out if you may be eligible for the extreme hardship waiver. I assume you are from Canada. This fact will make it very difficult to prove extreme hardship.

Now I know that it used to be that Canadian citizens did not need a passport to enter the U.S. and there was no record of an overstay. People would come in, overstay and then come back in without any problems because the INS/DHS never knew about the overstays. If you entered just using your Canadian drivers license then there should not be a problem with you re-entering the U.S. again. You will need a Canadian passport now of course, but you would not need to fill out any additional immigration forms AFAIK. However, if you came in with your passport, but without a visa, AND the DHS swiped it in the computer when you entered the country, then there will be a record of your overstay. Honestly, I don't know what happens at that point. An overstay is an overstay. Someone said that Canadian visitors do not accrue unlawful presence. But I think that is incorrect. They do accrue the unlawful presence, but without any record of the unlawful presence it basically doesn't count. But now that DHS has the ability to track unlawful presence even of Canadian visitors I doubt they would just let this slide.

I don't know how close to the border you live, but if you live within a reasonable driving distance you might want to test it out. Drive to a border crossing and see if they let you in with just your passport. The worst that can happen is that they send you to secondary inspection and then make you turn around and you know that you have a problem. If they let you in you can just go shopping or something and then leave that day. Then you would know that you have no problem.
 
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I am assuming you were never issued an I-94. A Canadian starts accruing illegal presence only when an ICE/CBP official makes an official note of the Canadian's overstay. Having said that, a Canadian can still be denied entry based on suspicion of a previous overstay, among other reasons.

bellaprincess said:
I overstayed my the authorized time for a visitor by a year-and-a-half. I left the US on my own accord and other than my daughter and her father I do not have any relatives with USC.
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Question:

This is something that I have always wondered. How does DHS know that you are an overstay? In other words, if you come in with a passport how do they know when you leave? What triggers that information?
 
So the airlines submit their international flight manifests with passport numbers attached to DHS?

What if you drive?

Not that I have a "situation" but just curious about all of this.
 
Recorded by who? Let's say Canadian Customs? And then do they send that to DHS?

What if you're a passenger rather than the owner of the vehicle (which is common).
 
Canada for sure shares all such information with the US.

The bottom line is, failure to turn in your I-94 (for visitors and temporary residents), results in the individual being assumed to have over-stayed in the US.

simsd said:
What if you're a passenger rather than the owner of the vehicle (which is common).
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I guess where I'm confused is that most people don't turn in their I-94's when they leave ie: TN's going to and from Canada.

Let's say someone is moving back to Canada and going by bus - normally they wouldn't do anything with their I-94.
 
simsd said:
There must be a tons of people in this situation without even knowing it.
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Triplecitizen,

My folks drive across the Detroit border every year to stay in Florida and visit me(their son) for 6 months. I am a LPR.

This year my dad brought a fax machine with him. The US IO ask why he had a fax machine, and if he plained to work in Florida. My dad said that they own a resort in Canada(which they do) and that he needed to fax this upcoming seasons prices/invoices to his customers. My dad also mentioned that if he were to work it wouldn't be in Florida for $8 an hour.

My dad also suggested the US IO check the computer because they come every year at the same time so there should be a record of their, atleast, coming into the country. The IO said they don't have such information stored in there systems.

In other words it is unrealistic to keep the millions of license plates on file to those whom enter the US via driving. To say that your plate details are recorded when you cross the border is flabergas. They don't have the man power to handle that type of trafic.

My parents don't need to work in the US, they simply come for the hot weather.
 
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