I watched my friend get grilled at the border

[brown_eyes 0]

Tonight I picked up a friend from the airport in Bellingham. She's been staying with her bf in San Diego for the past three months. We both live in Vancouver. I was VERY interested to see how we'd be treated when we had to go in to talk to the officials at the border.

But let me back up a bit - on the way to the border we chatted about obtaining Visas as both our boyfriends are US citizens. She is planning on getting the K1 and was told by several US immigration lawyers that the process takes seven months. I thought around a year? She also knew nothing about the petition and when I mentioned it to her she didn't appear to believe me. She kept saying that she was going to go through a lawyer who would help her file everything quickly.

Anyway... we get to the border and like textbook of everything I have ever read on VJ this one official starts grilling her. Why was she away for 3 months? What was she doing? She said she was vacationing with friends (a lie - she was living with her bf who moved from Bellingham to SD) He asked her about her bf and then started to put two and two together. I knew it was game over for her right then. He then found out she lives at home with her parents up here and doesn't have a stable job. In fact, she has a made-up letter from a family friend saying that she works for him and she is on a "leave" from the company. In a nutshell this official called her out for her living in the US what appeared to be illegally. She kept saying she didn't do anything wrong as she is allowed to visit the US for 6 months. He proceeded to write a novel on her file and she was looking pretty stressed.

Now... her plan is to stay in Vancouver for a few months and then go back down to SD to stay with her bf and THEN start all the filing. My question is can she do this? IMO, she has put major flags on her passport and based on what I saw tonight could easily be denied entry. She seems to think a simple letter stating she's on a leave from work is going to be enough to get her by. I think she's wrong but she wouldn't listen to me. I'm really curious to see what the experts have to say.

[Flames9_RN 358]

Wow, I would say the odds are against her on trying to get back to the USA. As well she is going to have to mention this denial of entry on the k1 petition. I guess the seriousness depends what the POE officer wrote on the passport and what he entered into the computer system

1 NEVER wants to lie to the POE officer. you can give short, direct answers, they don't need ur whole life story, but never lie!!

I would pass on VJ addy to her friend so she can get some facts! Lawyers do NOT speed up the process, they don't have any special privileges that get the a "in" with the consulate!! In a straight forward case, all they are is $$$$$ proof readers,and some of them are crappy at that!! Save your $$$ for a vacation. And yes in some circumstances, a lawyer can be beneficial

Reading your post again--it sounded like she DID gain entry to the USA. So things may not be as bad as they could be,but depends what he wrote in the computer system. More knowledgeable people than I will comment.

[Scarlett 0]

Hmmmmm well i don't know...

But I got a pretty severe 'telling off' at Seattle immigration once for not handing in my visa waiver when i last left (British Airways forgot to take it out when I boarded to go home, so the green slip was still in my passport). He grilled me about my boyfriend and asked me if I was getting married, I told the truth about everything (at that time we weren't engaged). He ended up by saying "well if you do get married, do it properly, there are procedures, don't be like the Mexicans (!?!?)." [thinking back i should have reported him for being a big racist pig]

Anyway, what I am saying is that they can 'grill' people if they like... but what probably matters is whether your friend was (a.) allowed to be in the USA (I really don't know the rules for Canada) and (b.) whether she lied to them.

Being within the law is what matters, not how spiteful the immigration officer is feeling that day. Whatever happens, she must only cross that border if she is really authorised to do so. It is such a risk to their future if she breaks the rules.

But this is just my opinion. I am not an immigration lawyer.

Also, I have never heard of anyone finding a way to speed up the Fiance visa process. Else we would all be doing it.

Edited August 1, 2008 by Scarlett

[Carlawarla 1]

Tonight I picked up a friend from the airport in Bellingham. She's been staying with her bf in San Diego for the past three months. We both live in Vancouver. I was VERY interested to see how we'd be treated when we had to go in to talk to the officials at the border.

But let me back up a bit - on the way to the border we chatted about obtaining Visas as both our boyfriends are US citizens. She is planning on getting the K1 and was told by several US immigration lawyers that the process takes seven months. I thought around a year? She also knew nothing about the petition and when I mentioned it to her she didn't appear to believe me. She kept saying that she was going to go through a lawyer who would help her file everything quickly.

Anyway... we get to the border and like textbook of everything I have ever read on VJ this one official starts grilling her. Why was she away for 3 months? What was she doing? She said she was vacationing with friends (a lie - she was living with her bf who moved from Bellingham to SD) He asked her about her bf and then started to put two and two together. I knew it was game over for her right then. He then found out she lives at home with her parents up here and doesn't have a stable job. In fact, she has a made-up letter from a family friend saying that she works for him and she is on a "leave" from the company. In a nutshell this official called her out for her living in the US what appeared to be illegally. She kept saying she didn't do anything wrong as she is allowed to visit the US for 6 months. He proceeded to write a novel on her file and she was looking pretty stressed.

Now... her plan is to stay in Vancouver for a few months and then go back down to SD to stay with her bf and THEN start all the filing. My question is can she do this? IMO, she has put major flags on her passport and based on what I saw tonight could easily be denied entry. She seems to think a simple letter stating she's on a leave from work is going to be enough to get her by. I think she's wrong but she wouldn't listen to me. I'm really curious to see what the experts have to say.

Ditto what flames said about the Visa and using a lawyer. This lady might need a lawyer pretty soon if she keeps up the lying. You didn't mention whether the BO found out the the letter is a fraud? Gosh, I hope the "family friend" is aware of what happened and wonder why they were so crazy to give someone a fraudulent letter and how this could implicate and impact on them! Geesh!

One thing I will have to say however is that she wasn't in the US illegally. She is allowed to visit for up to 180 days. I'd be REALLY interested to know what was written in your passport and what's now on file. I don't know that it would hurt her K-1, but it might prevent her from visiting until she has a visa now.

If she does plan to come back in a few months I'd really be interested in whether she gets through!

Hmm, reading flames' thread, now I'm confused. This "grilling" she got...was while she was coming back into Canada? That was my understanding anyway, so she hasn't been in the US since this incident.

If I'm confused, I apologize...it's 6 a.m. and I"m two sips into my first coffee!

Edited August 1, 2008 by Carlawarla

[Lona.C. 16]

I went trough the hassel of getting grilled almost every time for 1 1/2 years before we where finaly able to aply for the K1 ,

as many of you know am german citizen but was LPR in canada , so had to get a I 90 ( green ) every 3 month ,

yes they did ask a lot of questions as to the reason why I travel left and right ,

I told them the trueth and always showed enough effidance that i stayed longer in canada then in the US ,

( effidance like bills getting payed on time , credit card statments whith timeframe of purchases made from canada , bank statements ,)

and i also made sure they stamped my passport at every entry and exit from eather border when i left and enterd

as prove of amount time spend in the US

as long as your friend is totaly honest and tell the officer that they intend to aply for K1 in the future but for what ever reason are unable to aply right now ,

and show prove that she got ties in canada that require her to return ,there is a good chance she will not get denied , but she has to be honest

and has to make sure she gets a stamp in her passport on every entry or exit ,

( canada doesnt like to give stamps on entry if your canadien cit , but you have to insist and explain that you need it for prove of reentry since you like to aply for K1 in the future )

( I also had a notebook where i kept track on how many days I spend in US and showd it to the officer so he was able to compare dates on my bills as well as the passport stamps )

yes it was a hassel going trough the same stuff every 3 month for 1 1/2 years ,

but hey love goes a long way and we made it trought this bull and glad to say i would go trough the same bull all over again if i had too ,cose this proves how strong your love and relationship realy is ,we been together for 4 years now , and got our 1rst wedding aniv in dec and still happy like first day we met

so tell your friend to be honest and show lots of prove of ties to canada , and request the entry and exit stamps

[thetreble 19]

If he wrote something up in her file, the next time she plans on going down to the US she might have troubles getting through the POE. But on the other hand, she could be perfectly fine.

Also, NEVER EVER lie, just as flames said. If you are visiting your boyfriend, you MUST say that is what you are doing. Most people do not go to the US for 3 months just to have a visit. Most of my visits were only a week at a time. Lying to the POE will always come back to bite you in the end. While she might have not been there illegally, they still have the ultimate decision to deny you entry the next time you decide to cross.

In order for her to file the K-1, why doesn't she just start now? It makes no sense to wait until she gets to the US the next time and file a K-1 visa. She could apply for it this second if she wanted to. However, once she applies for the visa, she will have to show her ties to Canada if she wants to visit the US during her process and they most likely will want to see more than just a shady letter from a non=existent employer.

[warlord 73]

"She kept saying she didn't do anything wrong as she is allowed to visit the US for 6 months"

She is only allowed if the IO knows the entire truthful reason of the visit and then allows her into the country. If she leaves and comes back to the US, the US IO's will then again decide if she is allowed or not. She has no rights in the US, she has no right to have access to the US, the IO's will be the ones to decide if she has permission to enter or not.

Yep next time she tries to get into the US, she's going to need return tickets to Canada and probably a number of other supporting documents proving her ties to Canada. Since she was caught in a lie, she's most likely flagged now and will have issues crossing the border for a long time. If she intends on comming back down like she said "moving in with her boyfriend", she will be probably not only denied, but possibly barred from the US for some time (5-10 years possibly) since she would be lying again to the IO's about her 'visit to the US' since she stated she would be moving back in with her BF.

Because of this, she made some fatal mistakes that now will come back and haunt her for quite sometime most likely...

Edited August 1, 2008 by warlord

[Emancipation 2]

*sigh I hope this incident gave her at least the impression that she maybe shouldn't have lied to the POE officer. It is unclear which side of the border this is on- my impression is that it's on the CDN side, and if that's the case it sounds like the officer was really warning her strongly of the implications of what she's doing. Hopefully this scared some sense into her, and I am with the others, the next time I would imagine they will ask for proof of ties with Canada

[CBR 0]

As Carla already mentioned...wasn't this "grilling' on the way back into Canada? That means it was done by a Canadian BO not the US. Do the POE's communicate with each other across the borders? I know that the US POE's keep records of denials in their computer system. My fiance had a few when we got to Montreal (they were innocent denials on our part as we were still learning and the officers did help explain things to us) so we were able to see what they look like when the interviewer in MTL spun his monitor around and we all had a good laugh at the shell shocked look on my sweetie's face (things are always funny later and when being deleted by the official). Neither of us were ever grilled on Canadian entries so I really don't know if the US would have known if we had been.

I tend to think that they (US) wouldn't be aware of this incident when she files her k-1, unless something happened before or happens in the future on entries to the US. She should have her fiance start the filing process for k-1 (if that's the route she's chosen) and learn more about how the POE's function and what their views are on her visiting during this process. Some people have visited successfully throughout the wait, and others (like us, lacking proof of strong ties to Canada) have not. Maybe her fiance can visit her during the process instead and keep their case "clean"...no more lies! It's going to be hard for her to swallow the fact that without those strong ties, she may not be able to visit him for several months, but it's really worth it when you get to that interview and have nothing marring your record. We were in shock when we found out he wouldn't be allowed to enter the US until he had the K-1, but we made it.

As for the length of time it takes, Vancouver consulate is faster than Montreal so you both have that going for you. Our case took from July 07 to June 08 (petition fiing to interview) for a k-1, but honestly we were one of THE longest waits. Literally the last ones from July to get approved. The 7 month estimate is probably fairly accurate.

[~Laura and Nick~ 5]

Why do some people think that rules and regulations don't apply to them and that they can get away with ####### that other people can't?

Your friend needs to come to VJ, read up on the immigration process and how long it takes. Our visa journey was 7 months (We feel this was lucky) there are others that have waited much longer and our still waiting from before Nick and I filed!!!

I agree with the others. Lying is something that shouldn't even be in your mind to do, especially to a POE officer. Was she not thinking? She has a boyfriend who she wants to marry and is thinking about moving to his country to be with him, lying and making up fake documents to try and weasel her way around the rules is so dangerous. I would never ever risk that especially when my relationship was on the line!! She does know that lying to a POE officer could put her on a 10 year ban right? Sigh.

If she does get back in to visit (Which is unlikely unless she has much more documentation now of returning back to Canada after the visit) They can file for a K1 while she is there, that's not a problem but she must return to Canada to get her police certificate, medical and then eventually the interview at either Vancouver or Montreal based on where she lives. She cannot overstay though, that's huge so she needs to watch how much time she's staying in the States. She also can't start moving her possessions down to the States before she lives there, so don't think she can just mosey on down there and move in before she has proper documentation.

She needs to know that there are rules in place for a reason and one slip up like she has done could cost her huge, and for what? 3 months with him...that's nothing compared to the rest of their lives and she has put that at risk.

Send her to VJ, she needs a hard dose of reality.

[cherylc522 0]

sooo not gonna say anything about all the lying think everyone covered that hehe, but i do have a question now that i read all this, i visited my fiance for 5 months had no problem getting through, didn't have a job at the time but still they did not question anything, well, i came back for 3 months, and and we decided i would come visit for a month or so, i had a job, but no letter from them, well, i get to the airport, 6 in the morning, and of course, i got denied, i hadn't bought my return ticket yet because we weren't sure of the date i would return exactly, and of course that looked suspicious, on top of the fact that he bought the ticket, they didn't like that much, so i got to go to the little room, fun, and i sat there, they left me for last, everyone else was gone and 2 hours later they tell me im not going through because i dont have ties to canada, well, its 8 in the morning, they called my work, not open yet of course so that didn't help me, tried calling my landlord, no answer, so again, everything against me there lol sooooo my question now, when i do my packet 3 forms i see where it says have you ever been denied entry blah blah blah, ok, so is this incident going to be a problem, i mean, i had ties, but couldn't prove them cause it was so early noone would answer their phones and i didn't think to get letters cause i had no problems before going back and forth, and i wasn't at vj yet so is this going to be a problem if i just explain i didn't know i needed documentation with me of ties to canada and it was so early that the POE guys couldn't get ahold of anyone to prove my story so they thought i was lying?

Edited August 1, 2008 by CherylandRichard

[warlord 73]

Ok I'm confused then with this. The original post said the friend arrived in Bellingham from San Diego. Then it stated, lets back up and then it goes into the immigration issue.

Was this the US or the Canadian POE? When they said "let's back up for a minute" it seems let's back up to when she entered the US. So not really sure which POE it is either. Also if it was the Canadian POE, why whould he care if she was out of the country for that long or what she was doing? They only care what you're bringing into the country not your status outside of it. So this almost makes it seem it was the US POE.

Either way, I'm sure the POE that flagged someone like this one did will tell the other POE about it and what to watch for. I'm sure there is communication between the two. And if this was the case of it being the canadian POE, then seems this IO in particular would definatly notify the US one because he was grilling her about something that is no issue of Canada, but rather the US POE, so seems he'd be the type to do that...

[*JG* 2]

Tonight I picked up a friend from the airport in Bellingham. She's been staying with her bf in San Diego for the past three months. We both live in Vancouver. I was VERY interested to see how we'd be treated when we had to go in to talk to the officials at the border.

But let me back up a bit - on the way to the border we chatted about obtaining Visas as both our boyfriends are US citizens. She is planning on getting the K1 and was told by several US immigration lawyers that the process takes seven months. I thought around a year? She also knew nothing about the petition and when I mentioned it to her she didn't appear to believe me. She kept saying that she was going to go through a lawyer who would help her file everything quickly.

Anyway... we get to the border and like textbook of everything I have ever read on VJ this one official starts grilling her. Why was she away for 3 months? What was she doing? She said she was vacationing with friends (a lie - she was living with her bf who moved from Bellingham to SD) He asked her about her bf and then started to put two and two together. I knew it was game over for her right then. He then found out she lives at home with her parents up here and doesn't have a stable job. In fact, she has a made-up letter from a family friend saying that she works for him and she is on a "leave" from the company. In a nutshell this official called her out for her living in the US what appeared to be illegally. She kept saying she didn't do anything wrong as she is allowed to visit the US for 6 months. He proceeded to write a novel on her file and she was looking pretty stressed.

Now... her plan is to stay in Vancouver for a few months and then go back down to SD to stay with her bf and THEN start all the filing. My question is can she do this? IMO, she has put major flags on her passport and based on what I saw tonight could easily be denied entry. She seems to think a simple letter stating she's on a leave from work is going to be enough to get her by. I think she's wrong but she wouldn't listen to me. I'm really curious to see what the experts have to say.

Ditto what flames said about the Visa and using a lawyer. This lady might need a lawyer pretty soon if she keeps up the lying. You didn't mention whether the BO found out the the letter is a fraud? Gosh, I hope the "family friend" is aware of what happened and wonder why they were so crazy to give someone a fraudulent letter and how this could implicate and impact on them! Geesh!

One thing I will have to say however is that she wasn't in the US illegally. She is allowed to visit for up to 180 days. I'd be REALLY interested to know what was written in your passport and what's now on file. I don't know that it would hurt her K-1, but it might prevent her from visiting until she has a visa now.

If she does plan to come back in a few months I'd really be interested in whether she gets through!

Hmm, reading flames' thread, now I'm confused. This "grilling" she got...was while she was coming back into Canada? That was my understanding anyway, so she hasn't been in the US since this incident.

If I'm confused, I apologize...it's 6 a.m. and I"m two sips into my first coffee!

I would say that because she lied about seemingly everything to get there, she was committing fraud from the very beginning.

I realize her intention was not to stay permanently; but still, what if she had stayed? I have to agree with the border agent. While nothing technically illegal happened, the premise was there.

I wish her luck in the filing later. If she's smart, she will heed your advice and come here for some help and answers. If she's fool enough to think a lawyer is going to speed up the process, that's on her.

[Wei&Shu(Joe) 2]

Ok I'm confused then with this. The original post said the friend arrived in Bellingham from San Diego. Then it stated, lets back up and then it goes into the immigration issue.

Was this the US or the Canadian POE? When they said "let's back up for a minute" it seems let's back up to when she entered the US. So not really sure which POE it is either. Also if it was the Canadian POE, why whould he care if she was out of the country for that long or what she was doing? They only care what you're bringing into the country not your status outside of it. So this almost makes it seem it was the US POE.

Either way, I'm sure the POE that flagged someone like this one did will tell the other POE about it and what to watch for. I'm sure there is communication between the two. And if this was the case of it being the canadian POE, then seems this IO in particular would definatly notify the US one because he was grilling her about something that is no issue of Canada, but rather the US POE, so seems he'd be the type to do that...

I believe the story says she flew from SD to Bellingham then her Canadian friend picked her up and they drove across the border. My assumption was that this event occurred at the point of EXIT passport check. Can't Imagine she'd have any trouble once she reached the point of entry check on the Canadian side.

Could be wrong but that was my reading of the story.

[payxibka 10,047]

I am not aware of any point of EXIT passport check when leaving the USA at border crossing between the USA and Canada....