Customs officers killed most of visit to USA

[Kathryn41 3,205]

It isn't a no no to go to the US to get married. What is a no-no is to go to the US to get married and plan to stay in the US after the marriage unless you have a K-1 visa. That is illegal and considered visa fraud. It is alright to go to the US planning to get married as long as you are not intending to stay in the US. The problem is convincing the US border authorities that you do not intend to stay in the US afterwards.

[Revenesque 2]

You can enter the US with the intent to marry. Many people do so when they have destination weddings. The only time it becomes a problem is if, after you marry, you don't intend to leave but you have not gone through the visa process. In effect, you are trying to bypass the immigration process and are entering the country with illegal intent.

You can enter the US with the intent to marry if both of you are not American Citizens. As soon as one of the spouse is USC, then you're not allowed unless you have K-1 visa. This was told to me by a Customs Officer when I went into the US with my bridal stuff 2.5 yrs ago (I was stopping over in the US, then going to Mexico for my destination wedding). He wanted assurance that I was not getting married in the US without the proper authorization.

[Revenesque 2]

Yes, it really is too bad, it's great that he told the truth - i'm not saying he wouldn't have - it's just that by being upfront and honest he was at least able to get in to visit you!

There is a very fine line between 'visiting' and 'take up residence' in a country. The border personnel obviously decided to go with the latter and that is why they gave him such a hassle.

Yes, he is probably flagged now and yes he will probably have to go through extra scrutiny each time he enters the U.S.

The email thing is totally out of line. While it seems they can pretty much do anything they like - which they do, I personally find it disturbing that so many VJ people have been harrassed at the border, including one Canadian who ended up with bruises on his face and two people here who have had the entire contents of their wallets photocopied.

It's all very odd.

To add to Trailmix, border agents take the position that everyone coming through the border are attempting to immigrate illegal and it's up to you to prove that you are not. That is, you are guilty until you prove yourself innocent.

I agree about the email though. Totally inappropriate.

[Revenesque 2]

It isn't a no no to go to the US to get married. What is a no-no is to go to the US to get married and plan to stay in the US after the marriage unless you have a K-1 visa. That is illegal and considered visa fraud. It is alright to go to the US planning to get married as long as you are not intending to stay in the US. The problem is convincing the US border authorities that you do not intend to stay in the US afterwards.

You're probably right--the burden of proof is on the non-American and even so, you will be heavily scrutinized and the possibility is high that you will still be denied entry.

[Marilyn. 340]

You can enter the US with the intent to marry. Many people do so when they have destination weddings. The only time it becomes a problem is if, after you marry, you don't intend to leave but you have not gone through the visa process. In effect, you are trying to bypass the immigration process and are entering the country with illegal intent.

You can enter the US with the intent to marry if both of you are not American Citizens. As soon as one of the spouse is USC, then you're not allowed unless you have K-1 visa. This was told to me by a Customs Officer when I went into the US with my bridal stuff 2.5 yrs ago (I was stopping over in the US, then going to Mexico for my destination wedding). He wanted assurance that I was not getting married in the US without the proper authorization.

I think the customs officer was just trying to scare you because that is not true at all..

you don't need proper authorization to get married in the US regardless if you are a US citizen or not...

[Rustbelt 0]

In actual fact, border guards can search anything you have with you, including the contents of your laptop for no reason whatsoever.

See here for a discussion from a lawyer's perspective and a link to the original document: http://www.slaw.ca/2009/10/28/usa-border-s...hes-of-laptops/

- Steve's wife

[Revenesque 2]

You can enter the US with the intent to marry. Many people do so when they have destination weddings. The only time it becomes a problem is if, after you marry, you don't intend to leave but you have not gone through the visa process. In effect, you are trying to bypass the immigration process and are entering the country with illegal intent.

You can enter the US with the intent to marry if both of you are not American Citizens. As soon as one of the spouse is USC, then you're not allowed unless you have K-1 visa. This was told to me by a Customs Officer when I went into the US with my bridal stuff 2.5 yrs ago (I was stopping over in the US, then going to Mexico for my destination wedding). He wanted assurance that I was not getting married in the US without the proper authorization.

I think the customs officer was just trying to scare you because that is not true at all..

you don't need proper authorization to get married in the US regardless if you are a US citizen or not...

He did a good job, LOL!

[garnet80 1]

In actual fact, border guards can search anything you have with you, including the contents of your laptop for no reason whatsoever.

See here for a discussion from a lawyer's perspective and a link to the original document: http://www.slaw.ca/2009/10/28/usa-border-s...hes-of-laptops/

- Steve's wife

I don't know if this matters, but he didn't have his laptop on him. He had no computer anything with him. His pc is at home in Canada.

[trailmix 77]

Yes, then the above doesn't apply to him. What I would like to know is how far CAN they go? Also, if you decide you don't want to enter the country at that point - say they are grilling you, can you simply say - hey i'm going back to Canada?

[mikey78 6]

Yes, then the above doesn't apply to him. What I would like to know is how far CAN they go? Also, if you decide you don't want to enter the country at that point - say they are grilling you, can you simply say - hey i'm going back to Canada?

They can search anything you have on you but unless you have violated any law (e.g. lied about something, get a hit in their databases, or you have an outstanding warrant, etc) they cannot keep you and you should be able to leave at any point. Now, that becomes a bit more problematic since technically once you are at the POE to the US you are under the US jurisdiction so CBP feels that they can do whatever it takes to clear the matter. So if you just up and leave (or declare your will to do so coz you are no longer interested in traveling to the US) they might be pretty nasty, deny you and make it very difficult for you to enter the US next time...so you can't really win with them.

The lack of consular protection is not as obvious on the US-Canada border (one can always bounce back home) but there are horror stories of people held at JFK, questioned and after sometimes 24hrs of waiting or more send back to their home countries because they were found inadmissable. Normally, everyone in such situation is allowed contact with their homeland's consulate...not there though. It's considered international zone of the airport so until you pass immigration inspection, you technically are not in the US so the international conventions about consular protection do not apply...

[La Souris 19]

Garnet: I hope all will turn out ok..

___

Email, laptop, etc.

"Federal agents may take a traveler's laptop or other electronic device to an off-site location for an unspecified period of time without any suspicion of wrongdoing, as part of border search policies the Department of Homeland Security recently disclosed." full article is: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/conte...ml?hpid=topnews

See also:

The Government and Your Laptop

There is a lawsuit too since many consider the procedures abusive: http://www.eff.org/press/archives/2008/02/07

How to protect your data:

Protecting Yourself From Suspicionless Searches While Traveling

US DHS: Foreign Travel

Threat Assessment: Electronic Communications Vulnerabilities 2008 - PDF listing protective measures

Edited December 7, 2009 by La Souris

[trailmix 77]

I can't read the wikileaks stuff, the links go to a summary page and - well it's wiki - but as for the other links, those are all about searching your laptop - the OP's SO didn't have a laptop - they forced him to log in to THEIR computer so they could read his email.

Edited December 7, 2009 by trailmix

[La Souris 19]

I can't read the wikileaks stuff, the links go to a summary page and - well it's wiki - but as for the other links, those are all about searching your laptop - the OP's SO didn't have a laptop - they forced him to log in to THEIR computer so they could read his email.

Here's the direct link to the document: http://88.80.16.63/leak/dhs-travel-threat-...ssment-2008.pdf

And, sorry, I missed the part about him having to use their computers. Not sure what I would have done in this case... weird. I would definitely change my password after typing it on their computer though.

[The_Dude 1,142]

Even if he did have a laptop with him, the contents of an email server saved elsewhere is beyond the scope of their jurisdiction. If this were a laptop that had messages from outlook of some other mail client saved on there, then yes, they can access those.

[garnet80 1]

I just noticed that his passport was stamped with "sll no eos/cos" ... what does that mean for us? Is it safe to assume he is going to have a terrible time if he tries to return for two weeks in February?

He is allowed to stay until January 4th, 2010, after his one month stay (Dec 5-Jan 4) now. We want to book a two week trip for him mid to late February.