Can you be denied at the border ?

[BlueBonnet 84]

I was reading up on non immigrant visa's .. which is what the K1 is. In what I read, it said, that even if the CO issues the visa, that the Border Guard can deny your entry into the States. Is this true ? Has this happened ? I mean, we go through all the hoops, we submit our entire lives to them for review, we ( hopefully ) dont do something stupid that we know were not allowed to do, we do everthing right, we are upstanding people, we are honest .... and they still have the right to refuse our entry when we have all our documents ?

This is just a general question, more out of curiousity than anything.

[Brother Hesekiel 2,236]

In theory . . . yes. In practice . . . as likely as a virgin getting pregnant and having a baby.

[JimVaPhuong 4,863]

One of the most common reasons people are denied entry with a non-immigrant visa or other entry pass is because the CBP officer suspects they are going to overstay their visa or try to immigrate. These suspicions don't exist with a K1 because it's already been established that you will marry and adjust status, and you've already been approved by USCIS and Department of State to do this. This makes the CBP officer's job pretty easy. Are your documents in order? Did you fill out your I-94 and customs declaration correctly and honestly? You don't have any obvious inadmissibilities? If so, then Welcome to America!

[gezzuzz 1]

If they think you are a terrorist.. name is on a list somewhere..

[TBoneTX 45,304]

When "our" turn came, I asked an immigration attorney about this same concern. He said that yes, CBP can deny entry, but it's extremely rare with K-1 entrants, because CBP figures that they've already (& recently) been through the wringer at the consulate. That was certainly our situation.

Short answer: Don't sweat it, no man.

[trailmix 77]

Yes it can happen and yes it did happen to one VJ member from Canada, a few months ago.

What happened was that he had some situation where you would normally have to file a waiver - apparently. The CO in Montreal deemed this was not necessary and issued the visa, person got to the border with the visa and was denied entry and told to go and file a waiver I believe.

Long story short, Montreal looked in to it and he was allowed to cross the border with no waiver.

Edited May 13, 2010 by trailmix

[belinda63 3,038]

Raises Hand

Almost happened to my hubby. He is from a "t" country, brought more than 10,000 euros with him, and I guess just looked suspicious. They opened the magic brown envelope and looked at all the evidence again, actually read some of the chat logs I had sent as evidence of our relationship, pulled up my criminal history on the computer and per my hubby (then fiance) were laughing about it. They were pretty much a**holes and kept threatening to send him back.

After about five hours they let him through but of course his flight had left so he spent his first night in the good ole USA sleeping in O'Hara airport. I really thought about filing a complaint because it was like the border police were re-adjudicating his case.

[Rob and Jill 82]

If they think you are a terrorist.. name is on a list somewhere..

Do you really think they visa would be approved in the first place if they were a known terrorist and on a list somewhere?

[belinda63 3,038]

People get added to the list all the time. Recently read about a man who was added to the list while he was in flight.

[jcrom 2]

Hello my friend, this is my response for you. Any person who is NOT A UNITED STATES CITIZEN CAN BE DENIED AT THE MOMENT OF ENTRY TO THE U.S. The only who is illegal and unconstitutional to bar to enter in the U.S. is the U.S. citizens bearing U.S. passports, of course. Therefore, if you any kind of visa or any even a U.S. green card, in case of a big problem that the person had for whatever, believe me you become right away inadmissible to enter to the U.S. Thanks an bye,

[Rebecca Jo 1,962]

It's very rare but it does happen. I know of at least three known cases reported on this website.

[BlueBonnet 84]

" It's very rare but it does happen. I know of at least three known cases reported on this website. "

Any particular reason as to why .. Can you link their stories ?

[canadian_wife 1,822]

If the border determines that the consulate made an error when issuing the visa, such as trailmix posted, you can be denied. However, in that situation, the consulate over-ruled the CBP.

Do a search, you'll find the story

good luck.

[Rebecca Jo 1,962]

" It's very rare but it does happen. I know of at least three known cases reported on this website. "

Any particular reason as to why .. Can you link their stories ?

The one situation has already been referred to in this thread.

The other two accounts were lost in a web-site crash three or four years ago. One was a similar tale to the Canadian story except a waiver WAS required for the K1 holder to enter. The other incident involved an entrant who did not speak English as a first language and referred to his fiance at entry as his wife.

[J&N* 68]

I personally don't know anyone who this happened to, if you do ALL that's required from you and pass all checks and you're legally going there, why would they do that? If your fiance doesn't speak good English, they should call for a translator or you can go with him/her. Don't worry, it is so rare.