AOS denied? Banned from US? Really?

[gta2011 0]

Wow, I have never seen such haters in my life?

Did I murder someone or did I ask a question? OMG

Like really.

[Rebecca Jo 1,962]

Wow, I have never seen such haters in my life?

Did I murder someone or did I ask a question? OMG

Like really.

Yes you did indeed ask a question.

You asked the members of this board for anecdotal evidence that would support your decision to commit immigration fraud.

Now I ask you, how do you think we should respond to you?

[ValerieA 350]

BTW, this isn't the right forum for your question either. As a Canadian, you don't require a visa to come to the US and you don't use the VWP either. You only need a visa if you want to work or LIVE in the US.

Thus there IS no appropriate place for your question.

Just to clarify for future threads...Canadians that simply cross the border are technically on a B-2 (tourist) visa.

[Rebecca Jo 1,962]

I would also suggest you read for anecdotal evidence in the community for Canadians who filed either for the non-immigrant K1 visa or the immigrant CR1.

The evidence isn't hard to find. The community is chocka block full of 'em.

Just to clarify for future threads...Canadians that simply cross the border are technically on a B-2 (tourist) visa.

Thank you Valerie I did not know that.

[sciencenerd 56]

I'll speak to my experiences. My wife entered the US as a Canadian tourist. We had been dating a couple years at the time, but were not married. We got married about 3 years later and were afterwards approved for AOS. The only issue at our interview was that the IO wanted to be very sure that my wife had not left the US in the 3 years she had been here (since that would have triggered a ban). Intent when crossing the border did not come up. I do think our situation was a little different in that there were 3 years between entry and AOS - we didn't even know what AOS was when she crossed the border. I think our entire circumstances made it clear that there was no sort of misrepresentation that happened when entering the US. Planning ahead of time is what makes it fraud - if you cross the border as a tourist knowing that you are going to adjust status, it's fraudulent since you are not a tourist. For me, the anxiety of the AOS process, then the ROC, then citizenship (if that's what you go for) would be too much. At any of those stages, an IO is reviewing your file. If you get through AOS and ROC, but at the citizenship interview they noticed an inconsistency with what you told a border officer and how you did AOS, you're deported with a ban. Even after citizenship, they can revoke if you obtained it through fraudulent means. Yeah, the chances are slim, but when the stakes are being separated from your family and your home, even a small chance isn't worth it to me. Good luck - immigration is an unnecessarily complicated and cruel process no matter which path you take.

[Kathryn41 3,205]

No, you came to a website where the focus is on legal immigration to the US and asked for people who have violated US immigration law to share their personal experiences using that process to enter the US.

I am a Canadian (dual citizen now with US) and when I still lived in Canada worked as a Constituency Assistant to the Member of Parliament. Our Riding was within a short distance of the US borders at Sarnia and Detroit. We did have the occasion to deal with Canadians who had been banned from the US because they chose to violate US immigration laws - either intentionally or unintentionally. The US makes no differentiation between the two - kind of like, if you mistakenly eat potassium cyanide thinking it is sugar you are still going to experience the 'effects' of the 'cause'.

You will find no one on this site - which is full of people who HAVE done the legal process - advise you to do anything other - and if anyone did, the post would be removed and they would face an account suspension. (I speak now as a Moderator for this site).

When my husband and I decided to marry we chose the K-1 route. My personal experience with people who had violated some part of US immigration law (and on the other hand Americans who had violated Canadian immigration law) confirmed that the legal options were the only way to go that would allow peace of mind. Btw - did you know that there is no statutes of limitation on immigration violations? That even if you were successful and 25 years down the road your violation came to light - even if you were then a US citizen - your citizenship would be stripped, you would be deported and you would face a ban.

USCIS takes immigration very seriously. Misrepresentation and Visa Fraud are two of their highest 'crimes' and bear heavy consequences. Getting married to a US citizen and living in the US is a multi-year process - it doesn't 'end' when you cross the border. You have to prove the validity of your marriage and that you satisfy all of the medical, criminal and moral requirements to be allowed to live and work in the US after you are married before you will be allowed to remain in the US - conditionally for 2 years only. You then have to apply for permanent permission by showing you still qualify for all of the personal requirements plus prove the legitimacy of your marriage by providing documentary evidence that you have co-mingled your financial assets and liabilities, your personal and your social lives together.

To enter the US with the intent to marry and remain in the US is considered Visa Fraud - using a visa issued for one reason as a means to bypass the legal process of the proper immigrant visa. In this case, using the 'implied' visitor visa status that Canadians have with the US - a non-immigrant visa that promises the border you will leave at the end of your legally authorized stay - to immigrate. This is misrepresentation - one of the 'highest' violations for USCIS - and makes you ineligibile to receive permission to live in the US. Your real worry is how long it will take until USCIS finds you out - and right now in the current economic situation, all political parties are facing very heavy pressure to deal harshly with anyone found violating immigration legislation. As I said, there is no statutes of limitation for immigration violations - are you really sure it is worth a lifetime of worry and fear to avoid a few months delay of doing the legal route?

[Rebecca Jo 1,962]

To the OP and for the record -

While my husband is not Canadian, he is a citizen of the UK, a nation with visa waiver privileges.

At the time my husband moved here, it was easy enough for visa waiver entrants to do exactly what you propose. Enter with intent to marry, stay and adjust status.

In other words, we had the same choice that you now have.

We chose instead to pay the money and spend the time it took to make sure my husband's entry to the US was legitimate. We have subsequently filed for every document he needed within all legal windows.

I never wanted my husband's legal status to be a matter anyone could question. It was his life after all and I didn't fell like taking chances with it.

[HeatDeath 430]

Even setting aside the whole legal/moral issue of playing fast and loose with immigration law, it's just an issue of risk management. It simply doesn't make rational sense to try to do an end-run around US immigration.

Lets say, for the sake of argument, only 1 Canadian in 500 who tries to sneak past the customs officers to get married ever encounters serious problems. You'd never even hear the story if you asked for anecdotes in a dozen immigration forums. And yet...

Your future life in the US in so important. Is it really worth taking even a 1 in 500 chance of being banned from the US for several years to life? 1/500th of a serious immigration penalty is still an enormous pain in the rear, especially when it's so unnecessary.

[Brother Hesekiel 2,236]

GTA,

looks like you are rather inexperienced what your options concern. Understand that AOS costs $1,070, in addition to the other costs involved, something that you could avoid by getting married to your boyfriend either in Canada or the US, and (in case you are getting married in the US) returning to Canada after the honeymoon. You then file for a CR-1 visa and -- once approved -- enter the US as a Lawful Permanent Resident, a Green Card Holder.

In such a case no AOS is needed, no K-1 either. You avoid headaches and uncertainty. It's the by far cheapest and most elegant way, and while the CR-1 application is being processed, you can visit the US like you are doing it now. In your particular situation, it's a non-brainer.

[gta2011 0]

GTA,

looks like you are rather inexperienced what your options concern. Understand that AOS costs $1,070, in addition to the other costs involved, something that you could avoid by getting married to your boyfriend either in Canada or the US, and (in case you are getting married in the US) returning to Canada after the honeymoon. You then file for a CR-1 visa and -- once approved -- enter the US as a Lawful Permanent Resident, a Green Card Holder.

In such a case no AOS is needed, no K-1 either. You avoid headaches and uncertainty. It's the by far cheapest and most elegant way, and while the CR-1 application is being processed, you can visit the US like you are doing it now. In your particular situation, it's a non-brainer.

Thanks for all the feedback, you all have been helpful, especially the Canadians, lol

I'm sure others will find this helpful also, who are in the same situation as me right now!

Ok, so seriously if I filed for the Cr1 visa after marriage, how long would it really take?6 months?I heard that processing is fairly quick if your case is not complicated?

And according to the last post, I can enter back and fwd as I have been doing (at the border officers discretion i presume). Canadians can visit the US for up to 6 months in a year though, so I am assuming I cant spend 2, 3, 4 or even 6 months in the usa while its processing huh?

[sachinky 465]

Could someone merge both the threads on this topic?

[gta2011 0]

Could someone merge both the threads on this topic?

Yea, how do you do that cause I originally didn't know which section to post this in....eerrrrr

[msd 3]

Yea it's a really bad idea to make the immigration process even more complicate/hard as it already is by doing it illegally.

I hope you're going to follow everybody's advice and do the CR-1 route. As said. It's even cheaper and in these days, money IS an issue. Whether we like it or not.

Good luck.

[ValerieA 350]

You should never do anything illegal. Do not cross the border with the intention of AOS'ing with a B-2 visa.

To correct something that is being said in this thread - CR-1, especially in Canada, is not necessarily cheaper than AOS'ing. Expense should not be the overriding factor in which one a couple chooses, anyway, but -

I-130 filing fee $420

NVC stage: DS-230 fee $330, AOS review fee $88, Visa security surcharge $74

for a total of $912 (someone check my math, I did that in my head). When you add the cost of a trip to Montreal in there, especially if you are from Western Canada, you are WAY over the AOS fees.

[Sergi9 110]

Hello,

I am Canadian citizen (female) about to marry a US citizen and have been travelling across the border visiting my fiance for the last 3 years , once or twice a month and staying weekends or up to a week most times.Never once been seriously questioned,harassed,asked to step out vehicle Nadda.(inform officer I am visiting bf everytime!)

Okay, so I have searched the internet high and low to find Canadians who were denied or banned from the US for entering at the border as a visitor with plans of getting married to American, and then staying and filing AOS as spouse of an American. Seems most people get through the greencard interview regardless, if the marriage is legit and there are no other issues, that is.

It appears to me that most Canadians who have been going back and forward to the USA to visit a boyfriend/fiance/spouse, end up AOS successfully since their marriage ends up being a legitimate marriage. Seems that INS focuses more on if you overstayed, or have commited marriage fraud.

Yeah Yeah Yeah people keep talking about visa fraud because of your intents to stay in USA, you need to stay in Canada and file K1, Cr1 and wait, but I have not seen one person say they have been rejected for not doing such.

I am looking for feedback from others who took this route... either was banned/rejected and had to move back to Canada OR who completed this method successfully within the last 6 Months preferbly.

Thanks.

it only takes one secondary inspection to unravel the whole thing. So far you haven't had any issues, but fill up your trunk with your final batch of personal items and then try to play it straight faced to CBP when you know you are making your last trip to the US with no intent to leave, and tell the CBP guy that. Then he/she gets a "hunch" and decides that particular day your vehicle is looking "pretty full" of junk and decides to pull you over and finds all your personal affects, yada, yada, yada.. ooops misrepresentation and a nightmare for your future intended marriage.

And YES we have seen folks who have had issues check out the I601 forum.