B-1 Overstay Mess

[Zeljko 0]

My mother arrived to US in July 2012 and we initially planned on her returning to Serbia in Jan 2013 few days shy of six month stay. In the meantime, she brought to my attention her I-94 granted her stay until June 2013. She received a new 10 year multiple entry visa last year before the trip and has been to USA at least on 4 other occasions in the past 20yrs without any issues. Since her stay was granted until June 2013, we changed return date to May 2013. In the past few weeks she decided to travel to Serbia for 10 day trip and return to US to complete the stay until May. Just today she returned to USA and her entry was denied - reason overstay. According to the border control, she was granted ONLY 6 month stay back in June 2012 and overstayed by 3 weeks. She left from Detroit Metro and returned to Detroit Metro but they could not find original I-94 card removed 10 days ago. According to the officers, computers showed 6 month stay permitted/allowed. She was given a choice of being deported with 5 year ban or buying a ticket back home immediately which she did. She is flying back as I am writing this but was able to speak with me once boarded back on the plane to fly back. She was poorly treated and they would not allow me to speak with them in person. Her 10 year visa has been revoked. Our problem is we do not have a copy of original I-94 showing she was good to stay until June 2013. UNBELIEVEABLE. She was told to go back to the consulate in Belgrade and apply for a new visa. What should we expect and what is the likelihood of her returning to USA in the future? To make matters worse, my brother started her adjustment of status process last year since he is a Citizen (I am PR and will apply for citizenship this week after the experience).

[Newbie608 103]

Visitors usually get 6 months so it was definately a mistake on the I-94. I don't know if there's anything you can do now since you have no proof of her I-94, which states she's permitted to stay for a year..Plus the border patrol has 6 months in their system...

Sorry your mom had to go through that...

[AnotherLostSoul 167]

I'm sorry to hear this...it sucks. I am surprised though that the I-94 was really saying a year...usually they give one a 10 year visa and the I-94 stamped for 6 months only, so I am very surprised if her original I-94 (that you no longer have) was saying June 2013 when she entered in June 2012. That's just too weird. Anyway, she might not going to get a new visa granted now, after having a record for overstaying...as they cannot trust her if she would overstay again. But she really has not much else choice. In terms of your brother, he can file for her, but it will take a while for her to be able to enter the country. I'm very sorry to hear this. Let's just hope someone else who is way more knowledgeable will give you some good news! All the best!

[Zeljko 0]

I'm sorry to hear this...it sucks. I am surprised though that the I-94 was really saying a year...usually they give one a 10 year visa and the I-94 stamped for 6 months only, so I am very surprised if her original I-94 (that you no longer have) was saying June 2013 when she entered in June 2012. That's just too weird. Anyway, she might not going to get a new visa granted now, after having a record for overstaying...as they cannot trust her if she would overstay again. But she really has not much else choice. In terms of your brother, he can file for her, but it will take a while for her to be able to enter the country. I'm very sorry to hear this. Let's just hope someone else who is way more knowledgeable will give you some good news! All the best!

Thank you for the feedback. In the past both my and wife's mother always received 6 month stays on I-94. We thought it was related to the adjustment process my brother started and it was more like 11 months and not a full year per this I-94. It would appear it was erroneous I-94 followed by the cover up that a document from 10 days ago cannot be found within the same terminal office. (Detroit has two terminals with international entry). I am just soooo disgusted right now...

[Zeljko 0]

It is actually B-2 visa and not B-1 as stated in the title. Sorry for the mistake.

[EAS 45]

My mother arrived to US in July 2012 and we initially planned on her returning to Serbia in Jan 2013 few days shy of six month stay. In the meantime, she brought to my attention her I-94 granted her stay until June 2013. She received a new 10 year multiple entry visa last year before the trip and has been to USA at least on 4 other occasions in the past 20yrs without any issues. Since her stay was granted until June 2013, we changed return date to May 2013. In the past few weeks she decided to travel to Serbia for 10 day trip and return to US to complete the stay until May. Just today she returned to USA and her entry was denied - reason overstay. According to the border control, she was granted ONLY 6 month stay back in June 2012 and overstayed by 3 weeks. She left from Detroit Metro and returned to Detroit Metro but they could not find original I-94 card removed 10 days ago. According to the officers, computers showed 6 month stay permitted/allowed. She was given a choice of being deported with 5 year ban or buying a ticket back home immediately which she did. She is flying back as I am writing this but was able to speak with me once boarded back on the plane to fly back. She was poorly treated and they would not allow me to speak with them in person. Her 10 year visa has been revoked. Our problem is we do not have a copy of original I-94 showing she was good to stay until June 2013. UNBELIEVEABLE. She was told to go back to the consulate in Belgrade and apply for a new visa. What should we expect and what is the likelihood of her returning to USA in the future? To make matters worse, my brother started her adjustment of status process last year since he is a Citizen (I am PR and will apply for citizenship this week after the experience).

From the bolded red statement it appears as if you were well aware of the six month limit and had made plans for her departure. Yet when something else 'appeared' on the I-94 you just changed departure plans without calling the appropriate Government office/official and confirming that your mother was granted an unusually long stay. You also failed to make a copy of the document proving an unusual stay was granted. And now it is a "cover up" by the Government?

I have no advice on how to get your mother back into the USA. But I can say that whenever I clear immigration in a foreign country I check the visa stickers, stamps, and notes to ensure that I am aware of the relevant dates and limitations, if any. I also check that the dates are in line with what I was expecting. If anything seems out of the ordinary/expected I ask about it rather than assume all is well and as it should be. On two separate occasions I have discovered mistakes in dates on immigration documentation. One was quickly corrected at the counter where I cleared immigration. The other required that I go to the Immigration office in the city because it was an issue with a work permit and therefore could not be handled by the airport immigration staff. [note: that the employer had obtained the work permit for me and I didn't have a chance to check it until after the employer gave it to me.]

Edited February 18, 2013 by EAS

[Penguin_ie 5,994]

**** Moving from AOS from Work/ Tourist Visa forum to General Immigration as OP's mom can no longer AOS, having left the country ****

It sounds to me like there was a smudge or something on the form that may have made "Jan" appear like "Jun".

Additionally, the AOS thing is odd, because a) AOS shouldn't take a whole year without even an EAD and b) she cannot leave during AOS until she gets AP. That being said, there is really no point in applying for another tourist visa, because not only does she have a tourist visa overstay, but she also has clear immigrant intent, with her family in the USA and AOS files (rememebr, the tourist visa is for visiting, she isn;t supposed to use it with the intention of staying). Since it takes less than a year to get a parent here via the I-130/ immediate relative visa, this is the best option.

Edited February 18, 2013 by Penguin_ie

[kzielu 1,149]

What should we expect and what is the likelihood of her returning to USA in the future? To make matters worse, my brother started her adjustment of status process last year since he is a Citizen

On a tourist visa - close to zero. Are you sure he started AoS and not submitted I-130 petition ?

[rin and john 71]

1361182262[/url]' post='5987244']

It sounds to me like there was a smudge or something on the form that may have made "Jan" appear like "Jun".

I thought the same at first, but then realized stamps are all caps, so it would be harder to smudge JAN into JUN.

[CC90 90]

Even if your mother overstayed by their standards, there is no law stating that your mother is not allowed in the US as a result. It is completely up to CBP if they want to let her in with that overstay, as long as it is under 180 days.

That said, CBP was probably very weary of the fact that your mom seems to be spending more time in the US that outside of it, which is integral to most non-immigrant visas. Taking a "short trip" to Serbia round trip from the US is frankly a terrible idea, even if she was well within her period of stay. She may have an immigrant petition filed for her (which is different from adjustment of status), but she is still subject to the terms of her status until that changes. When you start booking roundtrip trips (especially in this way) FROM the US on a B1/B2, it's fair to say that you're using the US as your place of residence. Leaving after 6 months just to come back again is not something one does on that type of status. Terrible idea.

That said, CBP _does_ have the authority in very limited cases to issue I-94's for up to 1 year on B1/B2 status. However, this is most commonly done with non-combined B1 visas. It is very, very uncommon for the length of stay to be over 6 months without being a full year. It is, however, not routine for a stay of over 6 months--and it requires supervisor approval. The JAN and JUN handwriting are more than likely the culprit.

Revoking a visa is standard practice in these instances.

Getting another B1/B2 visa will be impossible; it's not even worth trying. If the I-94 issue and the misunderstanding of the date occurred in a vacuum (e.g. no other issues, including US citizen children, previous history of very long stays, immigrant petition, etc.), a visa would be possible. But that's not the case.

Once you file for an immigrant visa for her, there should be no issues getting into the US.

The poor treatment issue a running theme with CBP, even to US citizens. They are not polite, educated, or good at dealing with people. I suggest you make a complaint to the port director of DTW about the ill treatment--and ONLY about the ill treatment. If you start complaining about the denied entry issue, they will not listen to you. Explain that your mother was not treated with any respect or dignity (would be best coming from her) in conflict with CBP's "pledge" and "mission."

I thought the same at first, but then realized stamps are all caps, so it would be harder to smudge JAN into JUN.

The period of stay is handwritten, so this is more than possible.

Edited February 18, 2013 by CC90

[Zeljko 0]

Even if your mother overstayed by their standards, there is no law stating that your mother is not allowed in the US as a result. It is completely up to CBP if they want to let her in with that overstay, as long as it is under 180 days.

That said, CBP was probably very weary of the fact that your mom seems to be spending more time in the US that outside of it, which is integral to most non-immigrant visas. Taking a "short trip" to Serbia round trip from the US is frankly a terrible idea, even if she was well within her period of stay. She may have an immigrant petition filed for her (which is different from adjustment of status), but she is still subject to the terms of her status until that changes. When you start booking roundtrip trips (especially in this way) FROM the US on a B1/B2, it's fair to say that you're using the US as your place of residence. Leaving after 6 months just to come back again is not something one does on that type of status. Terrible idea.

That said, CBP _does_ have the authority in very limited cases to issue I-94's for up to 1 year on B1/B2 status. However, this is most commonly done with non-combined B1 visas. It is very, very uncommon for the length of stay to be over 6 months without being a full year. It is, however, not routine for a stay of over 6 months--and it requires supervisor approval. The JAN and JUN handwriting are more than likely the culprit.

Revoking a visa is standard practice in these instances.

Getting another B1/B2 visa will be impossible; it's not even worth trying. If the I-94 issue and the misunderstanding of the date occurred in a vacuum (e.g. no other issues, including US citizen children, previous history of very long stays, immigrant petition, etc.), a visa would be possible. But that's not the case.

Once you file for an immigrant visa for her, there should be no issues getting into the US.

The poor treatment issue a running theme with CBP, even to US citizens. They are not polite, educated, or good at dealing with people. I suggest you make a complaint to the port director of DTW about the ill treatment--and ONLY about the ill treatment. If you start complaining about the denied entry issue, they will not listen to you. Explain that your mother was not treated with any respect or dignity (would be best coming from her) in conflict with CBP's "pledge" and "mission."

The period of stay is handwritten, so this is more than possible.

Thank you for all the information. Round trip from US was a spur of the moment thing and at least prevented her from having even longer overstay than would have been otherwise by returning in May (total 10 month stay).

My brother successfully completed I-130 Petition for Alien Relative and I-864 Affidavit of Support. He is in process of completing information and filing DS-230 Application for Immigrant Visa and Alien Registration. Do you think DS-230 can be jeopardized based on the overstay visa situation?

[Zeljko 0]

From the bolded red statement it appears as if you were well aware of the six month limit and had made plans for her departure. Yet when something else 'appeared' on the I-94 you just changed departure plans without calling the appropriate Government office/official and confirming that your mother was granted an unusually long stay. You also failed to make a copy of the document proving an unusual stay was granted. And now it is a "cover up" by the Government?

I have no advice on how to get your mother back into the USA. But I can say that whenever I clear immigration in a foreign country I check the visa stickers, stamps, and notes to ensure that I am aware of the relevant dates and limitations, if any. I also check that the dates are in line with what I was expecting. If anything seems out of the ordinary/expected I ask about it rather than assume all is well and as it should be. On two separate occasions I have discovered mistakes in dates on immigration documentation. One was quickly corrected at the counter where I cleared immigration. The other required that I go to the Immigration office in the city because it was an issue with a work permit and therefore could not be handled by the airport immigration staff. [note: that the employer had obtained the work permit for me and I didn't have a chance to check it until after the employer gave it to me.]

Thank you - lesson learned the hard way. Since she is about to apply for DS-230 Application for Immigrant Visa and Alien Registration, she might be able to return sooner than initially thought.

[Zeljko 0]

On a tourist visa - close to zero. Are you sure he started AoS and not submitted I-130 petition ?

My brother successfully completed I-130 Petition for Alien Relative and I-864 Affidavit of Support. He is in process of completing information and filing DS-230 Application for Immigrant Visa and Alien Registration.

[CC90 90]

Thank you for all the information. Round trip from US was a spur of the moment thing and at least prevented her from having even longer overstay than would have been otherwise by returning in May (total 10 month stay).

My brother successfully completed I-130 Petition for Alien Relative and I-864 Affidavit of Support. He is in process of completing information and filing DS-230 Application for Immigrant Visa and Alien Registration. Do you think DS-230 can be jeopardized based on the overstay visa situation?

I think it's rather unlikely given the circumstances. It's really good she paid her own way back and withdrew her application for admission instead of being formally found inadmissible and deported. If she didn't the consulate would not have the legal authority to give her any visa for 5 years.

It would really help to show a copy of the mis-written I-94 when she is interviewed, but she should have a succinct (and non-biased, non-complaining) sequence of events to tell if it comes up. It can be hard, but eating one's pride in front of CBP and the State Department scores a lot of points.

For the DS-230, this is the document for your mother to file, not your brother. Once the consulate in Serbia gets the I-130, they will let you know it's time for your mother to apply and file the DS-230. If your brother DID NOT put the consulate's name on the I-130, you will have to file an I-824 (will take a few months) to send the petition to the consulate AFTER it is approved.

Edited February 18, 2013 by CC90