Car issues - I am SO frustrated and desperate. (merged)

[Adequate Canadian 6]

Hello,

I think I messed up.

Long story short so everyone understands:

Around Jan 2016 - Filed for K1 Visa. (I'm living in Canada, fiance living in the states. Wanted to get married and come in on K1 visa to states.)

Only live an hour a part. (I'm Ontario - Fiance Buffalo, NY.)

-March 20th, huge family fight in Canada, that evening went back to States with husband.
*That evening I had a hard time getting across the border, as I had been there for a couple of weeks prior to this - But got through. Was told the next time I return to the U.S. to prove ties to Canada.*

-March 21st, after in the USA, got an email stating I was kicked out by parents without notice.

*No place to go, fiance and I were going to get married anyway. Came into the States with the intention of visiting.*

-Ended up withdrawing from Fiance Visa, we got married April 8th and I'm adjusting my status.

As I've made posts about it before, I left my car in Canada..

Today, October 8th - Got letter notarized (State of NY.) to give my mother-in-law permission to drive my car across the us/canadian border.

When they got to the Point of Entry, they declined them entry saying they'd have to go bring the car back to Canada..
They needed proof that I was living in the States Legally, which I am. My status is pending. I have an alien registration number, etc.

I even called the CBP (Their lines were horrid to get through and were giving me busy signals, but they said all we needed was a notarized letter, granting permission.)

*PLEASE NOTE, WE WERE NOT INTENDING TO IMPORT** We were going to import it at a later time, when I got my Green Card.

Will this affect my case in anyway?
Am I screwed?

At this point, I think we are just going to sell the car.

Edited October 10, 2016 by Ryan H
Reason for edit: to remove alternate spelling of profane word.

[BigDaddy28 228]

I dont think you are screwed as your status is pending soyou are not illegal. Write a nnotarized authorization to your aunt so she can go through with your car or take your info notices to CBP where your aunt is and show them your status is pending. Dont cross the border as that will withdraw your application automatically.

[NYCruiser 423]

Did you inform CPB that you had a K1 in process when you entered the US? I was asking as they said the next time you try to enter that you will need ties to Canada? I thought entering the US and then getting married so soon on a B2 is considered fraud?

My apology if I am incorrect

[Ash.1101 1,756]

The car shouldn't affect your case.

That and you're legal, but you're not 100% awesome super duper legal. You're just in a limbo. You're legal enough to be here, but not legal enough to be considered anything. If you had came on the K-1 you would have been 100% legal during the duration of the K-1. So, in laymans terms, you're more legal than those without an AOS in process, but less legal than those with a valid visa/green card/being a USC. Some CBP officers don't even understand that having an AOS in process allows you to stay in the US.


Did you send who ever was bringing your car a copy of your NOA1? The I-797 showing that you sent in an I-485 application and they received it? Again, for what ever reason, not all CBP officers see that as good enough evidence.

Also, make sure your car is importable, not all cars are easily importable (easy being you only need the letter of compliance from the car maker). Sometimes it actually is easier (and cheaper because you gain money) to just sell the car. Some cars need modifications to meet US standard, some I've seen simply don't comply at all and you won't be able to get a letter of compliance from the company.


Did you not apply for EAD or AP? If you applied for AP you may have been able to go to Canada and get the car yourself.

Edited October 8, 2016 by Ash.1101

[Ash.1101 1,756]

Did you inform CPB that you had a K1 in process when you entered the US? I was asking as they said the next time you try to enter that you will need ties to Canada? I thought entering the US and then getting married so soon on a B2 is considered fraud?

My apology if I am incorrect

They most likely saw it since they said next time she needed to prove canadian ties. She just never left the country to have to come back in to prove those ties.

Also, entering the US and marrying quick on a visitor visa isn't fraud UNLESS she came into the US PLANNING on marrying. While not advisable imo, you could come into the US with the intentions of just hanging out with your boyfriend, two days in he go "HEY BABE YOU WANNA GO TO VEGAS AND GET MARRIED" and you go "WHAT THIS IS ALL TOO SOON, BUT SURE" and then bam, you're married. Since when the girl in this case entered with the intentions of just hanging out and going back home, it's not fraud even though she got married 2 days into her visiting her boyfriend. Intent upon entering the country matters, what happens after that is up in the air.

If you didn't have INTENT to get married, it's not fraud. That and you have to get caught for that intent. Once you're married, intent can be an issue, but not reason for denial. Just gives the interviewing officer something to lean on if they give them a hard time.

The systems really weird when it comes to intent to marry versus non-intentional spur of the moment marriages.

Edited October 8, 2016 by Ash.1101

[Adequate Canadian 6]

I never informed CBP that I was pending on a K1 the night of March 20th.

Just said the USC was my boyfriend (because I was emotionally distraught, etc etc.) and didn't have any K1 paperwork on me as it was at his house. (We only lived an hour a part at the time)

I was never intending on staying in the States, I was only supposed to be visiting for a week, March 20th - March 26th.
But, the next day (the 21st) my mom informed me I was kicked out without notice via email and we had literally zero other options.

We even attempted to call around and ask for apartments/house rentals but they all fell through.

So, we decided to get married, withdraw from the Fiance visa etc etc.

Sadly, I didn't think I would need to provide any evidence of my status as we were not importing the car at the time (as I believe we have a year to import it), we only provided a Notarized letter giving my mother-in-law permission to drive my car over the Canadian/USA border.

At this point, it's costing me 200 bucks Canadian to pay for insurance on my car when I'm not able to drive it. (I've been paying since March without being able to use it, as me and my husband drove in his car.)

No, I did not apply for EAD/AP. Due to the fact that my Immigration lawyer said I didn't need it as my green card should be approved within 3-4 months. HAHA, I'm an idiot for believing her. I even asked her when we were filling out the paper work if we needed to do these and once again she said no. Well we filed in early June, it's now early October. I did just send of the EAD/AP paper work literally today. So hopefully that will get approved in the 90 days. Sigh.

I just don't know if it's worth selling it or keeping it.

It may be another 7 months before my Green card is approved, That's going to be around 1400 CAD I'll have to pay, when I can't even use it.

(I'm worried about when my AP gets approved, that they might not let me back into the states if I wanted to leave and come back to bring my car over due to CBP giving me such a hard time crossing the night of March 20th.)

Don't know if I should just take my car off insurance and get it safety'd if I decide I want to keep it/ sell it.

Maybe I should start off with seeing my car is Compliant with USA regulations. But it's a Ford Escape, 2008.. So I really don't think we'd have issues with importing it WHEN we can import it.

On a positive note, they returned my car back to my parents' house and managed to bring back some of my personal belongings in my husband's car.

So I at least no longer have to worry about my car being jam packed full of all my possessions.

Edited October 8, 2016 by Adequate Canadian

[Ash.1101 1,756]

Couldn't edit prior posts, been too long.


Looking at your other thread, and to make it easier, pick one thread and stick in it, as it's harder to give advice when relevant information to one thing is spread across a few threads, I saw that you were saying you were going to apply for EAD. (1)



Just so you know, when you apply for EAD you can't just go get a SSN. You have to wait for your EAD card to be approved and have it in hand. Once you have your EAD card in hand, THEN you can go to the SSA office and apply for an SSN.

Also, please try to not be driving on your liscense. MOST states are pretty generous and give 90 days FROM ENTRY to drive around, but you're past 180 at this point. I know you want your car, but make sure you're not driving around.


You also have some people confused on wether you used a lawyer or not. You used a paralegal. They aren't qualified to give any legal advice. (2) It's one of the downsides of not putting in the time and money to be a lawyer. I hope you have not been paying that person for any legal advice, as they are -not- a lawyer.There are people on VJ who are actual lawyers, there are also people here on VJ that most likely have even more knowledge than some lawyers and most paralegals.

And yes, even if you're not importing the car, you're having someone come in and bring the car and then leave it. They need proof the person they're leaving it with is legally in the country. If you had drove it in, and stayed then it wouldn't been much of an issue, as you would have driven it in intending on going back to canada, but now the car is being driven in and intending on staying in the US, there needs to be proof that the car is someones that is legally in the US to legally sit and do nothing in the US.



My husband sold his car, we were going to use the money from that to buy a second car, but the good lord decided to kill my car instead, so we used the money he made from his car in canada to buy our car in the US. It could be more beneficial to sell your car, especially since you're still paying insurance on it.
I think we would have had to pay to get his spedometer from KMPH to MPH and we said nope. lol.


Links to your questions/responding to you from your past threads in here:

(1) http://www.visajourney.com/forums/topic/612241-car-issues-i-am-so-frustrated-and-desperate-please-help/page-2 <--- About applying for EAD
(2) http://www.visajourney.com/forums/topic/607234-traveling-within-the-usa-while-i-485-application-is-pending/ <-- Talking about your paralegal

Edited October 8, 2016 by Ash.1101

[Adequate Canadian 6]

Couldn't edit prior posts, been too long.

Looking at your other thread, and to make it easier, pick one thread and stick in it, as it's harder to give advice when relevant information to one thing is spread across a few threads, I saw that you were saying you were going to apply for EAD. (1)

Just so you know, when you apply for EAD you can't just go get a SSN. You have to wait for your EAD card to be approved and have it in hand. Once you have your EAD card in hand, THEN you can go to the SSA office and apply for an SSN.

Also, please try to not be driving on your liscense. MOST states are pretty generous and give 90 days FROM ENTRY to drive around, but you're past 180 at this point. I know you want your car, but make sure you're not driving around.

You also have some people confused on wether you used a lawyer or not. You used a paralegal. They aren't qualified to give any legal advice. (2) It's one of the downsides of not putting in the time and money to be a lawyer. I hope you have not been paying that person for any legal advice, as they are -not- a lawyer.There are people on VJ who are actual lawyers, there are also people here on VJ that most likely have even more knowledge than some lawyers and most paralegals.

And yes, even if you're not importing the car, you're having someone come in and bring the car and then leave it. They need proof the person they're leaving it with is legally in the country. If you had drove it in, and stayed then it wouldn't been much of an issue, as you would have driven it in intending on going back to canada, but now the car is being driven in and intending on staying in the US, there needs to be proof that the car is someones that is legally in the US to legally sit and do nothing in the US.

My husband sold his car, we were going to use the money from that to buy a second car, but the good lord decided to kill my car instead, so we used the money he made from his car in canada to buy our car in the US. It could be more beneficial to sell your car, especially since you're still paying insurance on it.

I think we would have had to pay to get his spedometer from KMPH to MPH and we said nope. lol.

Links to your questions/responding to you from your past threads in here:

(1) http://www.visajourney.com/forums/topic/612241-car-issues-i-am-so-frustrated-and-desperate-please-help/page-2 <--- About applying for EAD

(2) http://www.visajourney.com/forums/topic/607234-traveling-within-the-usa-while-i-485-application-is-pending/ <-- Talking about your paralegal

Thank-you so much for all of your helpful information.

And yeah, I wasn't going to be driving the car. I was going to let it sit in the driveway in the States where I knew it was safe until I got my EAD Card and could get an SSN, etc etc.

Sorry for the confusion about the paralegal/lawyer thing. We have a lawyer, but there's also a Paralegal that we speak to, as well. The Paralegal is the one who gave us the incorrect information but the lawyer is the one who signed the paper work and everything like that. At this point, we don't need them anymore.. We were just going to keep them on IN CASE anything happens, but we're going to file our own paper work from this point on, (IE. If we can an RFE or something like that, because I trust myself more then the Lawyer and Paralegal at this point.)

I'll try to keep my posts more put together, lol. It's just been a really stressful time the past couple of days.

Thank-you for your help.

Yeah, I'm thinking about just selling the car at this point, to save some money.

[moemac59 192]

Sigh, I went to the DMV website and I think I need to do the AP/EAD route, my lawyer really f'd me.

Adequate,

You may have an issue getting your NY state DL until you get your GC. I had a huge issue trying to change over my Ontario license to a NY state DL as the DMV wanted proof of permanent residency (GC) which I didn't have until 7 months after I moved to the US. I took the EAD/AP card into the DMV along with my Notification Letter stating that my GC application was pending. It was a headache and the DMV had to call Albany to see how to deal with this. They finally issued a temporary license that said temporary visitor on it. I know that the DMV law for NY state says that you have to inform them that you are a NYS resident within 30 days of residency to switch over your DL but they won't switch it over until you have your GC. It is a bit of a Catch 22.

I would go into the DMV to see what steps you will have to do to switch over your DL. It may be easier for you because you are really close to Buffalo and this may be fairly common as they are used to dealing with alot of Canadians that have moved over to the US. I did mine in Albion and I don't think that they are used to handling the switch over of a foreign license.

Keep us posted and sorry about your attorney..that sucks

[NikLR 13,227]

Okay for your MIL to drive the car over, you need proof of your legality in the USA. She needs to have a copy of your NOA1 (which proves your legal presence in the USA at this time) and your notarized letter allowing her to bring the car into the USA.. HOWEVER, be aware that your insurance may not allow the car to be driven in the USA even though you're not importing it at this time.

As for import issues, you will need TPMS on your car for that year. Does your car have tire pressure monitoring systems? If no, then sell the car, buy a new one here and don't bother.

[cindymaeve 1]

Thank you for all of this information.

I am also planning on driving my car to the states, once my visa is approved. I have been told that I need a letter (compliance letter..?) for my car in order to import into the states. I have talked to my car dealership and they are willing to do this for me. I talked to the border patrol and they also said that I will need this letter.

Is this all that I will need to import my car when I enter the states at POE with my visa?

It seems that my Manitoba license will be valid until a get a new one, and my insurance should still cover me until I switch things over after Green card....is this correct?

thanks

[Boiler 45,525]

You are now resident in Florida so you need a local DL to drive in Florida, need to check if your Canadian insurance can cover you in the US.

Edited October 10, 2016 by Boiler