Please help! Unknowingly used false French passport in the past. CR-1 or K-3 effects

[RodDetroit 118]

how did he live with a fake french passport all his life? they dont last longer than 5 or 10 years, btw Im surprised he got french permanent residence so quickly . just because he didnt know he had a fake french passport doesnt mean he has the right to stay in France, if that was the case everybody every illegal immigrant in Europe would get a fake passport a pretend they didnt know . there is something shady behind all this.

[millefleur 5,047]

how did he live with a fake french passport all his life? they dont last longer than 5 or 10 years, btw Im surprised he got french permanent residence so quickly . just because he didnt know he had a fake french passport doesnt mean he has the right to stay in France, if that was the case everybody every illegal immigrant in Europe would get a fake passport a pretend they didnt know . there is something shady behind all this.

France is insane about bureaucracy, with so many endless levels. It is surprising something like that slipped through the cracks...but human error is everywhere.

I remember my first trip abroad, it was to France. I held my passport up to the IO and the guy didn't even open my passport, didn't stamp it, just waved his hand like "Go" and I went through thinking "OK, I guess there's another IO who will open it and stamp it..." Nope. The guy just let me into the country without even checking if my passport was real, stolen, if it the photo matched my face, I never got an entry stamp....yeah, pretty crazy. And what's more odd: when I left France, they didn't care that I had never got an entry stamp, they just robotically stamped it on my way out without even checking.

The story sounds shady, but bureaucratic laziness and human error could easily lead to something like this it seems.

[RodDetroit 118]

France is insane about bureaucracy, with so many endless levels. It is surprising something like that slipped through the cracks...but human error is everywhere.

I remember my first trip abroad, it was to France. I held my passport up to the IO and the guy didn't even open my passport, didn't stamp it, just waved his hand like "Go" and I went through thinking "OK, I guess there's another IO who will open it and stamp it..." Nope. The guy just let me into the country without even checking if my passport was real, stolen, if it the photo matched my face, I never got an entry stamp....yeah, pretty crazy. And what's more odd: when I left France, they didn't care that I had never got an entry stamp, they just robotically stamped it on my way out without even checking.

The story sounds shady, but bureaucratic laziness and human error could easily lead to something like this it seems.

i dont know what year was that but now every time you fly outside of the European Union there is an agent checking your passport for entry stamps and they have to give an exist stamp , if you never got en entry stamp chances are its not going to be pretty and probably got denied the next time you try to go to any shengen country.

[Georgia Peach 1]

Thank you all for your suggestions. This is definitely too much for me to wrap my head around so I am reaching out to an immigration lawyer. I never even considered all of this nonsense when I fell in love with a non-American. The damage control alone is daunting. Nevermind the long distance that comes with the normal visa process. I was clearly living in la la land because these things never crossed my mind.

As far as how he was able to manage to live in France with bogus documents. Well I can't answer that. In the US we seem to be proving our identity at every hand. I'm not sure what life was like in France. I'm sure his parents had the documents that he needed aside from the passport. Who knows. They are acting very indignant about it at this point seeing as they don't really see the point of him moving to the US.

[bdawn 66]

i dont know what year was that but now every time you fly outside of the European Union there is an agent checking your passport for entry stamps and they have to give an exist stamp , if you never got en entry stamp chances are its not going to be pretty and probably got denied the next time you try to go to any shengen country.

I think that if you enter from another Schengen state they don't check. I have been to France twice both from Amsterdam and was never asked to show anything at all. They just waived me through. But I did get my passport stamped in Amsterdam on both trips.

[millefleur 5,047]

I think that if you enter from another Schengen state they don't check. I have been to France twice both from Amsterdam and was never asked to show anything at all. They just waived me through. But I did get my passport stamped in Amsterdam on both trips.

Nope, I was coming from the US. With a US passport. The IO never checked, nor did anyone care when I exited the Schengen zone back to the US. They didn't even look for an entry stamp, as I said. This was in '08. I later even studied in France with a student visa, and this never came up. They clearly could have counted and checked all my previous stamps and seen that there was no original entry stamp, but it was overlooked and never brought to my attention. I made multiple visits to the Schengen zone (probably more than 20 altogether) and that original lack-of-entry-stamp slip up was never, ever noticed or caught.

So, it's highly possible that if someone makes a slip up, it just goes unnoticed or not checked. This also might be the case in with the OP.

I wish the OP best of luck. It's really frustrating to be caught in such a paper maze of red tape. Hang in there, OP! I hope the lawyer helps with the situation.

Edited November 23, 2016 by millefleur

[Ebunoluwa 6,136]

Thank you all for your suggestions. This is definitely too much for me to wrap my head around so I am reaching out to an immigration lawyer. I never even considered all of this nonsense when I fell in love with a non-American. The damage control alone is daunting. Nevermind the long distance that comes with the normal visa process. I was clearly living in la la land because these things never crossed my mind.

As far as how he was able to manage to live in France with bogus documents. Well I can't answer that. In the US we seem to be proving our identity at every hand. I'm not sure what life was like in France. I'm sure his parents had the documents that he needed aside from the passport. Who knows. They are acting very indignant about it at this point seeing as they don't really see the point of him moving to the US.

Make sure it is an experienced waiver lawyer, the suggestions of names of the lawyers you received are all very good.

It will be very costly.

Consult first, forget filing anything until you met with a lawyer.

[piff 46]

In order to be under VWP, the French government has to release the data on all passports to the US. Now, it must be a real passport to travel twice, in France or EU they have to check those passports.

I think that he at least had to know his birthday and he intentionally traveled on that passport as had no other paperwork in France.

It will be extremely hard to prove otherwise and in this country the officials take fraud very seriously. He could be banned forever. And sorry for not being optimistic but things just don't add up here.

[kzielu 1,154]

The question is - is it truly fake passport (falsified) or just a legit french passport issued by french authorities but to someone who should never get it since he was not a french citizen.

First is much much worse than second IMO, but it more looks like second to me...

[jostermacedo 62]

I had the same experience in France in 2004. I flew into CDG and the immigration officer did not even open my passport. When I left through Germany, the immigration officer looked for a entry stamp, did not find it and asked when and where I had entered the EU. I told I had entered through Paris and he answered back: "the french".

Nope, I was coming from the US. With a US passport. The IO never checked, nor did anyone care when I exited the Schengen zone back to the US. They didn't even look for an entry stamp, as I said. This was in '08. I later even studied in France with a student visa, and this never came up. They clearly could have counted and checked all my previous stamps and seen that there was no original entry stamp, but it was overlooked and never brought to my attention. I made multiple visits to the Schengen zone (probably more than 20 altogether) and that original lack-of-entry-stamp slip up was never, ever noticed or caught.

So, it's highly possible that if someone makes a slip up, it just goes unnoticed or not checked. This also might be the case in with the OP.

I wish the OP best of luck. It's really frustrating to be caught in such a paper maze of red tape. Hang in there, OP! I hope the lawyer helps with the situation.

[millefleur 5,047]

If he traveled under a fake French passport, it' must've been a heck of a forgery. Impeccable forgeries do exist but it is kind of amazing how he got through US CBP with a fake passport. You need to get that passport and have some experts look at it, get the whole story behind it.

If the parents aren't being helpful, that just makes it worse. It seems like this is going to involve a boatload of legal documents as proof to show that your husband is innocent and didn't do this willingly. The truth needs to be outed....if you bother spending money on an immigration lawyer, your husband and his parents need to own up to the truth behind this otherwise the whole thing is just a house of cards.

[jostermacedo 62]

Maybe the passport itself is not fake, but the documents used to get the passport were?

If he traveled under a fake French passport, it' must've been a heck of a forgery. Impeccable forgeries do exist but it is kind of amazing how he got through US CBP with a fake passport. You need to get that passport and have some experts look at it, get the whole story behind it.

If the parents aren't being helpful, that just makes it worse. It seems like this is going to involve a boatload of legal documents as proof to show that your husband is innocent and didn't do this willingly. The truth needs to be outed....if you bother spending money on an immigration lawyer, your husband and his parents need to own up to the truth behind this otherwise the whole thing is just a house of cards.

[RodDetroit 118]

Thank you all for your suggestions. This is definitely too much for me to wrap my head around so I am reaching out to an immigration lawyer. I never even considered all of this nonsense when I fell in love with a non-American. The damage control alone is daunting. Nevermind the long distance that comes with the normal visa process. I was clearly living in la la land because these things never crossed my mind.

As far as how he was able to manage to live in France with bogus documents. Well I can't answer that. In the US we seem to be proving our identity at every hand. I'm not sure what life was like in France. I'm sure his parents had the documents that he needed aside from the passport. Who knows. They are acting very indignant about it at this point seeing as they don't really see the point of him moving to the US.

If you said he traveled to the US with that French passport that means that in reality that's somebody else passport , I have a friend who used to work as border agent and he told me that when they scan your passport the system shows if the algorithm written in the passport is legit and if the information is good too then this information is compared with a list of people that have been red-flagged. does he even have a french national identification card? French tax number? French driver's license. . Honestly, i dont buy his story that he didnt know. Im surprised that France hasn't put his status on hold,

[Georgia Peach 1]

Maybe the passport itself is not fake, but the documents used to get the passport were?

I actually think that this is the case. Some things are coming to the light and although I fell empathy for my husband and even for the parents as these aren't people with nefarious intentions, it is becoming too stressful for me.I didn't sleep a wink last night just thinking about the situation. Living separately from your spouse is no marriage at all. This is too much to handle. Plus his chances look even slimmer now that our new president-elect wants to crack down on this very type of thing. Funny how your past always catches up to you.

Thanks again for the replies

[EM_Vandaveer 2,417]

If you said he traveled to the US with that French passport that means that in reality that's somebody else passport , I have a friend who used to work as border agent and he told me that when they scan your passport the system shows if the algorithm written in the passport is legit and if the information is good too then this information is compared with a list of people that have been red-flagged. does he even have a french national identification card? French tax number? French driver's license. . Honestly, i dont buy his story that he didnt know. Im surprised that France hasn't put his status on hold,

IMHO it's entirely plausible. First of all, here in the US it's a fairly common story when a kid who grew up here (brought into the country very young, may not even remember it) and in all his life assumed he was a USC as his parents never told him otherwise only finds out their (illegal) status when applying to college, for example.

OP's husband's parents knew all too well they broke the law/committed fraud so it's actually plausible they didn't tell him about it (the less people know, the better), and like earlier commenters said, the passport itself could have easily been "real" as in issued by the proper authorities, but obtained using fake documents, as obviously OP's husband wasn't entitled to one, not being a French citizen in the first place.