Travel in the last 5 years, I lived in the border!!!!

[osprey 0]

Hi guys, just received my 10 year green card this weekend after removal of conditions... and now trying to complete the final step!!!

 

My question is regarding travel in the last 5 years, and here is the problem. I lived in the border for my first 1.5 years after becoming legal resident. The thing is, my family lived only 40 miles away from me, in Mexico. I found myself crossing the border about every other weekend just for a day or two. We (my wife and I) both have family and friends living there, so we traveled whenever we wanted. When you cross the border by car, you don't get a stamp on your passport, so there is no way for me to know. Also, no cc record as I mostly used cash. It is nearly impossible for me to remember when and for how long I was there.

 

Also, do I need to report all 5 years even if I'm applying after being a GC holder for 3 years... I had a student visa before that!!

 

Any other Mexicans/Canadians that faced the same problem? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

Thanks

 

 

 

 

 

[Going through 5,671]

I understand about your passport never being stamped, so hard to track down travel dates in your situation...I stressed out over that part of my application for a while, too.

 

For the purposes of the N400, only travel longer than 24 hours needs to be reported for the past 3 years in your case since becoming a LPR (since you are applying under the 3-year marriage eligibility), so hopefully that narrows down some dates for you.

 

On my form, since I had no real records of travel either---I estimated the dates, and then attached a short statement declaring they were approximate estimations to the best of my recollection and personal records (I took a look at some of my bank statements to see activity in Canada, went through facebook postings, searched my memory to figure out at least season/month when I travelled, etc.). Most of my tickets were paid for in cash too, and mostly travelling by ground, so didn't give me too much to go on.  After filing my N400, I requested free FOIA exit/entry records from both borders to match up to my estimations and plan on bringing those to my interview later this month if questioned further about my "estimated dates".  Turns out my estimations weren't off by more than a couple of days here and there, so that was good.  When I filed my application online, I also uploaded the bio page of my Canadian passport (I figured this would make any sort of verification of travel on their part faster, if they needed to verify my estimated statements).

 

By now, I'm certain USCIS is used to dealing with people from originating countries that issue no passport stamps when crossing the border, and are more concerned with any trips lasting longer than 6 months rather than exact dates (since they could retrieve this info themselves if they really wanted to through their own databases quickly enough).  

Edited September 19, 2017 by Going through

[Going through 5,671]

Forgot to add----

 

I also checked my travel records online for the past 5 years using the DHS website.  It's not supposed to grant access to LPRs, and normally not Canadians since we don't have I-94s, but for some reason it did bring up records in my case...might be worth a shot to take a look https://i94.cbp.dhs.gov/I94/#/home#section

 

Click on "Need A History Of Your Arrivals & Departures?" and then enter in your passport number, etc.

 

Edited September 19, 2017 by Going through

[IPv6Freely 64]

On 9/18/2017 at 7:06 PM, osprey said:

Also, do I need to report all 5 years even if I'm applying after being a GC holder for 3 years... I had a student visa before that!!

 

 

 

 

 

Yes.

[Going through 5,671]

4 hours ago, IPv6Freely said:

Yes.

For travel, the OP only needs to report the last 3 years since applying under the marriage eligibility since they were not a permanent resident when on the student visa, I believe?

[IPv6Freely 64]

1 minute ago, Going through said:

For travel, the OP only needs to report the last 3 years since applying under the marriage eligibility since they were not a permanent resident when on the student visa, I believe?

I don't like to come up with my own interpretations of the instructions. If it says 5 years, do 5 years. If it ends up being more than they needed, so be it.