Denied at POE in US--What to do now?

[guitarboy53 0]

Hello Everyone,

I have a friend (USC) that traveled to the US with his girlfriend (non US citizen) and his girlfriend was denied entry at the POE. My question is what does this mean for the future if they decide to the the K1 or K3 visa? Is she banned from the US for 5 years? Are they going to have to file some type of waiver? If they do need to file a waiver, how much processing time does this add to their case?

Thanks in advance!

[Minya's wife 24]

The answers to your questions depend on a couple of things. Is your friend's GF from a visa waiver program country? If not, did she have a valid visa to travel to the US? If she is banned from re-entry, then it should be in her passport, or she should have been advised of that at the POE. The reason for the refusal of entry is of note....why was she not allowed entry? In other words, there are situations in which entry is refused someone, and it has no ramifications on any future visas or attempts to enter at the POE, but there are cases in which the refusal to enter can trigger a ban....for which a waiver may or may not be available. Too many variables, perhaps you can clarify a bit.

Good luck,

-P

[guitarboy53 0]

The answers to your questions depend on a couple of things. Is your friend's GF from a visa waiver program country? If not, did she have a valid visa to travel to the US? If she is banned from re-entry, then it should be in her passport, or she should have been advised of that at the POE. The reason for the refusal of entry is of note....why was she not allowed entry? In other words, there are situations in which entry is refused someone, and it has no ramifications on any future visas or attempts to enter at the POE, but there are cases in which the refusal to enter can trigger a ban....for which a waiver may or may not be available. Too many variables, perhaps you can clarify a bit.

Good luck,

-P

I don't really know the answers to your questions right now. This all just happened last night. I do know that she is from a country that participates in the VWP. I am not sure if she received a stamp in her passport banning her from entering the US. I think they send her back home because they officer at the POE thought they had intended on marrying each other while in the US.

[rebeccajo 14]

Depends on what they stamped in her passport. Depends A LOT.

[Minya's wife 24]

Entry into the US is not guaranteed to anyone(even those who are from a VWP country), but a citizen of this country. Unfortunately your friend and his girlfriend learned this the hard way....the officer at the POE may have decided that she did not have sufficient proof that she will return to her home country at the end of her stay here. Normally, a simple refusal such as this, does not trigger a ban from re-entry...so they could petition for a fiancee visa in the future. But it is important to ascertain what is in her passport, or what exactly she was told when she was refused entry.

Good luck,

-P

Edited January 27, 2008 by Paula&Minya

[guitarboy53 0]

Depends on what they stamped in her passport. Depends A LOT.

Can we assume they did stamp a 5 year ban? How would that effect a K1 or K3 Visa?

[Minya's wife 24]

Depends on what they stamped in her passport. Depends A LOT.

Can we assume they did stamp a 5 year ban? How would that effect a K1 or K3 Visa?

No, we can't assume unless that is what is stamped in her passport. Is it?

[emt103c 10]

IF she was given a ban it would have been in the form of an Expedited Removal AND she would have been told. She would have been given a stack of about seven sheets of paper, had fingerprints taken, and been advised of the ban and possibly have a stamp in the passport.

There are ways to apply to remove the ban both for non-immigrants and for those wishing to immigrate to the U.S. Some attorneys even advocate trying to have the removal overturned.

One thing she does not want to do is attempt to enter the U.S. again before finding out exactly where she stands. If she ends up deciding to immigrate to the U.S. with her boyfriend, she would need to file an I-212 to remove the ban.

There can also be other charges in addition to the ER that can cause other problems and other waivers. . .you would definitely need to know if she was formally removed and see the charges on the paper to know exactly what she will need to do to be eligible to reenter the U.S.

[guitarboy53 0]

IF she was given a ban it would have been in the form of an Expedited Removal AND she would have been told. She would have been given a stack of about seven sheets of paper, had fingerprints taken, and been advised of the ban and possibly have a stamp in the passport.

There are ways to apply to remove the ban both for non-immigrants and for those wishing to immigrate to the U.S. Some attorneys even advocate trying to have the removal overturned.

One thing she does not want to do is attempt to enter the U.S. again before finding out exactly where she stands. If she ends up deciding to immigrate to the U.S. with her boyfriend, she would need to file an I-212 to remove the ban.

There can also be other charges in addition to the ER that can cause other problems and other waivers. . .you would definitely need to know if she was formally removed and see the charges on the paper to know exactly what she will need to do to be eligible to reenter the U.S.

Thank you emt103c! This is exactly what I was looking for. I will forward your post to my friend, and hope they can work past all of this.

Thanks again!!

[lucyrich 19]

The most likely reason for being denied entry is that she tried to enter either using the VWP or using a tourist visa, and she failed to prove non-immigrant intent. The fact that she had a US Citizen boyfriend would likely have been evidence that she intended to immigrate, and she would have had to counter that with enough ties to her home country to convince the officer that she didn't intend to immigrate.

If she was only refused entry for failure to prove non-immigrant intent, this will be a non-event as far as a future K-1, K-3, CR-1, or IR-1 visa is concerned. Yes, she'll have to disclose it on all the forms where it asks if she's ever been refused entry, but the interviewer will ask her a question about it, get the details of the reason, and it won't be a problem. Plenty of people here have had success after being refused entry for failure to prove non-immigrant intent.

If the reason was something else, or if she made the situation worse by being uncooperative and/or lying to or misleading an officer, things could be much worse. From the limited information you've given, we can't rule out the possibility she got a lifetime ban for lying to an officer. So I agree with the earlier posters that what's vital is that she know why she was refused entry.

Have her send copies of all the papers and/or passport markings to her USC boyfriend. Have her USC boyfriend schedule a one hour consultation with an immigration attorney, bring the copies of the paperwork, and make sure she is available near a phone during the conference. That'll quickly sort out what happened and what future effect it might have.

Edited January 29, 2008 by lucyrich