Should we include a letter explaining denial?

[bebop + rocksteady 0]

My fiance was denied entry into the US last month (we don't plan on submitting our K1 petition until September). He was not charged, not fingerprinted, and not photographed. It was recommended by the CBP officer that he reestablish ties to Canada for a few months, but there was no offical ban or time period put as a limitation on him. He was denied simply because he couldn't provide proof of his return to Canada. We know this denial went onto his record, so we know it will come up sometime in the K1 process.

We were thinking, would it be a good idea to have a letter included with our I-129f petition explaining the situation and our negligence (we flat out didn't know he needed to provide proof)? We also have the names and contact information for the CBP officer and his superviser we talked to, they were amazingly nice. Should we include that? The officer told us to contact him if we had any questions.

Or, would it be better idea to leave it out of our inital application and wait until it comes up in an interview?

Has anyone been through this?

[moondancer627 0]

I thought Canadian citizens could spend up to 6 months in the US without any hassle visiting. Were both of you trying to cross the border when this happend or him alone? What POE? Were you on an airlines or driving?

My husband who is an Austrian Citzen with Landed immigrant status in Canada used to come across to the US from Alberta all the time before we started the K-1 process.

In fact I crossed the border with him in 2004. No problems, then we applied for the K-1. He made it across into the US before the paper work was recieved and spent 3 months with me.

As an Austrian Citizen with landed immigrant status he was only allowed to spend 3 months at a time with a Visa Waiver.

He had to return to Canada in Jan 05, and intended to come back again for his next three months when he was denied entry into the US.

The POE officer had the same reason lack of ties with Canada, so he was not allowed back into the US until he recieved his K-1 last July.

We had our interview for AOS in May. The INS officer who interviewed us was very interested in his denial.

Since she had no records of it, but it was recorded in his passport.

In your situation, I don't think I would write extra letters showing your mistake, if he wasn't fingerprinted, and he stays in Canada until he gets his K-1 everything will be okay.

The POE officer should have filled out a report and everything gets put into the computer. It will show up somewhere, but wait till your interview to explain the reason for his denial.

My opinion anyway...

good luck,

Moondancer

[elizaxyz 0]

That question will be asked as part of form DS-230, which is part of Packet 3. If it were me, I'd just stick to answering the questions on the form. I've no idea if a denial is something that would trigger an RFE.

I'm surprised he was denied, though. Did he specifically say "I'm visiting my fiancee" at the POE?

[bebop + rocksteady 0]

See, we thought the same thing. That's why he thought there would be no problem with him coming down and spending a month with me (we had planned to travel around the country and visit all my siblings.)

We were driving down together and we crossed at the Grand Portage crossing between Minnesota/Ontario.

The biggest issue the CBP had was that Craig had no job back in Thunder Bay and didn't have a lease to come back to, as well as no return ticket. It was the combination that caused a problem.

Also, there is a form to fill out (beyond the customs form) that asked "Are you interested in pursuing an American visa now or anytime in the future?" Considering we'd dicussed marriage and living in the U.S. in the future, he checked "Yes." on the form. Bad idea. They took this as "I'm going to illegally immigrate without going through the process." Not "I'm going to visit my girlfriend and I'll get a visa at some point in the future legally."

Bah. Immigration.

Maybe we should contact the officer that had our case at the border and explain to him what we are (legally) trying to do, and see if there is anything he can tell us about avoiding problems during the interview?

I'm surprised he was denied, though. Did he specifically say "I'm visiting my fiancee" at the POE?

Nope, at that point we weren't even engaged.

He was with me and just said he was coming down to visit me for 4 weeks.

[trey 0]

My fiance was denied entry into the US last month (we don't plan on submitting our K1 petition until September). He was not charged, not fingerprinted, and not photographed. It was recommended by the CBP officer that he reestablish ties to Canada for a few months, but there was no offical ban or time period put as a limitation on him. He was denied simply because he couldn't provide proof of his return to Canada. We know this denial went onto his record, so we know it will come up sometime in the K1 process.

We were thinking, would it be a good idea to have a letter included with our I-129f petition explaining the situation and our negligence (we flat out didn't know he needed to provide proof)? We also have the names and contact information for the CBP officer and his superviser we talked to, they were amazingly nice. Should we include that? The officer told us to contact him if we had any questions.

Or, would it be better idea to leave it out of our inital application and wait until it comes up in an interview?

Has anyone been through this?

The I-129F petition is not the place to present or argue your case. All they look for is if you meet the criteria to petition for a fiancee visa. Take any information you can to the interview and present it then.

[SilentJester 0]

I'm pretty sure you won't really have to "worry" about it until the time comes when you have to fill out the form DS-230 above that asks if you have ever been denied entry. A letter explaining it beforehand is not neccesary, it is going to come up eventually.

My wife (then girlfriend) was denied entry at Pearson International in Toronto before we started any immigration paper work. She didn't have a job and still lived with her father so hence no lease. They said she didn't have enough ties to bring her back to Canada, and denied her entry into the Unites States assuming that she was intending to just stay here. They didn't fingerprint her, but did take her picture and wrote "Refused" on her boarding pass.

The denial never came back up until she was filling out the DS-230 and had to acknowledge it on there (never lie about something like this). At the K1 interview we were asked about it and the lady giving the interview gave us a little bit of a hard time about it, apparently the guard that gave my wife the third degree wrote up a little report and said it appeared to him that she was living in the US, she wasn't. She asked us at least three times to explain it and the final time she said "Are you sure that's the story you want to stick with" when we kept telling her over and over that she was just coming for a visit. I guess that was finally good enough for her as she said she was going to issue the visa (imagine that, the truth worked for once).

It came up again during the AOS interview but that was a lot smoother as the lady giving that interview asked us once, we explained the same exact way as we did during the K1 and she just nodded her head and said that yes, it happens quite often.

So basically after rambling on here for a while I think my main point is just dont sweat it, plenty of people around here have been turned back at the border. Just make sure you dont try to hide it, dont lie about it. Just tell them the honest to goodness truth when you are asked about it, everything will work out for you in the end.