Failed I-485 interview as canadian married to a u.s. citizen

[redleave 0]

Darnell, thank you for your valuable information...... Will take action according to your suggestion.

By the way, Here is my question:

Submitting proof of inspection/lawful admission into the U.S. is a necessary and required document for the canadian citizen?

since canadian tourist neither need a tourist visa nor I-94 in order to enter U.S.. Canadians who enter the u.s. only get their passport scanned even without an entry stamp on their passport. From my experience, I guess it is the way canadian tourist being treated when they enter to the U.S. through the airport.

As an immigration office, doesn't him don't know this? If he does know this, why he still insisted to require such document? Did he just do it on purpose and try to give a canadian citizen some hardship?

Edited July 13, 2011 by redleave

[redleave 0]

Does my friend need to consult with an immigration laywer for a solution also?

[Neoalissa 1]

We tried to get a record of entry from the border for every time he crossed over to visit. The guard told my Fiance that they cant due to national security.

[redleave 0]

Thank you Kathryn41 for your sincere help.

Does my canadian friend need to hire an immigration lawyer before he contact the local airport and CBP?

[Saddle Bronc 124]

Does he have tourist visa? Seems he entered on VWP and not tourist visa.

Hopefully someone can help.

Not VWP. Canadians (only) are allowed (at officer's discretion) to enter US "undocumented" (B-2 status, but no papers) for up to six months.

It is very rare that Canadians get tourist visas to enter US (unlike VWP, a refusal does NOT bar future entry as earlier).

[Saddle Bronc 124]

Wow, this is the first I have heard USCIS getting so hard-nosed with a Canadian having to provide proof of entry. Generally,most Canadians who enter the US as a visitor do not have any documentary 'proof' of entry - it is not provided by the US border guards. If he has a plane ticket, then he would have had to go through US immigration at the airport before they even let him on the plane to the US. His boarding pass, if he has it still, would provide proof of legal entrance because he would not have been allowed to fly to the US without going through immigration before boarding.

No, Canadian visitors do not get an I-94 nor a physical visa (except under certain circumstances) nor are they members of a visa waiver program. Canadians who present at the border as visitors are given a de-facto B2 visitor visa status - but do not get an actual document stating so. It is a unique situation available only to Canadians. Sometimes US authorities will stamp a passport but more often they don't. It sounds like the interviewing officer may have been very inexperienced not to have known this or else is using this request for proof of legal entry as an easy out to deny an application he wanted to deny on other grounds but could not justify..

The best thing I can suggest is that your friend contact the border where he made his entry, provide them with the date and time of his entry, the type of vehicle he was in if he didn't fly, his flight number and carrier if he did, etc., his passport number and personal identification (name, address, etc.) and ask if they can provide him with some sort of proof of his legal entry to the US, even if it is just a statement that he was inspected on XXX date at XXX location and admitted to the US. He may be able to do this at a CPB office at a local airport if they can check their own records from other POEs.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

While this does relate to an AOS topic I am moving it to the Canada Regional Forum as it is a Canada specific question and others there may have experienced this situation as well so can provide more information.

Could be due to the fact that he married a USC--which is a "red-flag" to many USCIS officers.

And unfortunately, many Stateside USCIS officers aren't entirely aware of the laws regarding Canada and NAFTA; I can remember being asked "where's the visa" when I reentered at Atlanta (directly, not diverted through a Canuck PFI as was oft suggested on Grasmick Forum) from Gatwick in March 1999--and I can't claim that, even today, another TN-1 will not have a similar experience.

[redleave 0]

We are not sure whether we could get a retrieve record from CBP. They may help but they could refused to help too. We just called them on the phone, the person at the other side does not sound friendly. The person even said in this case, the canadian needs back to canada and apply for a finance visa in canada and then come back.

Do we need to hire an attorney for a solution? We remember that immigration officer at the interview also mentioned he is overstayed in the u.s. (7 months so far). His status become illegal now no matter he has got married in the U.S. or not. It was scary to hear what he said like this...

[Udella&Wiz 325]

We are not sure whether we could get a retrieve record from CBP. They may help but they could refused to help too. We just called them on the phone, the person at the other side does not sound friendly. The person even said in this case, the canadian needs back to canada and apply for a finance visa in canada and then come back.

Do we need to hire an attorney for a solution? We remember that immigration officer at the interview also mentioned he is overstayed in the u.s. (7 months so far). His status become illegal now no matter he has got married in the U.S. or not. It was scary to hear what he said like this...

Is your friend already married? How would a Fiance Visa help? USCIS is a bunch of schmucks

[Krikit 1,163]

Merging duplicate topics.

[redleave 0]

We just talked with a lawyer who offers to write a RFE only with $1000. There is no follow-up service if the case goes worse. We called CBP and CBP said they couldn't help for the entry stamp or any other documents.

Please help!! we only have an e-ticket with us.

[Canadiandggal 49]

We just talked with a lawyer who offers to write a RFE only with $1000. There is no follow-up service if the case goes worse. We called CBP and CBP said they couldn't help for the entry stamp or any other documents.

Please help!! we only have an e-ticket with us.

anyway to call the airport and see if they have a record of him boarding the plane

[Krikit 1,163]

Unfortunately he does not keep the boarding pass, it was six months ago. The only thing he has now is the e-ticket. Will the e-ticket could prove the legal admission/proof of inspection for legal entry? His e-ticket include detail infomation such as when and where his departure and the name of airplane company.

If he flew, did US Customs not stamp his passport? In any event, here are some CBP FAQ links for you:

How Can I Get a Record of My Travel?

What to do if your I-94 is lost..... or not stamped

Email a Question

[redleave 0]

thank you so much Krikit!! Your suggestions are getting to the point!

My spouse trust legal help, so we paid big money and ask to a best local immigration firm for the solution. but we felt more confused based on the solutions the attorney provided. she suggested that we collect every the evidence with an attorney's memo, but nothing guanranteed for the result. the attorney even warned us that if the attorney's memo doesn't work, we possibly need to pay addtional $10,000 for the further solution with their help...

We felt exhausted and little bit desperated. because such entry stamp or I-94 we can't creat it ourselves. If u.s. customs don't put a stamp on the passport, we can't get it from anywhere else.

We were focus on finding a sulution and forgot to check our mails. Guess what, this is the funny end, we got two letters from CIS in the coming week, one is welcome notice letter which indicates the green card will send to us in the coming 3 weeks, the other letter is the green card itself. we noticed that the letter just send to us the second day after our interview. but we received in 4-5 days. We feel upset that once cis noticed they make such low level mistake, why they can't notice us in time? by email or a phone call?

What the chaos it is!...we feel released now, but who will reimburse our attorney fee and the 7 days' nightmare?

***so there is no such a thing for a canadian to prove their legal entry. Your passport itself is a legal entry document!!***

[Kathryn41 3,205]

Congratulations on the Green card. It appears that someone informed the Interviewing officer that Canadians don't get I-94s or entry/exit visas and that if you were on a plane, you were inspected when you entered the US.

Unfortunately, there is no recompense for the money you spent on the lawyer nor for your emotional distress. Dealing with USCIS can be a nightmare and sometimes the only real way to move on from it is to accept that you have what you need from them and try to let the rest go.

Good luck to you. Don't forget to apply to remove conditions on the 2 year card 90 days before it expires.

Edited July 27, 2011 by Kathryn41