Canadian Citizen removed with 5 year ban - unique situation

[VickyP 34]

Even cutting grass?

Yep yep...funny laws that's all I can say. Be careful and don't allow your mom to do laundry or wash a dish when she comes for a visit!

[AtariBaby 17]

There are definitely legal rules of thumb these situations. The part about "working for free" is irrelevant. I'm not an attorney but I've been in and around employers and immigrants investigating possibilities: You can't even be an unpaid intern or a volunteer at a company. Why? The reasoning behind those laws is that a foreign volunteer is taking a job (or an opportunity) away from a legal worker. I think bona fide charitable organization volunteering is all you're allowed to do.

I can also attest to CBP being total dicks. I'm also not here to judge you. And of course, I defer to the sage wisdom of others here. But at this point, you must seek professional legal help IMO, to really know your possible avenues.

Edited June 12, 2014 by AtariBaby

[Gosia & Tito 199]

But CBP still let him in the country and didn't ban him for 5 years. Canada is more lenient.

Some would say civilized

[Gosia & Tito 199]

Yep yep...funny laws that's all I can say. Be careful and don't allow your mom to do laundry or wash a dish when she comes for a visit!

Or watch the kids, or change diapers, or even speak to your kid in your native language (as you could hire a LPR/citizen to 'teach' your kids a foreign language you know); specially if there is a petition for said parents in the future.

All the above is "work" according to USCIS

[Gosia & Tito 199]

You are guilty because you worked illegally, it wasn't like you were an innocent when you tried to enter AGAIN with your IT equipment.

It's not about money. It's about being authorized to work.

Under no circumstances would you get a work visa to come help your friend for free.

No one said you couldn't help your friend. US laws just said you can't illegally work to help your friend.

You are simply not getting that what you did was wrong. You think that you have the moral grounds here. You don't. You are simply using the line "I was helping my friend" to justify breaking US laws on working illegally.

Yet, there is a distinction between an individual who purporsely and knowingly enters the country with the intent to work illegally -and does repeatedly by leaving country within the 6 months allowed for a visit and re-enters shortly after again and again; and people who failed to know/understand the fine distinction noted in other posts, and did not intend to break a law if they had been aware of.

USCIS often condones intent when it comes to adjusting a spouse who had intent to immigrate and come into the country as a visitor (no, not advocating, but it's a topic that comes quite often in VJ)

And there have been amnesties of people who had intent to move in here illegally, last one in 76 I believe.

Not excusing the OP, clearly the law was broken; but it does look like the handling of the situation was less than ideal.

[islandgal 74]

Why would you be bringing your IT credentials to display if it wasn't to validate and acknowledge the "volunteer work" you already did?

[Avery Cates 1,141]

needs to know US law before visiting the US.

What a shocking turn of events.

[webman 5]

To answer your question: I've known my friend for 13 years now. It was to put on the wall to give credibility to the business. He knows my credentials and certifications and I don't need to prove them to him. This was to help his store have credibility. Again I was trying to help him in any way I could.

Why would you be bringing your IT credentials to display if it wasn't to validate and acknowledge the "volunteer work" you already did?

[webman 5]

So yes, I broke the law by wanting to go to the US to work for free and help my friend in his business to get off the ground. Yes I was going to stay at his house and yes he was probably going to buy me dinner or provide some meals for me.

The thing is, I didn't know this was illegal. I never thought that someone would think I'm taking an opportunity away from a US citizen. He would obviously need to hire employees in the future to work at the store. Since I was volunteering my time, this was less money out of his pocket facilitating him to open the store. Now the opening of the store is going to be delayed because I wasn't able to go down and help. He works full time as well in order to help pay for the items needed to open the store. It's not easy to find a qualified IT professional to help you open your store and get set up for free. No one in the USA would do it without being paid for it!

Usually if you don't know the rules and you broke a rule, you are taught the rules and usually let go with a warning if it didn't involve criminal activity or injure or hurt someone in the process. Most people have the basic understanding of right and wrong. What we don't have is knowledge of the rules that are in-place in a foreign country. IMO the penalty was too severe, and in order to enter the country again I need to retain a US immigration lawyer (creating jobs in the US and giving out money) to fight on my behalf to be admitted into the country. Again, my statement is correct. It's always about money! Somebody in the US somewhere needs to be paid! $5000 for lawyer, $585 for 212 waiver and $325 for a TN visa application since I have to do this at the US consulate.

[Boiler 43,738]

So what is your plan now?

[RhettVoe 281]

Amazing how the blame always seems to fall on our border folks...and never falls on those who have ignored or violated our laws, trying to rationalize their decision to do so using semantics ('helping out'....'decorating walls with IT certificates' [doesn't every office have those??]...and then making up stories about mistreatment....of course the OP was the model of proper comportment....(sure)....I support those who protect our borders....not someone who tries to claim they did not know that their actions were in violation of our laws rules....and then who goes on to make up even more stories to try and generate sympathy (it's in the dictionary, right before syphilis)....consider buying a box of Kleenex....

[Gosia & Tito 199]

I'm certainly learning a lot by reading this thread. However, I am Canadian and familiar with Canadian laws, not US laws. In Canada if someone comes up here from the US to help someone without being paid, there isn't a penalty for it. I personally know many people who have helped friends and family do renovations etc from England, USA and other countries and they can still come back to Canada.

My friend in the US wasn't aware of this law either, and he should have done some research and informed me from what I'm gathering here.

Nonetheless there's nothing I can do. I can file a 212 waiver, but from what I researched it's like basically making a $585 donation because getting the waive is next to impossible and even with the waiver they can deny me entry without a valid reason.

It seems that no one can make a mistake and everyone from other countries needs to know US law before visiting the US. And you have no rights in the US if you aren't a permanent resident or US citizen.

And how many of our fellow USC here know the laws of at least the countries their spouses are from?

I'm willing to bet that many have lent a hand in the spouse's home at one time or another. And their definition (of that country) work might not be as 'lenient' as to describe that there must some benefit for it to be illegal. Maybe

there is no such distinction and what they did was illegal plain and simple.

I agree that laws need to be respected, the not knowing is not excuse on the other hand....I would be more agreeable if 1. there was some sense in some of the ones we have 2.they were not full of special exceptions in some cases, to support some special interest and 3. there was some level of communication provided, in this case, perhaps explicitly publishing them in migratory documents. I know some will say that is up to the visitor to know those, then I submit to go to first line of this post.

[webman 5]

Wow, I really hope you come to Canada and break a rule you didn't know about at the border. Then, be told about it and sent on your way being treated with dignity and respect the Canadian way!!!

I sat on a concrete slab for 9.5 hours and not given anything to eat or drink until I was 7 hours into the process in which I received cold pop tarts and a can of coke. I informed the CBP officers I had not eaten anything and was hungry and even willing to pay for food delivery!!! Sitting on a cold concrete slab certainly didn't help my enlarged prostate and made me have to go to the bathroom every half hour at which time I needed to ask permission to do so! I wasn't in a holding cell. I was in the lobby of the CBP office!

If I don't know the laws of your country since I am not from your country, then how am I supposed to know what they are unless someone informs me? No, not every office has IT certificates on the wall! I'm an honest person. If I truly wanted to intentionally enter the US for work and lie about it, I wouldn't of brought my original IT certifications in their original frames!!! I would have either not bring them at all or shipped them separately!!!

Your CBP officers have a job to do to protect their country and citizens from people entering the country to do harm to the country. I was not doing that! I was going to help a friend get his business set up so he would be able to open the doors sooner and help the US economy. All the while I was doing this for free and heading back to Canada after 3 weeks!!! wow, I guess I should of been executed in front of a firing squad instead right?

Amazing how the blame always seems to fall on our border folks...and never falls on those who have ignored or violated our laws, trying to rationalize their decision to do so using semantics ('helping out'....'decorating walls with IT certificates' [doesn't every office have those??]...and then making up stories about mistreatment....of course the OP was the model of proper comportment....(sure)....I support those who protect our borders....not someone who tries to claim they did not know that their actions were in violation of our laws rules....and then who goes on to make up even more stories to try and generate sympathy (it's in the dictionary, right before syphilis)....consider buying a box of Kleenex....

[webman 5]

I also forgot to mention that the CBP did not return my IT certificates and frames to me when I left. I had to call them after checking my suitcases when I stopped at a hotel for the night to find out they weren't given back to me. Hopefully they will send them back to me.

Remember, the CBP officers lied to me, my fiancé and my friend in the US. But, I guess that's ok as long as they got me deported for breaking a law I wasn't aware of. In Canada that's called entrapment when a law enforcement officer lies to you to get a confession out of you or admission to doing a wrongful act.

[Boiler 43,738]

You sought entry as a tourist?

I also forgot to mention that the CBP did not return my IT certificates and frames to me when I left. I had to call them after checking my suitcases when I stopped at a hotel for the night to find out they weren't given back to me. Hopefully they will send them back to me.

Remember, the CBP officers lied to me, my fiancé and my friend in the US. But, I guess that's ok as long as they got me deported for breaking a law I wasn't aware of. In Canada that's called entrapment when a law enforcement officer lies to you to get a confession out of you or admission to doing a wrongful act.

You said you worked illegally, entrapment would be to get you to work illegally.