Will proof of NOA1 change anything after denial of entry at border?

[redbeard 22]

I mailed off the I-130s for my wife and stepson yesterday and am expecting to receive notice of NOA1 sometime next week probably.

Here's a little back story on our situation...

My wife (then fiance) was denied entry at the US/Canadian border last September. She was trying to bring down a toddler bed for our 2.5 year old to use at my place in the states for when they are down visiting. We didn't want to buy another one seeing that we already had two beds for him. Looking back it was a huge mistake, but she honestly had no intention of illegally immigrating or anything of the sort, which is what they thought. They denied her entry on suspicion of immigrant intent and lack of proof of ties at the time. Fair enough...they said it wasn't a big deal and asked her to come back again with proof of sufficient ties to Canada.

She works a full-time job in Langley, has retirement and bank accounts in Canada, auto loan, cell phone, insurance, child care bills, etc. She lives in a basement suite at her parents house, but had a signed affidavit from them saying she lived there. So she returned a couple days later with proof of all that.

The US Border Patrol looked at all the information, but told her "Sorry, we think you are too much of a risk to not return to Canada." They immediately seized her Nexus card.

They actually had the guts to tell her she should never try to return to the states until she is married to either an American or a Canadian.

So...fast forward six months now and she has not attempted the border since. We have been deathly afraid of it. And we are married now. I cross the border every week to see them. The Canadian border guards are lovely and have never given me any guff after more than 100 crossings probably. They don't even bat an eyelash when I tell them I am coming up to see my wife. They seem to care less and never suspect any immigrant intent.

Should my wife even try again with proof of NOA1? Or will her trying again maybe enrage them further and cause problems for us during the immigration process? She is a nicely dressed, native born Canadian who has tons of ties to Canada and a full-time job. This whole situation is crazy.

Has anyone been through anything similar with wisdom to share?

[Ryan H 3,790]

An NOA1 will not change anything, Customs and Border Protection (CBP) {and not the US Border Patrol} has flagged your wife as a risk. The odds are greater than 50% that she will be refused entry without an immigrant visa. If you were to try again and if she is again refused, the refusal of entry in of itself will not adversely affect the immigration process.

[ChristinaG 91]

....from another user's posts I read awhile back, the denial at the border did come up as a question during the interview so be sure to document dates/people/circumstances as best you can to help you respond IF it comes up.... in their case the CBP entered the person's denial incorrectly and it appears an easy fix... but more documentation is always the better option

I have tried to explain this to my hubby a number of times... yes I can bring stuff across the border with me, but I cannot - under any circumstance - give a suspicious guard the impression that I may be trying to move before getting the visas are approved! What we have been doing, in a very small scale, is hubby will bring back one or two boxes of things (books, dvds, general stuffs...) in his own car and in my car just the clothes I need for the length of visit (usually just the weekend)..... but never any personal effects (old pics of mine, girly daughter stuffs - those will wait for the Big Move

[redbeard 22]

An NOA1 will not change anything, Customs and Border Protection (CBP) {and not the US Border Patrol} has flagged your wife as a risk. The odds are greater than 50% that she will be refused entry without an immigrant visa. If you were to try again and if she is again refused, the refusal of entry in of itself will not adversely affect the immigration process.

Thanks for the information. I know she is almost sure to be hauled in to secondary. She has a full copy of our entire I-130 packet, will be holding proof of NOA1, and will be crossing with all the same proof of ties as she did last time. Hoping for the best...

I am seriously considering hiring an appropriate attorney out of Blaine, WA to stand by and meet her at secondary if/when she is called in. I will also be right down the road and will be meeting her at secondary if she is hauled in. There is genuinely no intent of any illegal immigration here. I was already informed by both the US and Canadian NEXUS interview officers when I went in for my interview a few months back that as a US citizen I have every right to walk into the border checkpoint office and ask to talk to a supervisor to straighten this out. They actually highly recommended doing this next time she attempted to cross.

[Ms Hogan 295]

All she can do is be honest and try to visit. She should not bring anything extra with her other than what she needs for the visit. Unfortunately, she is flagged.

Part of it has got to just be bad luck on one crossing. I myself crossed back and forth for nearly 3 years before my husband and I got married. I did it all the time. Sometimes I had the kids with me, sometimes I did not. I brought random items with me at various times ranging from boxes full of stuff for the kitchen (since I didn't need it while staying with my parents) to a bed for our son. Just like your plan, I did not want to have two beds and buy another one unnecessarily. After we got married I crossed back and forth at least every other week from October until the following March when we had our interview and then again until we actually moved in June.

In all my time before and during the process we were called into secondary only once. And that was for a random check. Even the officer at the booth was apologizing saying it was random and sorry it happened when I had the kids with me. They were only 1 and 4 at the time. He actually yelled in the radio that they better have someone ready and waiting for us since I had little kids with me.

I was never asked for proof of ties. Ever.

I realize I'm babbling. But I'm just trying to share that it is random at times. Was there anything more to it? The fact that they approved her for a Nexus card previously and then took it away makes it seem that she really got their attention. She just has to be honest and patient. They will either allow her to visit or not. And I don't think having a lawyer available will make any difference in secondary will it? Would they even allow him to access her there?

Her carrying her I-130 packet doesn't show any ties, it shows that she IS planning to immigrate. It will be her responsibility to prove that she is going to return to Canada.

[redbeard 22]

All she can do is be honest and try to visit. She should not bring anything extra with her other than what she needs for the visit. Unfortunately, she is flagged.

Part of it has got to just be bad luck on one crossing. I myself crossed back and forth for nearly 3 years before my husband and I got married. I did it all the time. Sometimes I had the kids with me, sometimes I did not. I brought random items with me at various times ranging from boxes full of stuff for the kitchen (since I didn't need it while staying with my parents) to a bed for our son. Just like your plan, I did not want to have two beds and buy another one unnecessarily. After we got married I crossed back and forth at least every other week from October until the following March when we had our interview and then again until we actually moved in June.

In all my time before and during the process we were called into secondary only once. And that was for a random check. Even the officer at the booth was apologizing saying it was random and sorry it happened when I had the kids with me. They were only 1 and 4 at the time. He actually yelled in the radio that they better have someone ready and waiting for us since I had little kids with me.

I was never asked for proof of ties. Ever.

I realize I'm babbling. But I'm just trying to share that it is random at times. Was there anything more to it? The fact that they approved her for a Nexus card previously and then took it away makes it seem that she really got their attention. She just has to be honest and patient. They will either allow her to visit or not. And I don't think having a lawyer available will make any difference in secondary will it? Would they even allow him to access her there?

Her carrying her I-130 packet doesn't show any ties, it shows that she IS planning to immigrate. It will be her responsibility to prove that she is going to return to Canada.

I think the problem came from her being honest with them that she was going to be staying with me fairly frequently, but was never going to cross the six month cumulative stay allowance. We were very naive about this whole immigration process, and from our limited research online thought that the K3 visa option would be great for us and unite us sooner. Now knowing that the K3 option is dead we feel stupid. There was never ANY intent of illegal immigration or of overstaying her allowable time, or of adjusting status in the states...NEVER not once was it even considered or discussed. She has a full-time job and a lot of responsibilities up north. And I actually work for the government and am under pretty high scrutiny and regular background checks. Meddling in anything like that WOULD cost me my job. Neither one of us would ever circumvent the law. This is just a big misunderstanding...and yes, due to a little bit of naivety on our parts. But this stuff is all very confusing when you are not educated on it...and most people aren't. I'm not saying that as an excuse, but we are both hard working, honest, good people.

This is truly just a misunderstanding. I wish there was some sort of bail I could post as a guarantee of her return or something. I just really hope they will be human beings and listen to her case when she tries the border again...

[MacUK 983]

This is truly just a misunderstanding. I wish there was some sort of bail I could post as a guarantee of her return or something.

This is an idea that has been discussed on here before. I personally think it would be a good one for people who have difficulty getting a B2 or have other issues preventing them getting a B2 or crossing the border.

Pay a sufficiently large fee to get a restricted tourist entry (restricted as in zero possibility of adjusting status and instant deportation if overstay), the money to be returned when the visitor leaves the US at the end of their stay.

Unfortunately there are probably lots of people who would gladly lose that money in order to get to the States and live illegally so it would probably be a non-starter

[redbeard 22]

Well we finally received our NOA1 yesterday, so my wife is going to attempt the border this evening after work with the NOA1 receipt in hand and a complete copy of our application packet...as well as proof of ties.

Am praying they let her across to visit for the weekend!

She did obviously have the denial of entry back in September, but I'm hoping the fact that she had come to see me dozens of times prior to that and had never stayed more than two days, combined with the fact that we have filed the I-130s and are obviously doing things the right/legal way will give her a good chance at getting through.

I'm a nervous wreck today with the anticipation !!!

Wish us luck!!

Will update this thread with news when I have it. Good or bad...

[redbeard 22]

She got through!!

She got hauled in to secondary of course, and the officer did attach an I-94 with departure date to her passport, but she said they were fairly nice and it wasn't the two hour interrogation we expected.

I do think it helped that the officer in secondary was a Canadian dual citizen himself who said he married an American and went through the K3 process a few years back!

How unbelievably lucky is that?

We are just over the moon!

[ChristinaG 91]

Awesome!!

So glad to hear that :)

[NikLR 13,220]

She got through!!

She got hauled in to secondary of course, and the officer did attach an I-94 with departure date to her passport, but she said they were fairly nice and it wasn't the two hour interrogation we expected.

I do think it helped that the officer in secondary was a Canadian dual citizen himself who said he married an American and went through the K3 process a few years back!

How unbelievably lucky is that?

We are just over the moon!

Congrats!

[redbeard 22]

Congrats!

Thank you!

What a true gift the weekend was. They are back home now, but having my family in my home again brought me to tears. And the Mrs. went into serious "Nesting mode" and was working hard to straighten out this husband's "bachelor pad" ! Haha! I have been traveling north every week for the past six months because of her entry denial and it was beginning to exhaust me. Can't believe how pleasant of an experience she had at the border, all things considered. She said the agent asked her why she didn't try the border again sooner after the denial (because we were petrified of them, duh ) and even gave her the name and phone number of an attorney who has an office in Blaine and Vancouver and told her to contact them and try to get this all straightened out.

So at this point we are hoping that seeing they let her through with the I-94 and that she returned on time, when she said she would, they will see that as a positive next time she tries the border in a couple weeks.

[redbeard 22]

An NOA1 will not change anything, Customs and Border Protection (CBP) {and not the US Border Patrol} has flagged your wife as a risk. The odds are greater than 50% that she will be refused entry without an immigrant visa. If you were to try again and if she is again refused, the refusal of entry in of itself will not adversely affect the immigration process.

It seems the proof of NOA1 and a copy of our entire application packet may have helped a bit. She said the officer went through the whole packet and even looked through our family photos during secondary. The wife said after looking through the photos he said, "Looks like you got yourself a good guy there...even though he IS an American" . Haha!