what NOT to say during border check

[OldUser 9,865]

4 minutes ago, Dashinka said:

Put it on my work phone.  Actually installed it upon landing while transiting to the immigration arrivals hall.

Wise move! Do you remember whether it asked for camera access, file access etc?

Edited 12 hours ago by OldUser

[Dashinka 25,843]

5 minutes ago, OldUser said:

Wise move! Do you remember whether it asked for camera access, file access etc?

Yes to camera, no to file access.  I don’t have anything on my work phone anyway, but it did need camera access to take a picture.

[johnsnow1234 5]

Hey all thanks for the helpful advice so far! I told her to adjust her plans so that while her first trip may be 60 days, her subsequent trips should be a month or less at a time, and she was OK with that.

 

We do have an accountant and an immigration lawyer who assisted my wife on her options to go visit the kids etc., which is how we ended up at filing the I-130. Since I also make a decent chunk from a passive business in the US, I have been simultaneously paying both federal and state taxes, as well as Japanese taxes here, for over the past decade.  I have had to deal with foreign earned income/tax credits, so that's definitely on my radar.

 

Re my wife's ties to Japan, well she's got several million (in US value) in her name here, including the house we currently live in and a separate "vacation home" that we go to for fishing. It also has a farm attached to it that sells produce and cute little bonsai trees.  Literally all of her family is here as well, as well as her dogs.  She, as the eldest child, also stands to inherit a lot from her parents. No job though, since she's retired and doesn't need the money.  I told her to take documentation and photos with her just in case they ask.

 

Just to rant a bit, my wife actually gives me a lot of ####### for being a US citizen lol. She says we wouldn't have "lost our kids" to America if I wasn't a citizen, and blames me for putting her in this position. Believe it or not, a lot of Japanese believe Japan is the greatest county in the world, absolutely refuse to learn any English, and so few consider emigrating to the US to be a good option, which is probably why so few Japanese end up in America. So while I do get the skepticsm here that we may be trying to skirt some rules, trust me, my wife really doesn't want to go to America or become a US citizen lol.  But as I said, we're doing this to be closer to the kids and not end up as empty nesters. And I don't want my wife to blame me even more if she ends up being mistreated in secondary or denied entry, which is why I'm here trying to come up with a script for her to memorize and practice before she goes!  

[S2N 299]

21 minutes ago, johnsnow1234 said:

Hey all thanks for the helpful advice so far! I told her to adjust her plans so that while her first trip may be 60 days, her subsequent trips should be a month or less at a time, and she was OK with that.

 

We do have an accountant and an immigration lawyer who assisted my wife on her options to go visit the kids etc., which is how we ended up at filing the I-130. Since I also make a decent chunk from a passive business in the US, I have been simultaneously paying both federal and state taxes, as well as Japanese taxes here, for over the past decade.  I have had to deal with foreign earned income/tax credits, so that's definitely on my radar.

 

Re my wife's ties to Japan, well she's got several million (in US value) in her name here, including the house we currently live in and a separate "vacation home" that we go to for fishing. It also has a farm attached to it that sells produce and cute little bonsai trees.  Literally all of her family is here as well, as well as her dogs.  She, as the eldest child, also stands to inherit a lot from her parents. No job though, since she's retired and doesn't need the money.  I told her to take documentation and photos with her just in case they ask.

 

Just to rant a bit, my wife actually gives me a lot of ####### for being a US citizen lol. She says we wouldn't have "lost our kids" to America if I wasn't a citizen, and blames me for putting her in this position. Believe it or not, a lot of Japanese believe Japan is the greatest county in the world, absolutely refuse to learn any English, and so few consider emigrating to the US to be a good option, which is probably why so few Japanese end up in America. So while I do get the skepticsm here that we may be trying to skirt some rules, trust me, my wife really doesn't want to go to America or become a US citizen lol.  But as I said, we're doing this to be closer to the kids and not end up as empty nesters. And I don't want my wife to blame me even more if she ends up being mistreated in secondary or denied entry, which is why I'm here trying to come up with a script for her to memorize and practice before she goes!  

Sounds like you’re doing everything right and have competent professional advice. Go with what they say.

 

Sorry you faced a lot of skepticism initially here. Your circumstances aren’t cookie cutter but what you’re doing is clearly allowed within the current U.S. immigration system. It’s just not all that common for someone to file an I-130 and let it sit at NVC for a long time in order to reunite with your kids in the U.S. once you’re ready to retire (or whenever, but you get my point.)

 

Its a super smart strategy though that will significantly shorten the time once/if you guys are ready, and it seems like you’re getting a lawyer who is planning for your long-term success, which is good.

 

Best of luck. If you have any questions about more practical stuff that it wouldn’t make sense to check with the lawyer about, we’re here. Also if you just want to check in overall  

If you take one piece of our advice here: have her apply for global entry now and do enrollment on arrival on her first trip. It’ll make the future trips much easier.

Edited 9 hours ago by S2N