Legal Question in Immigration Law in California
I'm 21 years old and at the time i recently lost my job. As of a month or two ago, I tried to visit my girlfriend in the united states (San Fransisco California) for chrismas and new years and possibly valentines day in one go, by non stop fright from Toronto, ontario Canada. I had a 1 way ticket purchased by my Girlfriend's Parents so that i can choose to go home earlier if i needed to. The planned trip was 2 months. I was selected for secondary screening by a customs officer after he asked me how i was going to support myself. I told him I had about 2000 dollars cash and a prepaid creditcard. the second customs officer asked me the same question and i told her the same thing. And she told me that I was going to be denied access because she believes that i was trying to illegally try and find work over there, I asked her what i could do and she told me that i could bring many documents as evidence to be able to prove that i won't plan to illegally live in the united states. I brought as much as I could since i didn't have a job at the time i couldn't bring Pay stubs to prove i still had a job. A couple of hours later I bought another ticket to San fran and utility bills, Contact information for the place i'm staying at, a return ticket and recent income tax bills as the evidence. The new officer told me that he was going to ban me from entering the united states temporarily until I can bring a series of pay stubs from a new job to prove that I have something to return to Canada for. He also explained that 2 months is an unreasonable amount of time for someone with no job. Ever since this ordeal me and my girlfriend suffered a strain in our relationship since we had so much planned for the holidays and i was planning to propose to her during valentines day. Is there anything that can be done to enter the united states earlier than that? At this point i only want to visit her for only 2 weeks to save our relationship. And if not, and i do come with the said pays tubs and other evidence and i was still denied, is there anything i can do then? I heard i could present my case to an immigration judge if I was.
Thank you so much in advance for taking your time to read my question and situation.
3 Answers from Attorneys
You can't present your case to Immigration Judge in this situation. Yes, CBP have right to deny admission to any foreigner, for example, if they believe that an individual has an immigrant intent, or plans to work in USA without a work permit (e.g. no job in the home country, etc). If you were not banned admission for 5 years, but merely allowed to "withdraw your application for admission" and advised to reapply later when you have a job -- you need to wait until you can show "strong ties to Canada" (e.g. get a job, etc) before attempting another entry to USA.
Intent to propose and marriage, by itself, could be viewed as an immigration intent by the CBP officers at the border/airport.
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You can appear before a judge in certain circumstances, but I wouldn't recommend it. I suggest even though this is not exactly how you want it, that you pay the expenses for your girlfriend to visit you in Canada for Valentine's Day so you can at least get together. I don't know how it would work on your relationship, but you could propose and do a fiance visa which would take about six months. Timing of the case would be very important. I'm presuming that you did not get an expedited removal order. If you did, then it's harder and you'd have to get the removal order waived too.
As a fiance, you would marry her within the first three months of your entry. If you decided to not marry, you'd have to leave the U.S. (unless you ended up marrying her beyond that time.) You couldn't marry anyone else using that visa. It would just be to marry her. After marriage, you would apply to adjust status to permanent residence in the U.S.
The above is not legal advice but is general information. It doesn't form an attorney client relationship. For further information, call me at 818 609 1953 or write [email protected].
Sincerely,
Alice M. Yardum-Hunter, Attorney at Law, Certified Specialist, Immigration & Nationality Law
State Bar of CA, Bd. of Legal Specialization
Why not propose to your girlfriend? Since you seem to have a bona fide relationship, she could petition for you as a fiance. Once that is approved, you would be able to come to the U.S. for 90 days. Prior to the end of the 90 days, you would have to marry her.
If she does not want to marry you, she wouldn't have to; but at the very least this may help heal your relationship due to the unintentional separation.
Once you marry, you can then petition for residence, travel authorization, and a work permit.
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