Hi all,
[Long and complex post! Appreciate for reading the whole thing!]
I've working to resolve an issue that I have with CAN/US entry exit records for over a year now. I am AU passport holder and PR of Canada for 3-4 years. Since living in Canada I have visited US numerous times both via land and air borders, under the Visa Waiver program. Never had an issue until 2014.
In July of 2014, I visited US through land border in BC for 3 days (yes 3 days!!); however upon entry back to Canada through Canadian BC border near midnight, it appears that they didn't scan my PR Card nor did she stamp on my AU Passport so no records of me leaving US/entering Canada on that date. (I managed to obtain prove that my car, whom I am the sole owner, did cross the border on that day though.). (and no, they didn't take the I-94 card that night and we were too tired to notice after waiting in the line for over 2 hours).
Same year in Nov, I visited US via air travel. The custom officer gave me a stamp on my passport from Nov - Feb 2015, and I finished the travel without any issues at both CAN & US airports.
Fast forward to March 2015, when I arrived at Canada airport to travel to US via air again, and was told that I over stayed my visa in 2014. It appears the record showed I arrived on July of 2014, but did not leave until Dec 2015 (so the exit date of the July trip AND the entry date of Nov trip, was never recorded!!) The problem was even more complicated because my old AU passport expired in Feb, and I didn't bring the old passport with me so I couldn't show them the stamps on my passport at least proving that I was at this airport in Nov of 2014.
The Custom allowed me to travel after I was able to prove that via credit card statements that I was physically in Canada starting Oct 2014, and told me that I need to bring my old passport next time I intend to travel to US.
I started investigating on the the whole debacle as I don't want to enter to US again until this is sorted. After over 1.5 years of emailing back and forth with CBSA, it was established that, CBSA probably did not scan my card and/or passport properly, but no, they cannot update my record because this is not a missing record due to spelling error, and that even though the issue probably started on the Canadian side, they suggest that I show the same support document that I have submitted to CBSA, to the other agencies and see if the record can be fixed there. The kicker is this comment from their response:
“Please note that we process thousands of requests for travel history and have encountered on numerous occasions travelers whose entries were not captured, for unknown reasons, in ICES by the Border Service Officers. It could be because the ID document was not scanned into the system (most often if traveling by car or bus), or because the machine misread the document. There are several other reasons why an entry may not appear.”
Right, so even though there are numerous occasions that entries are not captured, there is no way of CBSA to update the record according. Gotta love the red tape!
With some research (google: I still have my I-94) I have just mailed everything to US CBP hoping I'll have better luck with them.
According to that webpage (sorry since I cannot post links, please search for "i still have my I-94), one of the paragraph states:
We strongly urge you to keep a copy of what you send to DHS-CBP and carry it with you the next time you come to the United States in case the CBP Officer has any questions about your eligibility to enter. Carrying those materials with you will also allow your record to be corrected at the time of entry if, for some reason, the London, Kentucky office has not yet done so.
So here's my dilemma:
I am planning to travel to US again this coming October, and from what I have found, I have a couple options:
1) Pray that CBP will update my record very quickly, but this is unlikely as I am reading some forums saying this could take up to 4 months to process, and they won't respond to any inquiries or provide updates.
2) Book the tickets anyway, and just show up at the US Custom at the airport with all the documentations, hoping that they will update my record on the spot as indicated by the link. - A bit risky?
3) Apply for B1/B2 visa with my Aussie Passport and PR Card. This might be the safest? way but I don't have plans to visit US again in the next 12 months after the Florida trip, so seems a lot more hassle than it is worth? Waiting time right now is only 3 days so should be a fairly quick process?
#1& 2 is the best outcome for me as it is the least hassle if all the planets would lined up. With #2 I am hoping the fact that they allowed me entrance in NOV 2014 AND in March 2015 + the supporting documents are enough grounds for them to update the record on spot and stop giving me grief on border travels going forward.
#3 is only attractive to me if I can get a US visa for longer than 12 months. Some comments in this forum seems to indicate as Canadian PR, we could get 10 year B1/B2 visa? if so, that might be a good way to do it until I have my Canadian citizenship....
So my questions to everyone are:
- Do you think I am still eligible under the Visa Waiver program to enter US? Am I overthinking this if I have been allowed in US twice after I supposedly overstayed per their record?
- Would I be able to get more than 1 year of B1/B2 visa if I chose to apply for it?
Thank you all for reading this far. Any comments would be appreciated
[Long and complex post! Appreciate for reading the whole thing!]
I've working to resolve an issue that I have with CAN/US entry exit records for over a year now. I am AU passport holder and PR of Canada for 3-4 years. Since living in Canada I have visited US numerous times both via land and air borders, under the Visa Waiver program. Never had an issue until 2014.
In July of 2014, I visited US through land border in BC for 3 days (yes 3 days!!); however upon entry back to Canada through Canadian BC border near midnight, it appears that they didn't scan my PR Card nor did she stamp on my AU Passport so no records of me leaving US/entering Canada on that date. (I managed to obtain prove that my car, whom I am the sole owner, did cross the border on that day though.). (and no, they didn't take the I-94 card that night and we were too tired to notice after waiting in the line for over 2 hours).
Same year in Nov, I visited US via air travel. The custom officer gave me a stamp on my passport from Nov - Feb 2015, and I finished the travel without any issues at both CAN & US airports.
Fast forward to March 2015, when I arrived at Canada airport to travel to US via air again, and was told that I over stayed my visa in 2014. It appears the record showed I arrived on July of 2014, but did not leave until Dec 2015 (so the exit date of the July trip AND the entry date of Nov trip, was never recorded!!) The problem was even more complicated because my old AU passport expired in Feb, and I didn't bring the old passport with me so I couldn't show them the stamps on my passport at least proving that I was at this airport in Nov of 2014.
The Custom allowed me to travel after I was able to prove that via credit card statements that I was physically in Canada starting Oct 2014, and told me that I need to bring my old passport next time I intend to travel to US.
I started investigating on the the whole debacle as I don't want to enter to US again until this is sorted. After over 1.5 years of emailing back and forth with CBSA, it was established that, CBSA probably did not scan my card and/or passport properly, but no, they cannot update my record because this is not a missing record due to spelling error, and that even though the issue probably started on the Canadian side, they suggest that I show the same support document that I have submitted to CBSA, to the other agencies and see if the record can be fixed there. The kicker is this comment from their response:
“Please note that we process thousands of requests for travel history and have encountered on numerous occasions travelers whose entries were not captured, for unknown reasons, in ICES by the Border Service Officers. It could be because the ID document was not scanned into the system (most often if traveling by car or bus), or because the machine misread the document. There are several other reasons why an entry may not appear.”
Right, so even though there are numerous occasions that entries are not captured, there is no way of CBSA to update the record according. Gotta love the red tape!
With some research (google: I still have my I-94) I have just mailed everything to US CBP hoping I'll have better luck with them.
According to that webpage (sorry since I cannot post links, please search for "i still have my I-94), one of the paragraph states:
We strongly urge you to keep a copy of what you send to DHS-CBP and carry it with you the next time you come to the United States in case the CBP Officer has any questions about your eligibility to enter. Carrying those materials with you will also allow your record to be corrected at the time of entry if, for some reason, the London, Kentucky office has not yet done so.
So here's my dilemma:
I am planning to travel to US again this coming October, and from what I have found, I have a couple options:
1) Pray that CBP will update my record very quickly, but this is unlikely as I am reading some forums saying this could take up to 4 months to process, and they won't respond to any inquiries or provide updates.
2) Book the tickets anyway, and just show up at the US Custom at the airport with all the documentations, hoping that they will update my record on the spot as indicated by the link. - A bit risky?
3) Apply for B1/B2 visa with my Aussie Passport and PR Card. This might be the safest? way but I don't have plans to visit US again in the next 12 months after the Florida trip, so seems a lot more hassle than it is worth? Waiting time right now is only 3 days so should be a fairly quick process?
#1& 2 is the best outcome for me as it is the least hassle if all the planets would lined up. With #2 I am hoping the fact that they allowed me entrance in NOV 2014 AND in March 2015 + the supporting documents are enough grounds for them to update the record on spot and stop giving me grief on border travels going forward.
#3 is only attractive to me if I can get a US visa for longer than 12 months. Some comments in this forum seems to indicate as Canadian PR, we could get 10 year B1/B2 visa? if so, that might be a good way to do it until I have my Canadian citizenship....
So my questions to everyone are:
- Do you think I am still eligible under the Visa Waiver program to enter US? Am I overthinking this if I have been allowed in US twice after I supposedly overstayed per their record?
- Would I be able to get more than 1 year of B1/B2 visa if I chose to apply for it?
Thank you all for reading this far. Any comments would be appreciated
