OK. Apologies for the long-winded nature of this post, but kinda complicated.
I am a U.S. Citizen who is also a traveling musician. My wife is a Canadian with dual citizenship.
My wife and I met and were married in the U.S. We thought we'd be settling down in North Carolina. Then, by lucky chance, (while we were on family vacation visiting relatives in B.C.) my wife was asked to interview for a great job in Richmond, B.C., which is her hometown. She got the job. Pulled up stakes and moved to B.C. I stayed behind awhile to fix up the house to be sold. Then I went up to Seattle to stay with relatives. Plan was/is for me to be sponsored so I could live in Canada legally.
She is lawfully employed and still a Canadian citizen, my kids have Canadian passports and full citizenship. They have been for the past 6-8 months. I am still a U.S. citizen who comes across the border from Seattle (when I'm not on tour in the U.S. playing with a jazz musician) to help take care of the kids, then I fly back to the U.S. Have been doing this off and on for months now with no trouble. Never have stayed for more than 10-15 days at a stretch, then I go back on tour.
We have started the process for my sponsorship only recently. Would have been sooner, but between the hectic nature of my wife's new job, the kids being in school, moving transitions and a host of other things, just hadn't happened yet.
Well, recent events have kind of forced our hand.
Against my better judgement, I decided to come into B.C. by Amtrak train after a show in Seattle, instead of YVR Airport, where I've never had an issue entering the country. But at Pacific Central Station, for some reason this border officer just started grilling me with questions I'd never had before like, "if you live in Seattle and you just came from a show there, why is your guitar with you?" "Why is your guitar equipment in your bag?" "Your wife and kids are here but you're not? Why is that, sir?" "Are you and your spouse separated?" "Why are you so nervous? If you have nothing to hide, then what's the problem?" And so on and on. I answered the questions truthfully, but I guess my nervousness made me look like I was trying to hide something, which I wasn't. And the only reason I was nervous was because I'd never been under this kind of scrutiny before.
Anyway, after getting grilled for what seemed like forever, the officer stapled a Visitor Record to my U.S. passport and let me know in no uncertain terms that because of the "inconsistent answers" I gave that I got off lucky and could have been deported back to the U.S. It gave me only 10 days to be in B.C. before I had to report to Border agents and be gone. Well, I wasn't in a position to argue, but 10 days wasn't enough time. My mother in law, who had been helping taking care of the kids in my absence was to be traveling to The Phillipines and wasn't going to be around in 10 days. The officer also emphasized the need for us to get on the case and do our due diligence by getting the sponsorship paperwork done. Needless to say I was in a bit of a pickle.
So, per the instructions on the back of the I filed for an extension of my stay, which has been received and signed by the immigration office in Vegreville, where apparently you need to send these things. It is still in the processing stage, but it has been received before the cut-off point typed on the Visitor Record.
We have also visited an immigration lawyer in Vancouver (with whom we discussed our situation and a plan of action) who will be reviewing our Sponsorship papers before sending them off for the long and red-tape filled processing (and hopefully approval) stage.
But, here's my problem.
I'm about to head back to the U.S. for a series of musical shows.
Is this going to be a permanent black mark on my trying to get back to see my wife and children in Canada?
Even though I filed for an extension of my stay and it has been received, (and have documents to prove it, along with proof of applied sponsorship) upon coming back to visit, are the border officers only going to see that I had an overstay and boot me back to the U.S. or worse, arrest me?
Any kind of clarity or feedback is appreciated. Thank you.
tk421vox
I am a U.S. Citizen who is also a traveling musician. My wife is a Canadian with dual citizenship.
My wife and I met and were married in the U.S. We thought we'd be settling down in North Carolina. Then, by lucky chance, (while we were on family vacation visiting relatives in B.C.) my wife was asked to interview for a great job in Richmond, B.C., which is her hometown. She got the job. Pulled up stakes and moved to B.C. I stayed behind awhile to fix up the house to be sold. Then I went up to Seattle to stay with relatives. Plan was/is for me to be sponsored so I could live in Canada legally.
She is lawfully employed and still a Canadian citizen, my kids have Canadian passports and full citizenship. They have been for the past 6-8 months. I am still a U.S. citizen who comes across the border from Seattle (when I'm not on tour in the U.S. playing with a jazz musician) to help take care of the kids, then I fly back to the U.S. Have been doing this off and on for months now with no trouble. Never have stayed for more than 10-15 days at a stretch, then I go back on tour.
We have started the process for my sponsorship only recently. Would have been sooner, but between the hectic nature of my wife's new job, the kids being in school, moving transitions and a host of other things, just hadn't happened yet.
Well, recent events have kind of forced our hand.
Against my better judgement, I decided to come into B.C. by Amtrak train after a show in Seattle, instead of YVR Airport, where I've never had an issue entering the country. But at Pacific Central Station, for some reason this border officer just started grilling me with questions I'd never had before like, "if you live in Seattle and you just came from a show there, why is your guitar with you?" "Why is your guitar equipment in your bag?" "Your wife and kids are here but you're not? Why is that, sir?" "Are you and your spouse separated?" "Why are you so nervous? If you have nothing to hide, then what's the problem?" And so on and on. I answered the questions truthfully, but I guess my nervousness made me look like I was trying to hide something, which I wasn't. And the only reason I was nervous was because I'd never been under this kind of scrutiny before.
Anyway, after getting grilled for what seemed like forever, the officer stapled a Visitor Record to my U.S. passport and let me know in no uncertain terms that because of the "inconsistent answers" I gave that I got off lucky and could have been deported back to the U.S. It gave me only 10 days to be in B.C. before I had to report to Border agents and be gone. Well, I wasn't in a position to argue, but 10 days wasn't enough time. My mother in law, who had been helping taking care of the kids in my absence was to be traveling to The Phillipines and wasn't going to be around in 10 days. The officer also emphasized the need for us to get on the case and do our due diligence by getting the sponsorship paperwork done. Needless to say I was in a bit of a pickle.
So, per the instructions on the back of the I filed for an extension of my stay, which has been received and signed by the immigration office in Vegreville, where apparently you need to send these things. It is still in the processing stage, but it has been received before the cut-off point typed on the Visitor Record.
We have also visited an immigration lawyer in Vancouver (with whom we discussed our situation and a plan of action) who will be reviewing our Sponsorship papers before sending them off for the long and red-tape filled processing (and hopefully approval) stage.
But, here's my problem.
I'm about to head back to the U.S. for a series of musical shows.
Is this going to be a permanent black mark on my trying to get back to see my wife and children in Canada?
Even though I filed for an extension of my stay and it has been received, (and have documents to prove it, along with proof of applied sponsorship) upon coming back to visit, are the border officers only going to see that I had an overstay and boot me back to the U.S. or worse, arrest me?
Any kind of clarity or feedback is appreciated. Thank you.
tk421vox
