Risk of rejection at POE to Canada due to overstay and subsequent ban from US

[Schu]

I'm asking this question on behalf of a friend of mine.

She is a UK (British) Citizen.

She was married to an American and ended up overstaying her US Visa by about 18 months, leaving eventually in January 2009. She tried to re-enter the US and was refused entry and issued with a 10 year ban in 2010.

She is self-employed and can work online from anywhere. She spends her time travelling so her movements around the globe over the past few years are quite extensive. She spent 12 months in Australia from April 2011-April 2012 and has since been in the Canary Islands and Dubai, with a brief trip home to the UK.

She has never overstayed anywhere else.

She is currently low on funds so entering the country at the moment she would not look great from a financial perspective.

She wants to come to Canada for approximately three to six months.

What are her chances of being allowed in at POE and granted that? How likely is her overstay and ban with the US to affect her chances? What sort of evidence should she bring that she has no intention of overstaying?

 

[Schu]

A holiday/travel. She also has family in Vancouver.

She's not there to work nor look for a job as she's self-employed and her online work goes with her. She simply likes visiting new places and changing her environment.

 

[scylla]

She should be OK if she has a return ticket.

As an FYI to your friend, she actually recieved the 10 year ban when she left the US in 2009 (overstaying by over 1 year triggers an automatic 10 year ban as soon as you leave the US). She's luckly she didn't trigger a 20 year ban when she attempted to enter again in 2010 (I believe the 20 year ban is usually applied when someone with an existing 10 year ban attempts to re-enter).

 

[Schu]

Thankyou so much for that information, and also the extra information about the US ban.

 

[scylla]

I was just thinking the ban through further...

If your friend wants to enter the US after the 10 years have passed, she should hire a lawyer to verify that she does in fact only have a 10 year ban. Since she attempted to enter the US while already banned, I believe she should technically have been given a longer ban (I believe 20 years?). The officials at the border aren't always the swiftest in communicating the right information. So there's a possibility she might now have a longer ban but not be aware of it. Just something to keep in mind for the future. The US is extremely strict with overstays (unlike Canada) and it doesn't take too much to trigger a lifetime ban.

 

[Schu]

That's really interesting. I was talking to a very well-travelled friend of mine today and he was saying that he was surprised the US didn't ban her for much longer than ten years, which ties in with what you're saying about it likely being a 20 year ban.