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I was traveling by Greyhound bus from Canada to the United States in October of 2017 to see my family. The officer who was questioning me noticed on my record that I had a temporary U.S. drivers license, and he told me that I am supposed to have a Canadian driver’s license because Canada is my place of permanent residence. I have since obtained a Canadian drivers license, as requested, and it is valid for 10 years. Another officer started to question me about my travel history, and I gave her all my information, not knowing I had done anything wrong. I was found inadmissible to the United States under Section 212 (a) (9) (B) (I) (ii) of the INA for “alien unlawfully present over 365 days”. I was told that due to my length of time in the United States without a valid status, I am inadmissible to the United States for a period of 10 years. I will require a waiver until January 2, 2021. I am returning to the same border and paying the $930.00 for the I-192, Application for Advance Permission to Enter as a Nonimmigrant to the United States. I do not have a criminal record in Canada or the U.S.
The period I am being punished for is 2006 through 2011, but it should be 2006 through 2010. The U.S. Customs and Border Patrol Officers who looked at my travel history said that I did not return to Canada until January 2 of 2011, which is not true. I returned to Canada on January 2 of 2010, and I have my old passport from 2010, my apartment rental agreement from 2010, my letter of employment from 2010, my pay stubs from 2010, my tax assessments for 2010, and my bank account, which was opened in 2010, to prove it. They are all included in the packet I am taking with me to show them at the border, along with all my tax assessments and pay stubs from 2011 to 2016 as well. Will this get them to change my required waiver date from January 2, 2021 to 2020?
In 2006 I flunked out of University during my senior year and I lost my F1 student visa status. I was unlawfully present in the United States for four years from 2006 to 2010 because I did not have the money to go back to Canada. On top of that, my parents and my grandparents would not help me financially to move back up to Canada by myself because they did not want to worry about me. Whenever I would talk to my parents and grandparents about helping me move back up to Canada, it would turn into an argument. My parents were both Canadian citizens, and they were also divorced. Both of my parents got remarried to U.S. citizens, and they both got their green cards by 2003. I could not get a green card through my parents because I was over 21 years of age. I was angry, depressed, and upset at my parents and grandparents for putting me in that position. It wasn’t my fault. On top of that, my family no longer owned or rented any property in Canada after 2006. I had nowhere to go to.
In 2010 my parents and grandmother finally agreed to help me move back to Canada and start working. I returned to Canada on January 2, 2010. I got my first job on July 2, 2010, a couple months before my 32nd birthday. I take the bus everyday to work, which is why I never got a Canadian drivers license. I have been working in Canada for the past 7 years, and visiting my family in Florida for the past 7 years as well, mostly for the Christmas holidays. In July of 2017 I had to be with my mother in the U.S. My mother was admitted to the hospital with stage 4 breast cancer. My mother passed away in August 2017. She was 61 years old. I stayed in the states to clean up my mother’s bedroom and put away her belongings. I returned to Canada by Greyhound bus on September 24, 2017 to pay some bills and return to the U.S. again in October 2017 to help my grandmother, but I was not permitted to enter the U.S. I did not purchase a round-trip ticket because I did not know how long my grandmother was going to need me to be with her in the U.S.
My grandmother has owned and lived in the same condominium building in the U.S. since 1981 (36 years). This has been my second home since I was 3 years old. For my entire life I have been traveling back and forth between Canada and the U.S. My grandmother is 83 years old and she obtained her green card in 1991 when she was 57 years old. My brother (age 31) and my sister (age 29), both work and live with my grandmother in the U.S. My brother and my sister obtained their green cards when they were both still under 21 years of age in 2005 through the marriage of our mother to our stepfather in 2001. My brother and my sister will be applying for U.S. citizenship in the near future.
There will be a one-year anniversary memorial service for my mother in August of 2018, and I need to be there with my brother, my sister, and my grandmother. A letter from the church will be included with the packet I am submitting CBP/DHS, along with a copy of my mother's death certificate. My mother’s ashes and her urn are still sitting in my grandmother’s condo because we did not have the money to bury her right after she passed away. I need to be with my grandmother, my brother, and my sister to take my mother’s urn to be buried at the same cemetery where my grandfather and my great-grandfather are buried.
My current employer allows me to take a 2-week vacation during the year. Between my mother’s death and what happened to me at the U.S.-Canada border this year because of my ignorance, this has been a very stressful and emotional year for my family. I am 39 years old, and up until this year I had never experienced this kind of legal trouble. I am worried that I won’t get to be with my grandmother in the states if she becomes ill or if something else happens to her in the next 10 years. My grandmother, my brother and my sister are all I have left. Will DHS allow me to visit my family in the U.S. in August 2018, after the 180 days review of my file? Will they keep in mind, and take into consideration, and give me credit for the fact that I had been living and working in Canada, and visiting my family in the U.S. for the past 7 years (2010 to 2017) before I was found to have been unlawfully present in the United States for 4 years prior to 2010?
Will Customs and Border Protection take 5 years off my 10-year inadmissibility on the spot after I pay the $930.00? Or do I have to wait the 180 days for DHS to tell me if the 5 years will be taken off? If DHS takes 5 years off my 10-year inadmissibility, and allows me to visit my family in the States next year, can I still get a green card through my brother or sister in the future, once my U.S. entry ban has completely expired?
The period I am being punished for is 2006 through 2011, but it should be 2006 through 2010. The U.S. Customs and Border Patrol Officers who looked at my travel history said that I did not return to Canada until January 2 of 2011, which is not true. I returned to Canada on January 2 of 2010, and I have my old passport from 2010, my apartment rental agreement from 2010, my letter of employment from 2010, my pay stubs from 2010, my tax assessments for 2010, and my bank account, which was opened in 2010, to prove it. They are all included in the packet I am taking with me to show them at the border, along with all my tax assessments and pay stubs from 2011 to 2016 as well. Will this get them to change my required waiver date from January 2, 2021 to 2020?
In 2006 I flunked out of University during my senior year and I lost my F1 student visa status. I was unlawfully present in the United States for four years from 2006 to 2010 because I did not have the money to go back to Canada. On top of that, my parents and my grandparents would not help me financially to move back up to Canada by myself because they did not want to worry about me. Whenever I would talk to my parents and grandparents about helping me move back up to Canada, it would turn into an argument. My parents were both Canadian citizens, and they were also divorced. Both of my parents got remarried to U.S. citizens, and they both got their green cards by 2003. I could not get a green card through my parents because I was over 21 years of age. I was angry, depressed, and upset at my parents and grandparents for putting me in that position. It wasn’t my fault. On top of that, my family no longer owned or rented any property in Canada after 2006. I had nowhere to go to.
In 2010 my parents and grandmother finally agreed to help me move back to Canada and start working. I returned to Canada on January 2, 2010. I got my first job on July 2, 2010, a couple months before my 32nd birthday. I take the bus everyday to work, which is why I never got a Canadian drivers license. I have been working in Canada for the past 7 years, and visiting my family in Florida for the past 7 years as well, mostly for the Christmas holidays. In July of 2017 I had to be with my mother in the U.S. My mother was admitted to the hospital with stage 4 breast cancer. My mother passed away in August 2017. She was 61 years old. I stayed in the states to clean up my mother’s bedroom and put away her belongings. I returned to Canada by Greyhound bus on September 24, 2017 to pay some bills and return to the U.S. again in October 2017 to help my grandmother, but I was not permitted to enter the U.S. I did not purchase a round-trip ticket because I did not know how long my grandmother was going to need me to be with her in the U.S.
My grandmother has owned and lived in the same condominium building in the U.S. since 1981 (36 years). This has been my second home since I was 3 years old. For my entire life I have been traveling back and forth between Canada and the U.S. My grandmother is 83 years old and she obtained her green card in 1991 when she was 57 years old. My brother (age 31) and my sister (age 29), both work and live with my grandmother in the U.S. My brother and my sister obtained their green cards when they were both still under 21 years of age in 2005 through the marriage of our mother to our stepfather in 2001. My brother and my sister will be applying for U.S. citizenship in the near future.
There will be a one-year anniversary memorial service for my mother in August of 2018, and I need to be there with my brother, my sister, and my grandmother. A letter from the church will be included with the packet I am submitting CBP/DHS, along with a copy of my mother's death certificate. My mother’s ashes and her urn are still sitting in my grandmother’s condo because we did not have the money to bury her right after she passed away. I need to be with my grandmother, my brother, and my sister to take my mother’s urn to be buried at the same cemetery where my grandfather and my great-grandfather are buried.
My current employer allows me to take a 2-week vacation during the year. Between my mother’s death and what happened to me at the U.S.-Canada border this year because of my ignorance, this has been a very stressful and emotional year for my family. I am 39 years old, and up until this year I had never experienced this kind of legal trouble. I am worried that I won’t get to be with my grandmother in the states if she becomes ill or if something else happens to her in the next 10 years. My grandmother, my brother and my sister are all I have left. Will DHS allow me to visit my family in the U.S. in August 2018, after the 180 days review of my file? Will they keep in mind, and take into consideration, and give me credit for the fact that I had been living and working in Canada, and visiting my family in the U.S. for the past 7 years (2010 to 2017) before I was found to have been unlawfully present in the United States for 4 years prior to 2010?
Will Customs and Border Protection take 5 years off my 10-year inadmissibility on the spot after I pay the $930.00? Or do I have to wait the 180 days for DHS to tell me if the 5 years will be taken off? If DHS takes 5 years off my 10-year inadmissibility, and allows me to visit my family in the States next year, can I still get a green card through my brother or sister in the future, once my U.S. entry ban has completely expired?
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