HELP! Just got denied entry into the USA :(

Hi there,

My wife and I are both born and raised in Canada. We are both self employed, and have our own internet marketing company we incorporated in Vancouver, Canada. We are a relatively small operation with only my wife and I doing work, and outsourcing menial tasks overseas.

Its always been a dream of mine to live in Los Angeles, so we finally decided to do it. We found a vacation rental in Santa Monica and signed a 4 month lease for it (I know we can only stay for a maximum of 6 months). We thought it was a great opportunity as we can still get some work done (all we need are our computers and internet access) as well as enjoy the weather for 4 months.

So yesterday we packed up my car and went to the border. As expected we were sent to secondary screening. We presented our 4 month lease in Santa Monica, our 4 months worth of travel insurance, and our incorporation papers showing we had a company in Vancouver, Canada.

After making us sit for 2.5 hours, they took us to a back room and fingerprinted us and took our pictures. After that they finally told us that they were denying us entry into the USA. We were heartbroken, we have already paid our first months rent in Santa Monica, and have invested close to $4000 preparing for the trip.

The reason they gave us is that we were young, recently married, have a mobile business, and didn`t have enough ties to Canada to prove we would return. I asked to speak to the supervisor but the office wouldn't let me, all he kept saying was that he had to escort us off US property. He even had the gall to say that we were lucky he didn't pursue our case as "illegal immigration" and give us criminal charges!! Can you believe that? They treated my wife and I like criminals, when all we did was tell the complete truth. All they gave us was a piece of paper citing the officers employee number, saying we were denied entry, and a note saying "refused 7A1".

What can we do now? We don't own any property up here, and are living with my parents. We do however have about $14,000 in the bank and $18,000 in RRSPs. Should I bring my bank statements? How else can I prove to the border patrol that we will return?

Any help is greatly appreciated!

Sorry, but they were pretty much correct.

You cannot simply move to US and work. Your type of work is not eligible for any work authorization.

The denial should have taken 2 minutes. The reason they kept you longer was to see if they could find worse things about you, to deny you entry permanently.

Yea, I understand that working in the US is a bad idea. I never should have said that "all we need is our laptops and we can work from anywhere". Stupid mistake by us. Doh!

Do you have any suggestions on what we should say next time? I feel like the fact that we have an internet business they will never let us in even if we aren't planning on doing any work at all. Should I show them bank account statements showing we have enough money to live off of while we are down there and don't have to work?

One more thing, my wife and I have decided we would like to go spend 2 months in Central America instead now. Will we have any issues flying from Vancouver, Canada to a place like Houston, Texas to catch a connecting flight to Costa Rica? I've been unable to find a flight that doesn't connect in the USA somewhere.

Any help is greatly appreciated again!

Your more or less Flagged in the system, so one thing you for sure you do NOT want to do is LIE!! Then they will just outright ban you.

Curious! Did it happen to be the Peace Arch Border Crossing you were harassed at?
As myself, my 21 yr old daughter and my American born 3 yr old Grandchild were all subjected to this same trash at the border. The proof of my home ownership, bank account, etc wasn't even looked at. The supervisor had an attitude from the second we entered the building with the rest of our fellow bus riders.
They detained us for hours on end, other guards who we dealt with in the beginning even gave us an apologized for our dilema.
We are not criminals, never have had any arrests in US or Canada at any time, yet they finger printed us and said it was to check to see if we had been, I'm not stupid I knew they were putting this in their data bank to harass us in the future with.
I'm disgusted at how a personal attitude of one guard can ruin your whole trip.
It is a personal issue, not a complete guideline they all must follow. I see and hear of so much discrimination on many people. While others sneeze their way across the border.
They said they gave us an "Administrative charge" for 6 months. If we choose to try to cross again we must show pay receipts, proving we have jobs here in Canada, have a home (Which I outright owned for 20+ yrs), utilities in our names (which I have, and bank account.
My grandbaby was born in US when my daughter and I had gone down to spend Christmas season with some friends. She is not to be refused entry into her own country, but they have done just that. It is aweful to be treated as criminals when you are not. And having a passport doesn't mean anything. It's just another way of the Govt's getting more of our $$ from us. If you have to travel anywhere, you can't have any layovers in the USA, because they'll do the same thing to you, you just experienced. Best to try booking a flight to Mexico and from there to your intended destination or another country maybe.
Best of Luck
I feel you and your wife's pain over this problem.

Same thing happenned with us as well. Planned trip for couple of days with 3 year old daughter and 7 yr old son. Had reservation in Holiday inn. And the guys did the same thing to me. We are well settled and had left US long time back due to these kinds of harrassments on H1 visa. Very humiliating experience to go through. I hope this is not something simply to harrass or some one's personal vendetta.

If you're entering as B-2 never mention that you plan on working. Even a little bit. There's some case law that de minimus work is allowed, e.g. if someone phones from the office to ask a question. Also I hear tale occasionally that there is some case law about Canadians being able to work in the US on B provided that (a) it is not the primary purpose of their visit and (b) it has no economic impact in the US (i.e. is also de minimus) but I've never been able to find that case law and even if it exists then I can pretty much guarantee no CBP inspector has ever heard of it and even then, under the tax treaty you have to start doing US tax withholding if you earn over $10,000 from a Canadian employer while you are there.

As an American citizen, I am ashamed of how the border officers treat people. I will apologize on their behalf! That being said, every time I've tried to cross the land border between Vancouver and Blaine into the US, they have given ME a hard time! I'm really appalled they treat their own citizen that way too. I want a WELCOME HOME! On the other hand, when travelling by air I've never had issues and the people I talk to at customs are very nice. I can't recommend flying into Mexico, to be honest. My mother-in-law is treated horribly every time she flies into Mexico City.